Main Highway Between The Afghan Capital of Kabul And The North Has Been Cut-Off By The Taliban

New York Times: Taliban Cut Off Afghan Highway Linking Kabul to Northern Gateways

KABUL, Afghanistan — Taliban insurgents have cut the main highway that links the capital with northern Afghanistan and neighboring countries for the past three days, according to Afghan officials in the area.

After the Taliban ambushed police forces guarding a stretch of the national Ring Road in Baghlan Province on Thursday, fighting continued through Saturday and appeared likely to last longer, according to officials in the area. The northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif was cut off, as were road connections to eight northern provinces.

It was only the latest setback for the country’s battered Ring Road, a highway network over 2,000 miles long built by international donors at a cost of $3 billion, and still not complete after more than a decade of work. Parts of it remain unfinished, other sections have repeatedly fallen under insurgent control, and on much of its length, only heavily armed military convoys can travel safely because of the risk of insurgent roadblocks and bombings.

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