Khost (Pashto[a],Dari[b]: خوست), is one of the 34provinces of Afghanistan located in the southeastern part of the country. Khost consists of thirteen districts and the city ofKhost serves as the capital of the province. Historically, Khost used to be a part ofPaktia and a larger region surrounding Khost is still referred to asLoya Paktia.
Throughout history, the province has been the site for numerousrebellions, leading to the localPashtun populace to consider themselves the “traditional king-makers in Kabul”.[7] The province was previously known as theSouthern province and was united with the neighbouringPaktia province. Khost is also home to numerous universities, includingShaikh Zayed University, which is the only university in Afghanistan with a faculty incomputer science.[8]
As of 2021, it was estimated that the population of the province stood at647,730, which makes it the 16th most populated province in Afghanistan.[5]
During thesecond Anglo-Afghan War, British forces led byLord Roberts entered the province. Approximately 8,000raiders from theMangal tribe, which had a long tradition of resisting outside control, launched several attacks on weakly protected British supplyconvoys in Khost Province. Inreprisal, Lord Roberts ordered his forces to attack eleven Mangal villages which had launched raids that murdered severalcamp followers, resulting in them being sacked and burnt. As the news of the reprisals spread over Britain, his political opponents in theBritish parliament criticized Lord Robert's actions. At the end of the conflict, British forces withdrew from the province.[10][11]
In 1924, the province of Khost, then known as theSouthern province, was the site of a rebellion againstEmir Amanullah Khan by theMangal tribe. The rebellion began in March 1924 when Mulla Abd Allah accused a local official of violatingSharia by forbidding a marriage in accordance with a new family law as the father of the bride in question had pledged her to another man whilst she was an infant. As a result, Mulla Abd Allah issued afatwa against Amanullah Khan, condemning him as akafir(infidel) and launchingJihad after a failed attempt was made by mediators to justify the new laws. The rebels were soon joined by the son of the former kingYaqub Khan,Abd-al Karim, who managed to escape British surveillance and moved to Khost, where he was crowned king by the rebels. Rebel forces then conquered the city ofGardez, which is adjacent to Khost. By late July, the rebels had captured Hisarak, which was 12 kilometres far from the capital,Kabul. However, the rebels didn’t try to seize the capital and instead returned to Khost, taking the spoils of war with them.[12]
TheDeobandi-trained council of ’ulama’ issued a fatwa denouncing Mulla Abd Allah as a rebel and began to provide Amanullah Khan with levies after he allowed them to alter the constitution so that it would align with their interpretation of Sharia. In August,Shah Wali Khan attacked the rebels inLogar whilst theAfghan Air Force were simultaneously bombing rebel positions. By early October, government forces had regained possession of the city of Gardez. Two months later, tribal leaders from Khost travelled to Kabul with the aim of initiating a peace process, only to be thrown in jail. Mulla Abd Allah, along with his three sons, were eventually captured and executed, and the rebellion was quelled in January 1925. Shah Wali Khan burned and looted more than 300 homes in Khost and brought 600 female captives back with him to Kabul, where they were distributed amongst theMohammadzais as war booty.[13] In the aftermath of the government’s victory, Amanullah Khan decided to construct a victory pillar in Kabul to commemorate his vanquishing of the rebels. The new pillar was meant to demonstrate the “triumph of knowledge over ignorance”.[14]
In April 1978, theCommunistPeople's Democratic Party of Afghanistan staged acoup d'état against the then presidentMohammed Daoud Khan, ending theRepublic of Afghanistan and establishing theDemocratic Republic of Afghanistan under the rule ofNur Muhammad Taraki, who would later be overthrown and killed byHafizullah Amin in 1979. The coup is also known as theSaur Revolution. In late 1978, a rebellion occurred in the remote region ofNuristan, but it didn't spread to the other parts of the country due to its isolation.[15] The new communist government strived to eliminate illiteracy and implement agrarian reforms by sending literacy campaigners and agrarian reformers to various provinces, including Khost.[16] Following a rebellion by theZadran tribe, a Pashtun tribe native toLoya Paktia, president Hafizullah Amin decided to launch a full scale military operation inPaktia. The operation was a "crushing defeat" and it, alongside the ousting of former President Taraki, was one of the reasons why the Soviets decided to intervene in December 1979, thus starting theSoviet–Afghan War.[17]
At the end of July 1983, the forces ofJalaluddin Haqqani laid siege to two towns in Khost and the Tani, Mangal, Zazai and Waziri tribes began taking an active part in the fighting, despite being passive up until then. All of the aforementioned events coincided with the appeal of former KingMohammed Zahir Shah for a united front, which caused rumours about the Royalists intending to establish aprovisional government in a liberated Khost. However, Khost wasn't captured and by October, the Tani tribe had withdrawn from coalition due to a tribal rivalry with the Zadran. Many rebels also returned home as winter came on. By the end of December, government forces arriving fromGardez ended the siege of the two towns and recaputeredZazi Maidan.[18]
Khost was considered a "bastion of theregime" during theSoviet–Afghan War and its loyalty to theDemocratic Republic of Afghanistan allowed it to be granted ade facto provincial status in 1986. This provided the province with a force of paid provincial staff and an annual budget that was separate from the neighbouring provinces.[19]
On 16 April 2022,Pakistani airstrikes targeted several villages inSpera District, including Afghan-Dubai, Pasa Mela, Mir Sapar, Mandata, and Kanai, and struck refugee camps belonging tointernally displaced persons fromWaziristan, killing at least 41 people, mainly women and children, and wounding 22 others, according to the Taliban interim government. Pakistan claimed it struck TTP camps.[21][22][23][24][25]
On 22 June 2022, amagnitude 5.9 earthquake struck the province. In Spera District, approximately 500 homes were destroyed, and 40 people were killed, with 95 others injured.[26][27] Many houses constructed primarily of mud and wood were razed to the ground.[26] Heavy rain and the earthquake contributed to landslides that destroyed entirehamlets.[28]
The percentage of households with clean drinking water increased from 34% in 2005 to 35% in 2011.[29] The percentage of births attended to by a skilled birth attendant increased from 18% in 2005 to 32% in 2011.[29]
The overall literacy rate (6+ years of age) fell from 28% in 2005 to 15% in 2011.[29] The overall net enrolment rate (6–13 years of age) fell from 38% in 2005 to 37% in 2011.[29]
Pamir University - Situated in the capital of Khost province, the university is a private higher education institute which was inaugurated on April 24, 2011.
^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%.
Khost Province is traversed by theKurram River, which rises from the Rokian Defile, passes through the district, and then enters the "country of theTuris or the Kurram Valley".[33]
