Kabul[a] is the capital and largestcity ofAfghanistan. It is within the jurisdiction ofKabul District and has an estimated population of 5,333,284 people.[6] Located in the eastern half of the country, forming part of theKabul Province, the city is administratively divided into five zones and22 municipal districts.[11] The native population of Kabul primarily speaksPersian, locally referred to asPersian Dari, using regional Dari dialects with a distinctive Kabuli accent.
Mawlawi Abdul Rashid is the current mayor of the city.[4]
Kabul has been known by different names throughout its history.[19] Its meaning is unknown, but it is believed to originate before theearly Muslim conquests, when the city lay on trade routes betweenIndia and theHellenistic world.[20] InSanskrit, it was known asKubha, whereas Greek authors ofclassical antiquity referred to it asKophen,Kophes orKoa.[19] The Chinese travelerXuanzang (fl. 7th century) recorded the city asGāofù (Chinese:高附).[19] The name "Kabul" was first applied to theKabul River before being applied to the area situated between theHindu Kush andSindh (present-dayPakistan).[19][20] This area was also known asKabulistan.[19]Alexander Cunningham noted in the 19th century thatKaofu, as recorded by the Chinese was in all likelihood the name of "one of the five Yuchi or Tukhari tribes".[19] Cunningam added that this tribe gave its name to the city after it was occupied by them in the 2nd century BC.[19] This "supposition seems likely" as the Afghan historianMir Ghulam Mohammad Ghobar (1898–1978) wrote that in theAvesta (sacred book ofZoroastrianism), Kabul was known asVaekereta, whereas the Greeks of antiquity referred to it asOrtospana ("High Place"), which corresponds to the Sanskrit wordUrddhastana, which was applied to Kabul.[19] The Greek geographerPtolemy recorded Kabul as Καβουρα (Kabura).[19]
According to legend, a lake existed in Kabul, in the middle of which the so-called "Island of Happiness" was located, where a joyous family of musicians resided.[19] According to this same legend, the island became accessible by the order of a king through the construction of a bridge (i.e. "pul" in Persian) made out of straw (i.e. "kah" in Persian).[19] According to this legend the name Kabul was thus formed as a result of these two words combined, i.e.kah +pul.[19] TheConcise Oxford Dictionary of World Place Names argues that the "suggestion that the name is derived from theArabic rootqbl 'meeting' or 'receiving' is unlikely".[20]
It remains unknown when the name "Kabul" was first applied to the city.[19] It "came into prominence" following the destruction ofKapisa and other cities in what is present-day Afghanistan byGenghis Khan (c. 1162–1227) in the thirteenth century.[19] The centrality of the city within the region, as well as its cultural importance as a nexus of ethnic groups in the region, caused Kabul to become known as the Paris of Central Asia in the late 20th century.
The origin of Kabul, who built it and when, is largely unknown.[21] TheRigveda, composed between 2000 and 1500 BC and one of the four canonical texts ofHinduism, and theAvesta, the primary canon of texts ofZoroastrianism, refer to theKabul River and to a settlement calledKubha.[21][22]
During the Mauryan period, trade flourished due to the use of uniform weights and measures. Irrigation facilities for public use were developed, resulting in an increased crop harvest. People were also employed as artisans, jewelers, and carpenters.[28]
TheGreco-Bactrian Kingdom took control of Kabul from the Mauryans in the early2nd century BC, then lost the city to their successors in theIndo-Greek Kingdom around the mid-2nd century BC. Buddhism was greatly patronized by these rulers, and the majority of the city's population was adherents of the religion.[29]Indo-Scythians expelled the Indo-Greeks by the mid 1st century BC, but lost the city to theKushan Empire about 100 years later.[30][31]
It is mentioned asKophes orKophene in some classical Greek writings. The Chinese Buddhist monkHsuan Tsang refers to the city asKaofu[32] in the 7th century AD, which is theappellation of one of the five tribes of theYuezhi who had migrated from across theHindu Kush into the Kabul valley around the beginning of theCommon Era.[33] It was conquered by Kushan EmperorKujula Kadphises in about 45 AD, and remained Kushan territory until at least the3rd century.[34][35] The Kushans wereIndo-European-speaking peoples related to theYuezhi and based inBactria.[36]
Around 230, the Kushans were defeated by theSasanian Empire and replaced byvassals known as theKushano-Sasanian Kingdom. During this period, the city was referred to as "Kapul" inPahlavi scripts.[22] Kapol inNew Persian means "Royal Bridge", which is due to the main bridge on the Kabul that connected the east and west of the city. In 420, the Kushano-Sasanians were driven out of Afghanistan by theXionites known as theKidarites, who were then replaced in the 460s by theHephthalites. It became part of the survivingKingdom of Kapisa, also known asKabul-Shahan.[37] According toTáríkhu-l Hind byal-Biruni, Kabul was governed by princes ofTurkic lineage.[37] It was briefly held by theTibetan Empire between 801 and 815.
