Maimana: Residents of the Ko-histanat district of northwestern Faryab province complain of lack of transport routes linking them to Maimana.
Due to heavy snowfall during winter, they remain disconnected from the provincial capital for six months, the residents say.
In emergency, people have to travel on horses and donkeys. The sick are also shifted on ani-mals through difficult terrain. At times, residents say, people devi-ate from the exact path and fall victims to snow and cold weather.
Lolash, 80 kilometres from the provincial capital Maimana, was upgraded as district centre in 1978. This district was consid-ered a stronghold of mujahideen during the jihad following the 1979 coup.
In the Hamid Karzai era, Kohis-tanat district got its first adminis-trative chief, Haji Zareef, an in-fluential person.
The incumbent Taliban govern-ment has divided Kohistanat into two districts. The centre of one is Lolash. Bandar, 27 kilometres from Lolash, serves as the centre of the other district.
Local residents say since Kohis-tanat was upgraded 43 years ago, particularly in the past 20 years, no sketch has been drawn up for the main district road.
This is despite the fact that Af-ghanistan received billions of dollars in international aid in re-cent years.
Drivers try the pathways used by animals. Syed Tajuddin, an elder from Bandar Kohistanat and the administrative chief, said the dis-trict was 135 kilometres from Maimana.
It remains cut-off from the pro-vincial capital for six months a year due to heavy snowfall. No-body could travel during those months.
He said this year heavy snow had not yet fallen and still the fare to Maimana was 1,000 afs while 150afs were charged per seven kilograms of food items.
