Kandahar[a] is one of the 34provinces of Afghanistan, located in the southern part of the country, sharing a border withBalochistan, Pakistan, to the south. It is surrounded byHelmand in the west,Uruzgan in the north andZabul Province in the east. Its capital is the city ofKandahar, Afghanistan's second largest city, located on theArghandab River. The greater region surrounding the province is calledLoy Kandahar. TheEmir of Afghanistan sends orders toKabul from Kandahar making it the de facto capital of Afghanistan, although the main government body operates in Kabul. All meetings with the Emir take place in Kandahar, meetings excluding the Emir are in Kabul.
The province contains about 18districts, over 1,000 villages, and approximately 1,431,876 people (the 6th most populous province), which is mostly tribal and a rural society.[5] The main inhabitants of Kandahar province are the ethnicPashtuns. They are followed by theBaloch people,Tajiks,Uzbeks,Turkmens andHazaras.[6]
There is speculation revolving around the origin of the name "Kandahar". The name Kandahar (Sanskrit:कंधार) is believed to be linguistically corrupted form of a wordGandhāra (Sanskrit:गंधार), which was used between 2000-1700 BCE.[7] It is also believed to have started as one of many cities named after the Hellenistic conquerorAlexander the Great throughout his vast (mainly ex-Achaemenid) empire, its present form deriving from thePashto rendering ofArabicIskandariya = AncientAlexandria (in Arachosia).[8]
A temple to the deified Alexander as well as an inscription inGreek andAramaic by the emperorAshoka, who lived a few decades later, have been discovered in the old citadel.[9]
Excavations of prehistoric sites by archaeologists such asLouis Dupree and others suggest that the region around Kandahar is one of the oldest known human settlements so far.
...Early peasant farming villages came into existence in Afghanistan ca. 5000 B.C., or 7000 years ago. Deh Morasi Ghundai, the first prehistoric site to be excavated in Afghanistan, lies 27 km (17 mi.) southwest of Kandahar (Dupree, 1951). AnotherBronze Age village mound site with multiroomed mud-brick buildings dating from the same period sits nearby at Said Qala (J. Shaffer, 1970). Second millennium B.C. Bronze Agepottery, copper andbronze horse trappings and stone seals were found in the lowermost levels in the nearby cave called Shamshir Ghar (Dupree, 1950). In theSeistan, southwest of these Kandahar sites, two teams of American archaeologists discovered sites relating to the 2nd millennium B.C. (G. Dales,University Museum, University of Pennsylvania, 1969, 1971; W, Trousdale,Smithsonian Institution, 1971 – 76). Stylistically the finds from Deh Morasi and Said Qala tie in with those of pre-Indus Valley sites and with those of comparable age on theIranian Plateau and in Central Asia, indicating cultural contacts during this very early age...[10]
Later Kandahar came under the influence of theIndian emperorAshoka, who erected a pillar there with a bilingual inscription inGreek andAramaic. The territory was ruled by theZunbils beforeArabs of theUmayyad Caliphate arrived in the 7th century CE.
The Arabs advanced throughSistan and conquered Sindh early in the eighth century. Elsewhere however their incursions were no more than temporary, and it was not until the rise of theSaffarid dynasty in the ninth century that the frontiers of Islam effectively reached Ghazni and Kabul. Even then a Hindu dynasty theHindushahis, heldGandhara and eastern borders.
From the tenth century onwards, as Persian language and culture continued to spread into Afghanistan, the focus of power shifted toGhazni, where a Turkic dynasty (from the Samanid city ofBokhara) proceeded to create an empire of their own. The greatest of the Ghaznavids wasMahmud, who ruled between 998 and 1030. He expelled the Hindus from Ghandhara.[12]
Mahmud of Ghazni made the area part of theGhaznavids in the 10th century, who were replaced by theGhurids. After the destructions caused byGenghis Khan in the 13th century, theTimurids established rule and began rebuilding cities. From about 1383 until his death in 1407, Kandahar was governed byPir Muhammad, a grandson ofTimur.
In the early 16th century, Kandahar briefly fell toBabur. From then on the province was controlled by the ShiaSafavids, as their easternmost territories. They regularly had wars with the SunniMughals, who ruled Kandahar as a short-livedsubah (imperial province) from the 1638 conquest until its loss in 1648 to one of the Safavids' rivals.
Ahmad Shah Durrani, the founding father of Afghanistan, gained control of the province in 1747 and made the city of Kandahar the capital of his new Afghan Empire. In the 1770s, the capital of the empire was transferred to Kabul. Ahmad Shah Durrani'smausoleum is located in the center of the city.