Jews had a presence in Afghanistan from ancient times until 2021.[38] There are records of religious correspondence establishing the presence of Jews in Kabul since the 8th century, though it is believed that they were present centuries or even millennia earlier.[39][40] The 12th century Arab geographerMuhammad al-Idrisi wrote down his observations of a Jewish quarter in Kabul.[41] In the early 19th century, Kabul and other major Afghan cities became sites of refuge for Jews fleeing persecution in neighbouring Iran.[42]
Jews were generally tolerated for most of their time in Afghanistan, up until the passage of anti-Jewish laws in the 1870s. Jews were given a reprieve under the rule of KingNadir Shah until his assassination in 1933. The influence of Nazi propaganda led to increased violence against Jews and theghettoization of their communities in Kabul andHerat. Most of Afghanistan's Jews fled the country or congregated in these urban hubs.[42]
After theestablishment of the state of Israel, the Jewish community requested permission from KingZahir Shah to migrate there. Afghanistan was the only country that allowed its Jewish residents to migrate to Israel without relinquishing their citizenship.[39] Most of those remaining, approximately 2,000 in number, left after theSoviet invasion in 1979.[38][40]
As of 1992, there were believed to be two Jews remaining in Afghanistan, both living in a synagogue in Kabul.[40] The congregation'sTorah scroll was confiscated during thefirst Islamic Emirate.Zebulon Simontov was believed and widely reported to be Afghanistan's last Jew, untilTova Moradi fled months after him, with her grandchildren. Moradi, who harbored a rabbi in her home throughout the first Islamic Emirate, lived inMorad Khane, Kabul for decades. While she was married to a Muslim man as a child, she still covertly attended synagogue and tried to teach her children what Hebrew prayers she could remember from her childhood. As of her departure in November 2021, there are believed to be no Jews in Afghanistan.[38]
Map showing names of the regions during the 7th century.
TheIslamic conquest reached modern-day Afghanistan in 642 AD, at a time when Kabul was independent.[43] Until then, Kabul was considered politically and culturally part of the Indian world.[44] A number of failed expeditions were made toIslamise the region. In one of them,Abdur Rahman bin Samara arrived in Kabul fromZaranj in the late 600s and converted 12,000 inhabitants toIslam before abandoning the city.Muslims were a minority untilYa'qub bin Laith as-Saffar of Zaranj conquered Kabul in 870 from theHindu Shahis and established the firstIslamic dynasty in the region. It was reported that the rulers of Kabul wereMuslims with non-Muslims living close by. Iranian traveller and geographerIstakhri described it in 921:
Kábul has a castle celebrated for its strength, accessible only by one road. In it there areMusulmáns, and it has a town, in which areinfidels fromHind.[45]
Over the following centuries, the city was successively controlled by theSamanids,Ghaznavids,Ghurids,Khwarazmshahs,Qarlughids, andKhaljis. In the 13th century, the invadingMongols caused major destruction in the region. Report of amassacre in the close byBamiyan is recorded around this period, where the entire population of the valley was annihilated by the Mongol troops as revenge for the death of Genghis Khan's grandson. As a result, many natives of Afghanistan fled south toward the Indian subcontinent where some establisheddynasties in Delhi. TheChagatai Khanate andKartids were vassals ofIlkhanate until the dissolution of the latter in 1335.
Following the era of the Khalji dynasty in 1333, the famousMoroccan scholarIbn Battuta was visiting Kabul and wrote:
We travelled on to Kabul, formerly a vast town, the site of which is now occupied by a village inhabited by a tribe of Persians called Afghans. They hold mountains and defiles and possess considerable strength, and are mostly highwaymen. Their principal mountain is calledKuh Sulayman.[46]
In the 14th century, Kabul became a major trading centre under the kingdom ofTimur (Tamerlane). In 1504, the city fell toBabur from the north and made into his headquarters, which became one of the principal cities of his laterMughal Empire. In 1525, Babur describedKabulistan inhis memoirs by writing that:
There are many differing tribes in theKābul country; in its dales and plains are Turks and clansmen and'Arabs; and in its town and in many villages,Sārts; out in the districts and also in villages are thePashāi,Parājī,Tājik,Bīrkī andAfghān tribes. In the western mountains are theHazāra andNikdīrī tribes, some of whom speak theMughūlī tongue. In the north-eastern mountains are the places of theKāfirs, such as Kitūr and Gibrik. To the south are the places of theAfghān tribes.[47]
Mirza Muhammad Haidar Dughlat, a poet fromHindustan who visited at the time wrote:"Dine and drink in Kabul: it is mountain, desert, city, river and all else." It was from here that Babur began his 1526 conquest of Hindustan, which was ruled by theAfghanLodi dynasty and began east of theIndus River in what is present-dayPakistan.Babur loved Kabul due to the fact that he lived in it for 20 years and the people were loyal to him, including the weather that he was used to. His wish to be buried in Kabul was finally granted. The inscription on histomb contains the famous Persiancouplet, which states:
اگرفردوس روی زمین است همین است و همین است و همین است
Transliteration:
Agar fardus rui zameen ast, hameen ast, o hameen ast, o hameen ast.
