KHOST CITY/LASHKARGAH (Pajhwok): Presidential candidate Dr. Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai on Saturday promised a campaign rally he will construct an international airport and the Khost-Ghulam Khan Road in southeastern Khost province if won the April vote.
Campaigners for the former finance minister said nearly 40,000 people attended the rally held at a cricket stadium in Khost City.
Ahmadzai arrived at the ground by a helicopter along with some Wolesi Jirga and Meshrano Jirga members and his two running mates.
Upbeat about his victory in the April 5 polls, Ahmadzai said he believed the majority was with him and his victory was sure if the ballot went fair.
He said his prime duty as a president would be rebuilding the war-devastated country and promised to be attentive to religious scholars and narrowing the distance between mosque and the Presidential Palace.
Ahmadzai said he would reconstruct the Khost-Ghulam Khan Road, one of the three major transit trade routes between Afghanistan and Pakistan, besides an international airport in Khost City.
Ahmadzai said the airport and the transit route would turn Khost into a trade and economic hub.  
Elsewhere, hundreds of people attended a gathering supporting another front-line runner, Dr. Abdullah Abdullah in Lashkargah, the capital of southern Helmand province.
The participants said Abdullah, who spent half his life in jihad, had never been to a foreign country as refugee.
mrh/ma