Multiple drivers on Afghanistan’s Kabul-Kandahar highway on Wednesday said that on the previous day a police officer shot a motorist on the highway after he refused to give them money.

The incident happened in Zabul province, between Kandahar and Maidan Wardak.

Drivers said the security forces on the highway are involved in extortion and if the drivers refuse to pay, they are insulted, beaten and killed in some cases.

In protest, the drivers on Wednesday blocked the Kabul-Kandahar highway.

Drivers called on the government to take action and keep people safe on the highway.

“The checkpoint (person) asks the people for money, they ask 300 Afs for each ticket,” said Karim, a driver on the highway.

“We are really surprised that this is happening in this country, why is the government not taking action against these thieves?” said Sulaiman Momand, the head of the truckers' union.

But Abdul Naser Naser, the commander at the Zabul police headquarters, has denied the allegations.

He said that the driver was killed as a result of fighting between the security forces and the Taliban.

“We had six wounded people at the checkpoint there, we also had a martyred officer there, there was fighting the day the driver was killed,” said Naser.

Extortion has been a major problem on Afghanistan’s highways.