(If there is a paradise on earth, it is this, and it is this, and it is this!)[48]
Kabul remained in Mughal control for the next 200 years.[49] Though Mughal power became centred within theIndian subcontinent, Kabul retained importance as a frontier city for the empire;Abul Fazl, EmperorAkbar's chronicler, described it as one of the two gates to Hindustan (the other beingKandahar).[50] As part of administrative reforms under Akbar, the city was made capital of the eponymous Mughal province,Kabul Subah.[51] Under Mughal governance, Kabul became a prosperous urban centre, endowed with bazaars such as the non-extantChar Chatta.[49] For the first time in its history, Kabul served as a mint centre, producing gold and silver Mughal coins up to the reign ofAlamgir II.[52] It acted as a military base forShah Jahan'scampaigns inBalkh andBadakhshan. Kabul was also a recreational retreat for the Mughals, who hunted here and constructed several gardens. Most of the Mughals' architectural contributions to the city (such as gardens, fortifications, and mosques) have not survived.[49][53] During this time, the population was about 60,000.[14]
Nine years afterNader Shah and his forces invaded and occupied the city as part of the more easternmost parts of his Empire, he was assassinated by his own officers, causing its rapid disintegration.Ahmad Shah Durrani, commander of 4,000AbdaliAfghans, assertedPashtun rule in 1747 and further expanded his newAfghan Empire. His ascension to power marked the beginning of Afghanistan. By this time, Kabul had lost its status as a metropolitan city, and its population had decreased to 10,000.[54] Interest in the city was renewed when Ahmad Shah's sonTimur Shah Durrani, after inheriting power, transferred the capital of the Durrani Empire fromKandahar to Kabul in 1776.[3][49] Kabul experienced considerable urban development during the reigns of Timur Shah and his successorZaman Shah; several religious and public buildings were constructed, and diverse groups ofSufis, jurists, and literary families were encouraged to settle the city through land grants and stipends.[55][49] Kabul's first visitor from Europe was EnglishmanGeorge Forster, who described 18th-century Kabul as "the best and cleanest city in Asia".[56]
In 1826, the kingdom was claimed byDost Mohammad Khan, but in 1839Shah Shuja Durrani was re-installed with the help of theBritish Empire during theFirst Anglo-Afghan War. In 1841 a local uprising resulted in the killing of the British resident and loss of mission in Kabul and the1842 retreat from Kabul toJalalabad, in which 4,500 regular British troops and 14,000 civilians were killed by Afghan tribesmen. In 1842 the British returned to Kabul, demolishing the city's mainbazaar in revenge during theKabul Expedition (1842) before returning toBritish India (now Pakistan).Akbar Khan took to the throne from 1842 to 1845 and was followed by Dost Mohammad Khan.[57]
Etching of Kabul by an Italian artist, 1885
TheSecond Anglo-Afghan War broke out in 1879 when Kabul was underSher Ali Khan's rule, as the Afghan king initially refused to accept British diplomatic missions and later the British residents were again massacred. During the war, Bala Hissar was partially destroyed by a fire and an explosion.[58]
In Kabul, an establishedbazaar city, leather and textile industries developed by 1916.[59] The majority of the population was concentrated on the south side of the river.
The city was modernised throughout the regime of KingHabibullah Khan, with the introduction of electricity, telephone, and a postal service.[60] The first modern high school,Habibia, was established in 1903. In 1919, after theThird Anglo-Afghan War, KingAmanullah Khan announced Afghanistan's independence inforeign affairs atEidgah Mosque in Kabul. Amanullah was reform-minded and he had a plan to build a newcapital city on land 6 km from Kabul. This area, namedDarulaman, consisted of the famousDarul Aman Palace, where he later resided. Many educational institutions were founded in Kabul during the 1920s. In 1929 King Amanullah left Kabul after a local uprising orchestrated byHabibullah Kalakani, but he was imprisoned and executed after nine months in power by KingNader Khan. Three years later, in 1933, the new king was assassinated during an award ceremony in a school in Kabul. The throne was left to his 19-year-old son,Zahir Shah, who became the lastKing of Afghanistan. Unlike Amanullah Khan, Nader Khan and Zahir Shah had no plans to create a new capital city, and thus Kabul remained the country'sseat of government.
