<h2 class="blog-hed2 pb-lg-4 pb-3 text-lg-center">History Kandahar International Airport</h2>
<p class="blog-para"><strong>Construction (1956&ndash;1962)</strong></p>
<p class="blog-para">Kandahar International Airport was originally built in the early 1960s by the United States for a cost of about 15 million U.S. dollars. The airfield itself was completed in 1962 by an American company known as Morrison&ndash;Knudsen, which was contracted by the United States Agency for International Development. Bearing a great resemblance to typical U.S. architecture of the time, its original purpose was a safe and modern refueling stop for long-range piston engine aircraft traveling between Europe and Southeast Asia. However, with the advent of jet aircraft, such stops were no longer necessary, and the airport saw little use.</p>
<p class="blog-para">Some speculate that since the airport was designed as a military base, it is likely that the United States intended to use it in case there was a show-down of war between the United States and the former USSR. While the Americans were busy building the Kandahar Airport, the Soviets were busy in the north, building the Kabul Airport.</p>
<p class="blog-para"><strong>Soviet invasion</strong></p>
<p class="blog-para">During the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the airfield was used intensively by the Soviet Air Forces, both as logistical facility for flying in troops and supplies and as a base for launching airstrikes against local Mujahedeen groups.</p>
<p class="blog-para"><strong>Taliban era</strong></p>
<p class="blog-para">The airport was mostly used at this time for military and humanitarian purposes, hosting regular flights of the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross to and from Kabul, Jalalabad, Herat, and Peshawar. Ariana Afghan Airlines (the national carrier of Afghanistan) also flew infrequent flights out of Kandahar to Pakistan and a few locations in Afghanistan such as Herat, Kabul, and Jalalabad.</p>
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<p><img class="img-fluid p-lg-0 rounded w-100" title="Kandahar  Airport" src="../../main/img/airport/kand/1.webp" alt="Kandahar Airport" width="950px" height="500px"></p>