In December 1979, theSoviet Unioninvaded Afghanistan. This led to a war that lasted for years, between the Soviets and a rebellion by local guerrilla groups, known as theMujahideen.[13] The groups were usually made up of fellow members of local tribes, and were led by a chief who inherited the title.[14]
In 1985, a major guerrilla commander, Esmatullah Muslim, joined the forces of thepro-Soviet Afghan government in Kandahar.[13] A leading official of Afghanistan's Communist Party, Hayat Khan, was killed by guerrillas in the province August 1985.[15] The Soviets carpet-bombed the province's southern districts in 1986.[16] Kandahar city became "mostly ruins".[17] Guerilla plans for taking the unoccupied city were thwarted when the Soviet and Afghan government forces returned there in 1988.[18] The Soviets eventually withdrew from the country.[19]
In the early 1990s, the province's governor wasGul Agha Shirzai. The province under his reign was described asanarchic.[20]
TheTaliban began in Kandahar in 1994, whenMullah Omar (previously an ally of Mujahideen warlord Rais Abdul Wahid[19]) started anIslamist movement against misrule by the Mujadhideen.[21][22] He would become Taliban's Supreme Leader.[23] The Taliban would take over almost all of Afghanistan.[19] Under a version ofSharia law,[16] they oppressed women heavily,[24] although there were some minor moves towards equality in 2000.[25] In 1997, due to international pressure, they began a campaign to rid the province ofopium andheroin production,[24] but the campaign failed.[26]
In October 2001, as a response to theSeptember 11 attacks, the United States andNATO (aided by theNorthern Alliance[27])invaded Afghanistan to depose the Taliban. This began thewar on terror. Initially, it was an air war, and included the bombing of multiple targets nearKandahar city's airport. On the 20th, the war's first ground operation began with a U.S. commando raid near the airport, which the Taliban claimed was unsuccessful.[28][29]
In December, Kandahar cityfell to the invading forces, marking the end of Taliban government at that point.[29][30] Mullah Omar's presidential palace was bombed by U.S. forces, later being rebuilt and used as a complex forU.S. Special Forces.[23] Omar went into hiding,[22] and pledged to keep fighting against the invasion.[19] In a deal with the U.S., the surrendering Taliban agreed to give up in the province.[31] Two of the commanders who fought in Kandahar prior to the surrender were Gul Agha Shirzai, who became the province's governor again, andHamid Karzai, who became the president of Afghanistan.[20][32]
In the following years, a newTaliban insurgency fought against the U.S. and NATO, mostly in Kandahar andHelmand Province.[35][36] At the same time, the U.S. was searching forOsama bin Laden. Arrested terrorists or suspected terrorists were sent from the Kandahar detention center to theGuantanamo Bay naval base.[37] Afghans detained by Canadian troops were handed over to Afghan's intelligence police, theNational Directorate of Security, who (without Canadian knowledge) tortured the detainees during interrogation in jail.[38]
U.S. soldiers patrolling thePanjwayi District near Kandahar city in 2004
Despite a new focus on gender equality, a dysfunctional legal system allowed for the continuing sale ofchild brides in the province. This was especially common in its northeastern area, which was discovered to be a Taliban stronghold.[34][39] By 2004, U.S. andAfghan forces had started a guerrilla war against them.[39]
There was a surge in Taliban attacks in May 2006,[40] which caused an influx of villagers across the province to leave their homes for bigger cities.[41] Also that month, a top Taliban commander,Mullah Dadullah, was arrested.[42] In June, a car bomb almost killed the provincial governor.[40] Meanwhile, the U.S. started transferring authority over the province to NATO, which the Taliban used as an opportunity to move in west of Kandahar city, likely to threaten it.[43] The U.S. and NATO startedOperation Medusa in September, which reportedly killed, captured, and expelled hundreds of insurgents.[43][44][45] However, plenty of civilian property was destroyed.[43] A reconstruction effort began, namedOperation Baaz Tsuka.[44]
In 2009, the U.S. started planning for a new anti-Taliban operation in the province, building a presence around Kandahar city. TheirStryker Brigade was sent to the district ofSpinboldak, on the Pakistan border, to shut down Taliban infiltration routes.[30]
In 2010, Kandahar was considered the most dangerous province in the country.[46] It had a lack of government workers, which caused an influx of insurgents.[47] Four of its 17 districts were under Taliban control. Health services and education were "virtually absent" outside of certain towns. In March, a major provincial official, Abdul Majeed Babai, was shot and killed.[30] In the spring, the U.S. experienced fighting before their operation could start.[30] They attempted to attain the military backing of two influential leaders in the region, the warlord Haji Ghani and tribal leader Haji Lala, but only Ghani was receptive.[48] Later, there were two notable incidents of U.S. soldiers massacring Afghan civilians inMaiwand District andPanjwai District.[49][50]
The U.S. and NATO's combat mission in Afghanistan formally ended in 2014.[29] By 2015,The Guardian wrote Kandahar city was considered "largely secure by Afghan standards". It had gained an extensive police force andblast walls, and commercial and domestic flights had restarted there. However, that year, the U.S. pulled funding from various development programs in the region, and there were fears it could lead to a strengthened Taliban; the Afghan national security forces were "strained" in the absence of international troops.[51]