Dilkusha Palace, built in European style in the 1900s
During theinter-war period, France and Germany helped to develop the country and maintained high schools and lycees in the capital, providing education for the children of the city's elite families.[61]Kabul University opened in 1932, and by the 1960s the majority of teachers were western educated Afghans[62] and the majority of instructors at the university had degrees from Western universities.[62]
Kabul's only railway service, theKabul–Darulaman Tramway, operated for six years from 1923 to 1929.[63] When Zahir Shah took power in 1933, Kabul had the only 10 km (6 mi) of rail and the country had few internal telegraphs, phone lines or roads. Zahir turned to the Japanese, Germans and Italians for help in developing a modern transportation and communications network.[64] A radio tower built in Kabul by the Germans in 1937 provided communication with outlying villages.[65] A national bank and state cartels were organised to allow for economic modernisation.[66] Textile mills, power plants, carpet and furniture factories were built in Kabul, providing much-needed manufacturing and infrastructure.[66]
The river bank in the centre of Kabul in the 1960s
During the 1940s and 1950s,urbanisation accelerated and thebuilt-up area was increased in size to 68 km2 by 1962, an almost fourteen-fold increase since 1925.[59] TheSerena Hotel opened in 1945 as the first Western-style luxury hotel. In the 1950s, under the premiership ofMohammad Daoud Khan, foreign investment and development increased. In 1955, the Soviet Union forwarded $100 million in credit to Afghanistan which financed public transportation, airports, a cement factory, a mechanised bakery, a five-lane highway from Kabul to the Soviet border and dams, including theSalang Pass to the north of Kabul.[67] During the 1960s, Soviet-stylemicrorayon housing estates were built, containing sixty blocks. The government also built many ministry buildings in thebrutalist architecture style.[68] In the 1960s the firstMarks & Spencer store inCentral Asia was built in the city.Kabul Zoo was inaugurated in 1967, which was maintained with the help of visiting Germanzoologists. During this time, Kabul experimented with liberalisation, notably the loosening of restrictions on speech and assembly, which led to student politics in the capital and demonstrations by Socialist, Maoist, liberal or Islamist factions.[69]
People and traffic in a part of Kabul, 1976
Foreigners flocked to Kabul as the nation's tourism industry expanded. To accompany the city's new-found tourism, western-style accommodations were opened in the 1960s, notably the Spinzar Hotel.[70] Western, American and Japanese tourists visited the city's attractions[71] includingChicken Street[72] and theNational Museum that contained some of Asia's finest cultural artefact.[73]Lonely Planet called it an upcoming "tourist trap" in 1973.[74] Pakistanis visited to watch Indian films that were banned in their own country.[70] Kabul was nicknamed theParis of Central Asia.[1][2] According toJ. Bruce Amstutz, an American diplomat in Kabul:
[Before the 1978 Marxist coup d'etat] Kabul was a pleasant city [..] Though poor economically, it was spared the eyesore slums so visible in other Asian cities. The Afghans themselves were an imposing people, the men tall and self-assured and the women attractive.[72]
Until the late 1970s, Kabul was a stop on theHippie trail fromBamyan to the west towardsPeshawar.[75] The city was known for its street sales ofhashish and became a major attraction for westernhippies.[15]
Centre of Kabul in 1979; the Pul-e Khishti bridge crosses theKabul River to the old city in the south bank
On 28 April 1978, President Daoud and most of his family were assassinated in Kabul'sPresidential Palace in what is called theSaur Revolution. Pro-Soviet PDPA underNur Muhammad Taraki seized power and slowly began to institute reforms.[76] Private businesses were nationalised in the Soviet manner.[77] Education was modified into the Soviet model, with lessons focusing on teachingRussian,Marxism–Leninism and learning of other countries belonging to the Soviet bloc.[77]
Amid growing internal chaos and heightened cold war tensions, the U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan,Adolph Dubs, was kidnapped on his way to work at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul on 14 February 1979 and killed during a rescue attempt at the Serena Hotel. There were conflicting reports of who abducted Dubs and what demands were made for his release. Several senior Soviet officials were in the lobby of the hotel during a standoff with the kidnappers, who were holding Dubs in room 117.[78][79] Afghan police, acting on the advice of Soviet advisors and over the objections of U.S. officials, launched a rescue attempt, during which Dubs was shot in the head from a distance of six inches and killed.[80] Many questions about the killing remain unanswered.
On 24 December 1979, theSoviet Union invaded Afghanistan and Kabul was heavily occupied bySoviet Armed Forces. In Pakistan,Director-General of the ISIAkhtar Abdur Rahman advocated for the idea of covert operation in Afghanistan by arming Islamic extremists who formed the mujahideen.[81] General Rahman was heard loudly saying: "Kabul must burn! Kabul must burn!",[82] and mastered the idea ofproxy war in Afghanistan.[81] Pakistani PresidentZia-ul-Haq authorised this operation under General Rahman, which was later merged withOperation Cyclone, a programme funded by theUnited States and carried out by theCentral Intelligence Agency.
Taj Beg Palace in 1987, the Soviet Army headquarters during the Soviet–Afghan War
The Soviets turned the city of Kabul into their command centre during theSoviet–Afghan War, and while fighting was mostly taking place in the countryside, Kabul was widely disturbed. Political crime and guerrilla attacks on military and government targets were common, and the sound of gunfire became commonplace at night in the outskirts. Large numbers ofPDPA party members and Soviet troops were kidnapped or assassinated, sometimes in broad daylight, with acts of terrorism committed by civilians, anti-regime militias and alsoKhalqists. By July 1980, as many as twelve party members were being assassinated on a daily basis, and the Soviet Army stopped patrolling the city in January 1981. A major uprising against the Soviet presence broke out in Kabul in February 1980 in what is called the3 Hut uprising. It led to a nightcurfew in the city that would remain in place for seven years.[83] The Soviet Embassy also, was attacked four times with arms fire in the first five years of the war. A Western correspondent revisiting Kabul in December 1983 after a year, said that the city was "converted into a fortress bristling with weapons".[84] Contrastingly, that same year American diplomat Charles Dunbar commented that the Soviet troops' presence was "surprisingly modest",[85] and an author in a 1983Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists article thought that the Soviet soldiers had a "friendly" atmosphere.[86]
The city's population increased from around 500,000 in 1978 to 1.5 million in 1988.[87] The large influx were mostly internal refugees who fled other parts of the country for safety in Kabul. During this time, women made up 40% of the workforce.[88] Soviet men and women were very common in the city's shopping roads, with the large availability of Western products.[85] Most Soviet civilians (numbering between 8,000 and 10,000) lived in the northeastern Soviet-styleMikrorayon (microraion) housing complex that was surrounded bybarbed-wire and armed tanks. They sometimes received abuse from anti-Soviet civilians on the streets.[89] The mujahideen rebels managed to strike at the city a few times—on 9 October 1987, a car bomb planted by a mujahideen group killed 27 people, and on 27 April 1988, in celebrations of the 10th anniversary of the Saur Revolution, a truck bomb killed six people.[90]
Kabul'sJada-e Maiwand in 1993, showing the destruction caused by the civilwar.
