RASC News Agency: At least six people have been killed and eight others injured in two separate traffic accidents in the southern Afghanistani provinces of Kandahar and Helmand, highlighting once again the alarming state of road safety and the growing recklessness among drivers on Afghanistan’s southern highways.
According to local sources, the first incident occurred around 9 p.m. on Saturday night along the Kandahar–Spin Boldak highway, a route notorious for fatal crashes. A passenger vehicle, reportedly a Toyota Fielder, collided with a cargo truck, killing the driver, a woman, and a child on the spot. Three other passengers sustained serious injuries. Witnesses and traffic sources attribute the crash primarily to excessive speeding and driver negligence, both common factors in the region’s mounting toll of road casualties.
The second accident took place earlier the same day in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province, within the city’s 10th security district. Taliban provincial officials confirmed that a tractor carrying civilians overturned, killing two men and one woman, and injuring five others, including four children and another woman. Eyewitnesses reported that the passengers were riding in the rear trailer commonly referred to as a gadi which overturned due to overloading and poor road stability.
Over the past few years, the southern highways of Afghanistan, particularly the Kandahar–Spin Boldak and Lashkar Gah–Gereshk routes, have seen a sharp rise in deadly traffic incidents. Experts point to a combination of factors: deteriorating road infrastructure, lack of maintenance, unregulated vehicle inspections, and the absence of any meaningful traffic enforcement. Speeding and the use of unfit vehicles remain endemic, contributing to hundreds of preventable deaths each year.
Despite repeated public outcry and mounting casualties, the Taliban authorities have taken no tangible steps to address these dangers. Since their return to power in 2021, the group has failed to implement a coherent traffic safety policy, neglected road reconstruction, and dismantled civilian oversight bodies that once monitored transport standards. Local residents in Kandahar and Helmand have accused the Taliban of focusing resources on propaganda, policing, and ideological enforcement instead of public safety.
In regions where the Taliban collect heavy taxes on commercial transport and trade routes, roads remain riddled with potholes, unmarked, and devoid of lighting or guardrails. The group’s officials frequently promise improvements, yet no practical investment or technical expertise has been delivered.
“The roads are killing more people than the war did,” said a driver from Helmand who regularly travels between Lashkar Gah and Kandahar. “There are no signs, no police, and no one cares. The Taliban only show up when it’s time to collect money.”
Humanitarian workers warn that the lack of basic traffic regulation not only endangers civilians but also hampers medical response. With hospitals already underfunded and ambulance access severely limited, victims of road accidents often die before reaching medical facilities.
These two tragedies occurring within less than 24 hours serve as a grim reflection of Afghanistan’s deepening governance crisis, where public safety and infrastructure have collapsed under Taliban mismanagement. In the absence of institutional accountability, even the most ordinary aspects of civilian life traveling between cities, driving to markets, or transporting goods have become perilous undertakings.
For the people of Kandahar and Helmand, each journey now carries the shadow of death, not from war, but from the state’s indifference and decay.
