Kandahar Tim Hortons Closing Next Week

Without any Canadians to keep caffeinated at the ISAF base, the coffee shop is shutting down after five years in business.

The insanely popular Tim Hortons at Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan will be shutting down next week as Canadian soldiers are no longer stationed there. The outpost – the most remote Tim Hortons on the planet – was opened on Canada Day, 2006, as the Canadian Forces were settling into their combat role in Kandahar. Over the next five years, the Tims dispensed an estimated four million coffees, which works out to more than 2,000 cups per day. Fittingly, there were about 2,500 Canadians stationed in Kandahar throughout those five years, although many of them spent the bulk of their time at forward operating bases far removed from double doubles and Timbits. In addition, the Tims sold three million donuts and 500,000 iced caps, with all of the proceeds going to support veterans and their families. The Canadian Forces' combat mission wrapped up in July, and they have since relocated to Kabul with a pared-back force of about 1,000 troops who have been tasked with training the Afghan military. Kabul is currently Tims-less, although it sounds like it's ripe for a new low-grade coffee franchise.