After the fall ofMohammad Najibullah's[91] government in April 1992, different mujahideen factions entered the city and formed a government under thePeshawar Accords, butGulbuddin Hekmatyar's party refused to sign the accords and started shelling the city for power, which soon escalated into a full-scale conflict. This marked the start of a dark period of the city: at least 30,000 civilians were killed in a period known locally as the "Kabul Wars."[92] About 80 percent of the city was devastated and destroyed by 1996.[93][94] The old city and western areas were among the worst-hit. ANew York Times analyst said in 1996 that the city was more devastated thanSarajevo, which was similarly damaged during theBosnian War at the time.[95]
The city suffered heavily under abombardment campaign between rival militias which intensified during the summer of 1992. Its geographic location in a narrow valley made it an easy target from rockets fired by militias who based themselves in the surrounding mountains.[96] Within two years' time, the majority of infrastructure was destroyed, a massive exodus of the population left to the countryside or abroad, and electricity and water was completely out. In late 1994, bombardment of the capital came to a temporary halt.[97][98][99] These forces took steps to restore law and order. Courts started to work again, convicting individuals inside government troops who had committed crimes.[100] On 27 September 1996, the hardlineTaliban militia seized Kabul and established theIslamic Emirate of Afghanistan. They imposed a strict form ofSharia (Islamic law), restricting women from work and education,[101] conducting amputations against common thieves, and hit-squads from the infamous "Ministry for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice" watching public beatings of people.[101]
In November 2001, theNorthern Alliance captured Kabul after the Taliban had abandoned the city following anAmerican invasion. A month later, anew government began to assemble under PresidentHamid Karzai. ANATO-ledInternational Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was deployed in Afghanistan and many expatriate Afghans returned to the country. Kabul's population grew from about 500,000 in 2001 to over 3 million. Foreign embassies re-opened. In 2008, responsibility for security began to shift from NATO to Afghan forces.[102] In 2001 rebuilding began[103] and many of the city's damaged landmarks were rebuilt or restored, including theGardens of Babur in 2005,[104] the arch ofPaghman, the Mahmoud Khan Bridgeclock tower in 2013[105] and theTaj Beg Palace in 2021.[106] Local community efforts repaired homes and dwellings.[107]
A street scene
With an increasing population the city experienced rapid urbanisation, and many informal settlements were built.[108] Numerous modern housing complexes were built after the late 2000s, many of them gated and secured, to serve a growing Afghanmiddle class.[109] These included the Aria City (in District 10) and Golden City (District 8).[110][111] Complexes were built out of town, such as the Omid-e-Sabztownship (District 13), Qasaba/Khwaja Rawash township (District 15), and Sayed Jamaludin township (District 12).[112][113][114]
A high-security "Green Zone" was formed in the centre of the city.[115] In 2010, a series of guarded checkpoints called theRing of Steel was put into operation. Concreteblast walls appeared throughout Kabul in the 2000s.[116]
A view of some of the mountains that surround Kabul
Kabul is situated at an altitude of 1,791 m (5,876 ft) abovesea level in a narrow valley in the eastern part of Afghanistan, wedged between theHindu Kush mountains along theKabul River. Immediately to the south of the old part of the city are the ancient city walls and the Sher Darwaza mountain, with the Shuhadayi Salihincemetery behind it. A bit further east is the ancientBala Hissar fortress with theHashmat Khan Lake behind it.
Some of Kabul's mountains (which are calledkoh in Dari andghar in Pashto) include: Khair Khana-e Shamali, Khwaja Rawash, Shakhi Baran Tey, Chihil Sutun, Qurugh, Khwaja Razaq and Sher Darwaza. There are also two mountains in between urban areas to the west:Koh-e Asamai (locally known as theTelevision Hill) and Ali Abad. Hills within the city (which are calledtapa in Dari andghondai in Pashto) includeBagh-e Bala,Bibi Mahro,Maranjan, and many more.
TheLogar River flows into Kabul from the south, joining the Kabul River not far from the city centre.
Kabul has a continental,cold semi-arid climate (BSk), with precipitation concentrated in the winter (almost exclusively falling assnow) and spring months. Summers have very lowhumidity, providing some relief from the heat. Autumns feature warm afternoons and sharply cooler evenings. Winters are very cold bySouth Asian standards, with a subzero January daily average temperature of −2.3 °C (27.9 °F), mainly due to the high elevation of the city. Spring is the wettest time of the year. Sunny conditions dominate year-round, and the annual mean temperature is only 12.1 °C (53.8 °F), much lower than that of Afghanistan's other large cities.
