Helmand Gets a Lifeline

It’s very expensive,” said Hajji Qudous, waving his one-way ticket to Kabul, which cost him 7,000 afghani, or 140 US dollars. “I hope other airlines soon begin to fly to Helmand. Then the price will come down.”



Qudous was one of twenty impatient but happy passengers waiting to take an Ariana Airlines flight to the Afghan capital on June 8. Earlier, the plane they were waiting to board made a little history, when it landed on a restored runaway in Lashkar Gah.



It was the Afghan carrier’s first flight in 52 years to the capital of the embattled province of Helmand.



The plane, an Antonov-24, carrying 42 passengers, touched down at the Bost airfield amid much fanfare. Helmand has been largely cut off from the rest of Afghanistan for several years, prisoner of an increasingly robust insurgency and an active drug mafia.



Now, for the first time in decades, Helmandis can travel regularly to the national capital, Kabul.



Work on an airport complex at Bost, supported by the Americans and the British, began ten months ago. When completed, the site will boast a terminal, an agricultural park and a fruit processing plant, and will cost more than 52 million dollars. The runway alone cost 11.5 million.



It’s been a long time coming. United States ambassador Sheldon T Mills inaugurated construction of the first airport in Lashkar Gah in 1957, when Helmand was home to a small army of US engineers and builders, who sought to counter Soviet influence by funneling vast amounts of aid to the province, turning it into what was called “Little America”.



But years of war and insurgency have turned the once thriving area into a grim and dangerous place, where the main cash crop is poppy and where local residents risk their lives on local roads littered with improvised explosive devices, IEDs, and patrolled by gunmen.



At an opening ceremony days earlier, the new US ambassador, Karl Eikenberry, sounded a note of solemn celebration.



“I am delighted to be opening this bridge between Helmand and the world,” he said, adding that he hoped the new airport would help to bring peace and security to the war-torn province.



Eikenberry was given a turban at the close of his speech. Donning it, the recently retired general could almost have been mistaken for an Afghan.



Up until the opening of the new, 2000-metre runway, travel to Helmand was an expensive and perilous venture.



Firms such as Partners in Aviation and Communications Technology, PACTEC, or Central Asia Development Group, CADG, flew small eight- or 12-seaters into Lashkar Gah. Passengers well remember the dizzying corkscrew descents, designed to foil insurgent attempts to hit the aircraft from the ground.



The plane would set down on a rudimentary airstrip in the middle of the desert, stirring up a long plume of dust.



“I was always so embarrassed when foreign guests would come in on these planes,” said Ghafoor Tokhai, head of the local department of transportation. “They would cover their noses because of the clouds of dust.”



Helmand officials says they are confident the opening of the new runway will encourage tourists to come to see the province’s main historical site, the 1,000-year old complex Qala-e-Bost, whose famous arch adorns the 100-afghani note.



“This is a very big change for Helmand,” said Alishah Mazlumyar, head of the information and culture department. “I am sure that it will attract tourists who desperately want to see Qala-e-Bost. I am hopeful that [the United Nations cultural agency] UNESCO will now pay attention to Qala-e-Bost, because of all the tourists. But they have not said anything to us yet.”



Mazlumyar may be jumping the gun a bit. No matter how good the runway, it is difficult to imagine that large numbers of visitors will be drawn to what is arguably one of the most dangerous places in an already dangerous country.



Helmand is a major centre of the Taleban insurgency, and the world capital of poppy cultivation. This has turned the province into a cauldron where firefights, suicide bombers, NATO raids and kidnappings are frequent occurrences.



Nor does Helmand afford any infrastructure that might tempt tourists – there are no hotels and very few restaurants, even in Lashkar Gah.



More realistic expectations include a boost in Helmand’s agricultural output, since fruit and vegetables can get to market more easily and in better condition. The airport’s fruit processing centre is designed to help in this venture.



“Now Helmand’s fruit and nuts can reach world markets without delay,” said Abdul Rashid Stanekzai, head of Helmand’s economy department. “It will help not only the farmers, but everyone – it can change Helmand from a drug province to a fruit province.”



Stanekzai also expects an increase in visitors.

“An airport will connect us to the world,” he said. “We will have tourists, and people from other civilisations.”



But a cynic from Bolan district, who did not want to be named since he used to be a high-ranking government official in Helmand, was not convinced.



“Building an airport is a good thing,” he said. “But now it will just be easier to put poppy right on the airplane.”



Security experts have also been heavily involved in the planning of the airport. Given the volatility of Helmand, ensuring the safety of air transportation will not be a simple undertaking.



“This airport is a major achievement, but we have to provide security,” said Jabar Khan, commander of the border police in Helmand. “There is the chance of attack. So we have to make sure the [planes] are safe. If, God forbid, there were to be an attack, no flights will dare to come again.”



Helmand governor Gulab Mangal told the media that he had given orders to establish security checkpoints close to the airfield. “We will do whatever is needed,” he said.



The airport will also make it easier for foreign aid workers to travel to Helmand to monitor the work being done by local contractors, say observers.



According to staff at the department of rural rehabilitation and development, who spoke on condition of anonymity, reconstruction in Helmand was flagging badly, due in large part to the inability of international supervisors to travel to the province.



“Many projects remained just on paper,” said one official. “But now the chance of stealing will be decreased.”



Mohammad Ilyas Dayee is an IWPR-trained journalist in Helmand.