Word: kandahar
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...route to Kandahar (pop. 125,000), 66 miles away in southern Afghanistan, our traveling companions graciously shared slices of a delicious native melon. They warmed when we inquired about the cut communications and electricity cables along the road. "Mujahidin," one whispered knowingly. After passing through a Soviet-manned checkpoint at Kandahar airport-the first of 40 such roadblocks during the trip-we reached the city itself. A man who had befriended us on the bus located a scooter rickshaw and led us to a safe house to spend the night...
Because the airport and mam road were originally financed by the U.S., Americans are fondly remembered in Kandahar as dispensers of jobs and money. Nevertheless, our Caucasian features were a major liability. "Yes, you can go out," our host said, "but don't go to the bazaar. They will think you are Soviets and kill you." Everywhere we walked we were Indeed followed by smoldering black eyes. Only when the Afghans learned our nationality did hostile looks give way to smiles. That night we were awakened by the sound of gunfire close at hand. "Go back to America...
...troop and supply carriers-lift off from the airport and roar across the city on flight paths calculated to inspire fear and respect. Thus begins the daily ritual of checking and opening the highways through Kabul Gorge, Sarobi and Jalalabad to the Khyber Pass (the east); to Ghazni and Kandahar (the south); and to the Salang Pass and the Soviet frontier (the north). Other helicopter forces-sky caravans in what was once a land of camel caravans -fly farther, on missions and reinforcement flights to the eastern provinces of Paktia and Kunar, where a spring offensive against the mujahidin...
...employers why they want to leave. Feigned illness of a spouse requiring treatment abroad (particularly in Pakistan or India) is one ploy. Others who have dependents without passports have escaped in more daring ways. Taxis with cramped, hidden compartments built under back seats have smuggled some from Jalalabad or Kandahar to the Pakistani frontier...
...have won a greats victory. We have shown the Russians what the Afghan people think of them." So said a belligerent Kabul merchant, exulting over the mass anti-Soviet protests that rocked the Afghan capital last week, The unrest was reported to have spread to six provinces, from Kandahar in the south to Baghlan in the north, and the Soviets were facing the most serious challenge to their two-month-old occupation of Afghanistan, which has brought them worldwide condemnation...