Kabul's various architectural designs reflect the various links it has with empires and civilisations, particularly being on the ancient trade route connecting India and China with Persia and the West.[136]
The BuddhistChakari minaret was likely built in theKushan era and has traces ofGreco-Bactrian andGandhara Art. It has Buddhistswastika and bothMahayana andTheravada qualities. Following the Islamic conquest, a new age of architectural realms appeared in the Kabul region. TheGardens of Babur is perhaps the best preserved example of Islamic andMughal architecture. EmperorBabur has also built seven other big gardens in Kabul at the time. The present Gardens of Babur also reflect Afghanistan's traditional architecture by the wooden carving, pressed stucco, decorative stone masonry and other features. Another fine example of the Babur era is theEidgah Mosque, using stones fromPunjab andSindh and designs by Persians.[136]
Ahmad Shah Durrani's rise as the Afghan ruler brought changes to Kabul and the nation, with a more inward-looking and self-protecting society reflecting the architecture that was no different between the rich and poor peoples. TheMausoleum of Timur Shah Durrani is another example of Islamic design, built in an octagonal structure. It followsCentral Asian traditions of decorative brick masonries along with a colorless appearance.[136] After theSecond Anglo-Afghan War, EmirAbdur Rahman Khan brought European styles for the first time. TheBagh-e Bala Palace was designed in a mixed Mughal and British Indian style, the first significant change from traditional Afghan and Islamic styles. However, palaces were still built with Central Asian Islamic design at heart. Numerous lavish buildings were created during that time, combined with large gardens. The Dilkusha Palace within theArg was the first created by a British architect.[136] Its accompanyingclock tower,c. 1911, was also a British creation.[137]
Houses in Kabul during that time were generally made up of walled compounds, built around courtyards and having narrow passageways to places.[138]
In the 1920s, new styles were strongly influenced by European architectural styles due to KingAmanullah Khan's visits to Europe, particularlyBerlin andParis.Darul Aman Palace is the best known example of modern Western design. TheShah-Do Shamshira Mosque was built in an unusual style for a mosque in Western and Italian stylebaroque. TheTaq-e Zafar inPaghman and other landmarks there are also based on European designs.[136] Houses also became more open, without having many of the walls.[138] Later in the century, severalSoviet inspired designs made its way into Kabul. Most notable of these were the variousmicroraions built in the city in the 1960s and afterwards. A different flavor of modern style was seen on theHotel Inter-Continental Kabul andSerena Hotel.[136]
In the 21st century, modern designs based on glass facades became popular. Examples of this modern Western style are theKabul City Center, Kabul City Walk, Kabul Business Center, Majid Mall, and Azim Tower. TheNational Assembly building, which was built by the government of India, has elements of modern IslamicMughal architecture, considered to have the largest dome in Asia. Its carving and large porch represent Afghan traditional architectural forms.[136] The newMinistry of Defense building follows traditional, Islamic and Western designs inspired bythe Pentagon. Another mix of these designs appear on thePaghman Hill Castle.[136] Increasing numbers of high rises have been built in this period, with the Kabul Markaz Tower in 2020 becoming the city's first to break the 100 m (330 ft) tall barrier.[139] The construction boom with modernhigh-rises throughout the 2010s had led to a major change in the city's skyline.[138] In recent years Kabul has been more applyingTurkish architecture.
ThePaghman River flows downstream fromPaghman and joins theKabul River nearKabul Zoo andBagh-e Babur. The Kabul River then flows through the heart of the city, dividing the central bazaars. There are several bridges (puls) crossing the rivers, the major ones being Pul-e Company, Pul-e Shah-Do Shamshira, Pul-e Bagh-e Omomi, Pul-e Khishti, and Pul-e Mahmoud. Due toclimate change, since the 21st century, the river runs dry most of the year, only filling up in the wetter winter and spring seasons.
Air pollution continues to be a major problem in the city during the winter season, when many residents burn coal and low-quality fuel.[143] Parts of the city also face water shortage,[144] which is being addressed.[145][146] The city relies mainly on deep wells most of which have already fallen dry.[147] About 99% of Kabul's population has access to cleandrinking water.[148] Major companies that provide bottled drinking water include Alokozay, Aria,[149] Cristal,[150] Noshaq,[151], Pamir and others.[152] The standard price is 10afghanis for a 500ml (16.9 oz) bottle and 140 afghanis for a 5 gallonjug. Cristal is the expensive brand followed by Alokozay. Some neighborhoods receivetap water from nearbywater supply networks.[153][154]
The Kabul municipality has an estimated population of 5,333,284 people.[6] The population has long fluctuated due to wars, exoduses and repatriations. The lack of an up-to-datecensus means that there are various estimates of the population. It was estimated to have been about 10,000 in 1700, 65,000 by 1878, and 120,000 by 1940.[59] More recently, the population was around 500,000 in 1979, while another source claims 337,715 as of 1976.[155] This figure rose to about 1.5 million by 1988, before dramatically dropping in the 1990s.