In 2018, Afghanistan's election commission delayed elections in Kandahar after two senior provincial officials (itspolice commander and intelligence agency commander) were killed in a Taliban-claimed shooting. The vote eventually took place, peacefully.[52][53]
TheTaliban offensive (shown in gray and green) in the province on August 12, 2021
In 2021, as theU.S. withdrew from Afghanistan, aTaliban offensive started taking over Afghanistan.[21][54] On May 1, the U.S. withdrew from Kandahar, and the Taliban startedtaking nearby districts to Kandahar city.[55] The fighting displaced 150,000 people living nearby.[21] They took the city on August 12.[56] Following this, women and girls in the province were banned from multiple institutions.[21][57] In 2023, the office of the Taliban's spokesman was moved from Kabul to Kandahar.[21]
According to the National Statistics and Information Authority (NSIA), the total population of the province was estimated at 1,431,876.[5]Pashtuns make up the majority in province. There are also communities ofBaloch people,Tajiks,Uzbeks,Turkmens,Hazaras and others.[6] The main language spoken throughout the province isPashto.[4]Dari andBalochi is also understood by some, especially in the city of Kandahar where learning of Dari as a second language is promoted in public schools.[59]
^Note: "Predominantely" or "dominated" is interpreted as 99%, "majority" as 70%, "mixed" as 1/(number of ethnicities), "minority" as 30% and "few" or "some" as 1%.
TheAhmad Shah Baba International Airport is located east of the city of Kandahar. It is for civilian and military use. It serves the population of southern Afghanistan by providing domestic flights to other cities and international flights to Dubai, Pakistan, Iran and other regional countries. The airport was built by the United States in the 1960s under theUnited States Agency for International Development program. It was later used by Soviet and Afghan forces during the 1980s and again during the 2001–2021 NATO-led war. The airport was upgraded and expanded during the last decade by theUnited States Army Corps of Engineers.
There is currently no rail service but reports indicate that at least one will be built between the city of Kandahar and the border town ofSpin Boldak in the south, which will then connect withPakistan Railways.[70][71][72][73][74][75][76] Ground transport of goods is carried by trucks and cars. A number of important roads run through the province and this helps the area's economy. The town of Spin Boldak serves as a major transporting, shipping, and receiving site. It is being developed so that trade with neighboring Pakistan increases.
Kandahar province has bus services to major towns and village headquarters. Its capital, Kandahar, used to have a city bus service that took commuters on daily routes to different destinations throughout the city. There are taxicabs that provide transportation service inside the city as well as throughout the province. Other traditional methods of ground transportation are also used. Private vehicles are on the rise in the country, with large showrooms selling new or second-hand vehicles imported from theUnited Arab Emirates. More people are buying new cars as the roads and highways are being improved.
Kandahar has been known for having well-irrigated gardens and orchards, and was famous for its grapes, melons, and pomegranates. The main source of trade is to Pakistan, Iran and other regional countries. Kandahar is an agricultural area and several of the districts are irrigated by theHelmand and Arghandab Valley Authority.[77] TheDahla Dam is located in the province, north of the city of Kandahar. There are approximately 700greenhouses in the entire province but farmers want the government to build more.[78]
There are a number of hospitals in the province, most of them in the city of Kandahar. These include Aino Mina Hospital, Al Farhad Hospital, Ayoubi Hospital,Mirwais Hospital, Mohmand Hospital,[79] Sial Curative Hospital and Sidal Hospital.
Kandahar University is one of the largest educational institutions in the province. It has over 5,000 students, about 300 of which are female students.[80] In partnership with theAsia Foundation, Kandahar University conducted a pilot project that provided female high school graduates with a four-month refresher course to prepare for the college entrance examination. The university is one of two universities in Kandahar that serve all of southern Afghanistan. The conditions in the university are poor but improving slowly. Kandahar University is far behind many of the otheruniversities in the country because of insecurity and shortage of funding,
There are approximately 377 public and private schools in Kandahar province. The total number of students is 362,000. Of this, 79,000 are female students. Due to insecurity and other issues, many female studentsdrop out before obtaining adiploma.[81] Almost 150 educational institutes were closed in the past, according to the education ministry. Some of the well known public schools in Kandahar are Ahmad Shah Baba High School, Mahmud Tarzi High School, Mirwais Hotak High School, Nazo Ana High School, Shah Mahmud Hotak High School, and Zarghuna Ana High School. Private schools includeAfghan Turk High Schools.
Abdul Hai Habibi- Poet, Writer, Historian, Founder and Developer of Academic Pashto era.
Faizullah Kakar - Afghan epidemiologist. Previous Chief of Staff to PresidentAshraf Ghani, the Afghan Ambassador to Qatar, the Adviser to president for Health and Education, and the Deputy Minister of Public Health for the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.
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