The country’s Kabul-to-Kandahar highway reopens with fanfare — and guns at the ready to fend off any Taliban rebels. The road rebuilt to symbolize Afghanistan’s rebirth is also proof that the country has a long way to go before it is at peace. On Tuesday, it took hundreds of U.S. and Afghan troops, backed by attack helicopters, antitank weapons, snipers and bomb-sniffing dogs to make it safe for President Hamid Karzai to cut the ribbon on the Kabul-to-Kandahar highway. Suspected Taliban guerrillas have killed or kidnapped at least nine Afghan and foreign workers during reconstruction of the highway, so no one was taking any chances at the official opening ceremony. Before the formalities, troops set up roadblocks to stop traffic in both directions for more than three hours. That was just long enough for dignitaries to arrive in heavily guarded convoys and on Chinook helicopters, celebrate a job well done and rush back to safer ground in Kabul, the capital, 25 miles northeast. Full Story
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