Kabul is and has historically been the most ethnically diverse city in the country, with the population including Afghans from all over the country. It became one of the fastest-growing cities in the world, with its population growing fourfold from 2001 to 2014. This was partly due to better security and living condition. This resulting rapidurbanisation means that many residents began living in informal settlements. In 1525,Babur describedKabulistan inhis memoirs by writing that:
There are many differing tribes in theKābul country; in its dales and plains are Turks and clansmen and ‘Arabs; in its town and in many villages, Sārts; out in the districts and also in villages are the Pashāī, Parājī, Tājīk, Bīrkī and Afghān tribes. In the western mountains are the Hazāra and Nikdīrī tribes, some of whom speak the Mughūlī tongue. In the north-eastern mountains are the places of the Kāfirs, such as Kitūr (Gawār?) and Gibrik. To the south are the places of the Afghān tribes. Eleven or twelve tongues are spoken in Kābul—‘Arabī,Persian,Turkī,Mughūlī,Hindī,Afghānī,Pashāī,Parājī,Gibrī,Bīrkī, and Lamghānī. If there be another country with so many differing tribes and such a diversity of tongues, it is not known.[13]
A 2003National Geographic article had put Kabul's population at being 45% Tajik, 25% Hazaras and Sadat/Sayyid, 25% Pashtun, and minority ethnic groups include Qizilbash (counted to Tajiks), 1% Baloch, 2% Uzbek, 1% Turkmen, and 1% Afghan Hindu.[156]
Thedemonym "Kabuli" (کابلی) refers to a native of the city, who is generally ethnic-neutral, understands Dari and Pashto, well educated, and favors Western clothing fashion. Many of them have left the country during the decades of war and began a new life in other countries.[159][160]
Around 90% of the city's population followSunni Islam while 10% areShias, who are mostly Hazaras and reside in theDashte Barchi area. There may also be hundreds of followers ofSikhism andHinduism.[161] It is estimated that there were 500–8,000 Afghan Christians in the country as a whole; due to restrictions on religious freedom, they often worship in secret, rendering it difficult to estimate the number of Christians in Kabul specifically.[162] Kabul also has smallSindhi andPunjabi merchant communities (which most of theSikhs and Hindus belong to)[163] andTurkish communities (mostly business-owners and investors), and in the 1980s had a sizableRussian community during the Soviet campaign in the country.
Kabul is the economic center of Afghanistan. Agricultural and other products from all parts of the country enter the city through theAfghanistan Ring Road. TheKabul International Airport also plays a role in this. The city has a number ofindustrial parks, including many shopping districts,banks, manufacturers, retailers, business centers, real estate developers, hotels, and restaurants.[164] The major shopping districts are located around theMausoleum of Timur Shah Durrani,Abdul Rahman Mosque andChaman-e-Hozori, including inShahr-e Naw, Karte Char,Khair Khana, andDashte Barchi. A new shopping area was developed next to theKabul-Jalalabad Road, across from Bagrami industrial area in the Kart-e Naw neighborhood.[165] Modern indoor shopping places are also plentiful in all parts of the city.[166] Some of the popular restaurants include Al Arab Mandi, Al Hayat, Barg, Bukhara, Cafeteria, Istanbul, Kaboora, Namak, Prime Steakhouse, Turkish, and Ziyafat.[167]
Kabul has many hotels and guest houses. The good ones are in theShahr-e Naw andWazir Akbar Khan neighborhoods (the Green Zone). The following are some of the hotels in Kabul (in alphabetical order).
Maranjan Hill is where Buddhiststatues and Graeco-Bactriancoins from the 2nd century BC have been found. The hill is currently undergoing a major makeover.[169][170] Outside the city proper lies the BuddhistGuldara stupa and another stupa atShewaki.
Parks and gardens - The city has a growing number ofurban parks andplaygrounds.[172][173] Below is a list of some of the parks, gardens, and recreation places.
The city of Kabul is administratively divided into five zones and22 municipal districts.[11] Mawlawi Abdul Rashid serves as the currentmayor of the city.[4] The Kabul Municipality's structure consists of 17 departments under the mayor. Like other provincial municipalities in Afghanistan, the Kabul Municipality deals with city affairs such as infrastructure developments. The city districts (nāhia) collect certain taxes and issue building licenses. Each city district has a district head appointed by the mayor, and lead six major departments in the district office. The neighborhood organization structure at thenahia level is called agozar. Kabul is divided into 630 Gozars. Awakil-e gozar is a person chosen to represent a community within a city district.
