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A runway suitable for high performance aircraft (fighters etc) must be very clean and clear of debris. Even the aprons and taxiways must be clean to ensure nothing is ingested by the engines. Even small craters can render a runway useless for such aircraft. Cratering a runway to prevent high performance aircraft use is relatively easy. This is not the case for many transport aircraft types. STOL craft can use runways and strips that other aircraft wouldn't attempt to use. Cratering a runway to prevent their use can be more involved.

Cratering is not too hard, and is a basic part of military engineering. First create a row of small bore-holes with a 15 lb or a 40 lb shaped charges across the runway, then pack the holes with about 40 to 80 lbs (depending on depth of bore hole) with high explosive, like C4 or DM12.  Space these charges with about 5 feet between them, and after detonation you will get a crater about 8 feet deep and 25 feet wide across the runway.
A section of 10 men can do this in very short order.


...just in case anyone wanted to know.

Actually, this is only true of US planes. Soviet-era MiGs were able to take off and land from fields and back roads. Like th AK-47, they are incredibly durable pieces of equipment, well suited for inexperienced armies.

But during Gulf War I, the US used Durandals (not sure of designation) to take out runways. It parachutes to about 50-100 feet above a target, then lights a rocket that sends it through the pavement of the runway and the warhead explodes beneath it, making a HUGE crater, and blowing chunks of runway everywhere.

...just in case anyone wanted to know. 

Yep.  Those were my favorite weapon in "A-10 Attack!" 

Funny enough, these weapons were designed by none other but the FRENCH!