Location of Kabul Municipality within Kabul Province
The city of Kabul is located withinKabul District, which is one of the 15 districts ofKabul Province. As the provincial capital, it forms amunicipality (shārwāli) which is further divided into 22administrative districts called municipal districts or city districts (nāhia), which coincide with the official Police Districts (PD).[176] The number of city districts increased from 11 to 18 in 2005, and then to 22 by 2010 after the incorporation of Districts 14 and 19–22 which were annexed by Kabul Municipality from surrounding rural districts. Thecity limits have thus substantially increased. District 1 contains most of the old city. Downtown Kabul mostly consists of Districts 2, 4 and 10. In addition, Districts 3 and 6 house many commercial and governmental points of interests.[177]
The table below shows the 22 city districts and their settlements, with information about its land size and usage, accurate as of 2011.[178]
Kabul city announced open calls through the Kabul municipality's HP and its Facebook page, to participate in town meeting and planning process
In 2019, theNagoya Institute of Technology, in partnership with the Kabul city Municipality, jointly agreed to deploy a digital platform, called D-Agree in urban planning to provide support for stakeholders to promote meaningful public participation and help reach consensus in Kabul city planning process.[179]
From September 2019 until theFall of Kabul (2021) in August 2021, the platform was used on behalf of Kabul Municipality to moderate more than 300 Kabul city-related planning discussions.[180][181][182][183][184][185][186]In these discussions, more than 15,000 citizens participated in planning activities hosted by D-Agree and generated more than 71,000 opinions which catalogued intoissue-based information system regarding urban-related thematic areas.[179]Despite theTaliban take-over, D-Agree will continue to play an important role in facilitating urban planning and infrastructure-related consultations.[187]
D-Agree, is a discussion support platform withartificial intelligence–based facilitation.[189] The discussion trees in D-Agree, inspired byissue-based information system, contain a combination of four types of elements: issues, ideas, pros, and cons.[189] The software extracts a discussion's structure in real time based on IBIS, automatically classifying all the sentences.[189]
TheAH76 highway (or Kabul-Charikar Highway) connects Kabul north towardsCharikar,Pol-e Khomri andMazar-i-Sharif (310 km (190 mi) away), with leading roads toKunduz (250 km (160 mi) away). TheAH77 highway goes west towardsBamiyan Province (150 km (93 mi) away) andChaghcharan in the central mountains of Afghanistan. To the south-west, the Kabul-Ghazni Highway goes toGhazni (130 km (81 mi) away) andKandahar (460 km (290 mi) away). To the south, the Kabul-Gardez Highway connects it toGardez (100 km (62 mi) away) andKhost. To the east, the Kabul-Jalalabad Highway goes toJalalabad (120 km (75 mi) away) and ends atTorkham.
Much of the road network in downtown Kabul consists of square or circle intersections (char-rahi). The main square in the city is Pashtunistan Square (named afterPashtunistan), which has a largefountain in it and is located adjacent to the presidential palace, theCentral Bank, and other landmarks.[196] TheMassoud Circle is located by theU.S. Embassy and has the road leading to the airport. In the old city, Sar-e Chawk roundabout is at the center of Maiwand Road (Jadayi Maiwand). Once all roads led to it, and in the 16th century was called the "navel of Kabul".[197] In theShahr-e Naw district there are several major intersections: Ansari, Haji Yaqub, Quwayi Markaz, Sedarat, and Turabaz Khan. The latter, named afterTurabaz Khan, connecting Flower Street andChicken Street. There are also two major intersections in western Kabul: theDeh Mazang Circle andKote Sangi. Salang Watt is the main road to the north-west, whereas Asamayi Watt and Seh Aqrab (also called Sevom Aqrab) is the main road to western Kabul.
The steep population rise in the 21st century had caused major congestion problems for the city's roads.[198] In efforts to tackle this issue, a 95 km outerring road costing $110 million was approved in 2017.[199][200] Construction took five years and it runs fromChar Asiab viaAhmad Shah Baba Mina,Deh Sabz ("Kabul New City" development area), the AH76 highway,Paghman and back to Char Asyab.[201] A new buspublic transport service was also planned to be opened in 2018 (see below).[202] In September 2017, the head of the Kabul Municipality announced that 286 meters of pedestrian overpassfootbridges will be built in eight busy areas "in the near future".[203]
Under the Kabul Urban Transport Efficiency Improvement Project that was signed in 2014 and backed by theWorld Bank, the city is seeing widespread improvements in road conditions, including the building of new pedestrian sidewalks, drainage systems, lighting andasphalted road surfaces.[204][205]
Majority of vehicles driven in Kabul are made byToyota.[206][207][208] Unregistered vehicles faceimpoundment by city officials.[209] The number of dealerships have increased from 77 in 2003 to over 550 by 2010.[210] Bicycles on the road are a common sight in the city.
Taxi in Kabul is painted turquoise and usually an older modelToyota Corolla. There are around 40,000 of them in the city.[211][212] The city's public bus service (Milli Bus / "National Bus") was established in the 1960s to takecommuters on daily routes to many destinations. Long-distance road journeys are made by privately-ownedMercedes-Benz buses, which are available at Paitakht (Capital) bus terminal in the Sarai Shomali area ofKhair Khana. Another bus terminal is atDashte Barchi, which take passengers to southern and central areas of Afghanistan.
An electrictrolleybus system operated in Kabul from February 1979 to 1992 usingŠkoda fleet built by aCzechoslovak company. Thetrolleybus service was highly popular mainly due to its low price compared to the Millie Bus conventional bus service. The last trolleybus came to a halt in late 1992 due to warfare – much of thecopperoverhead wires were later looted but a few of them, including the steel poles, can still be seen in Kabul today.[155][213]
In March 2021, a new city bus service was launched in Kabul using American vehicles built byIC Bus, and accompanied by newly builtbus stops throughout the city. Five buses entered service on one route which is expected to be expanded to a fleet of 200 buses on 16 different routes.[214][215]
Abu Hanifa (born 7th century), prominent Islamic scholar and the founder of theHanafi school of jurisprudence, one of the four majorSunni legal schools, whose ancestors hailed from the Kabul region
Mir Zahid Harawi (born 17th century), religious scholar and historian, worked and died in Kabul
Saib Tabrizi (born c. 1592) Persian poet who spent several years in Kabul under the patronage of Mirzā Aḥsan-Allāh Ẓafar Khan, the governor of Kabul at the time
Sayed Askar Mosavi a contemporary Afghan historian, writer, and anthropologist. He was born in Kabul in 1956.
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