Kabul
Kabul (34°32′N 69°10′E / 34.533°N 69.167°E, Kâb'l, in Persian کابل) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan with a population variously estimated at 2 to 4 million. It is an economic and cultural center strategically situated in a narrow valley along the Kabul River, high in the mountains before the Khyber Pass. Kabul is linked with the Tajikistan border via a tunnel under the Hindu Kush Mountains. It is about 1,800 metres (5,900 feet) above sealevel. Kabul's main products include ordnance, cloth, furniture, and beet sugar, though continual war since 1979 has limited the economic productivity of the city. Kabul remains one of the most mined cities in the world. Kabul's population is multicultural and multi-ethnic, reflecting the diversity of Afghanistan, with Pashtuns, Tajiks, and Hazaras all comprising the bulk of the city's population. Kabul is still in the process of being rebuilt following decades of war and devastation, so accurate census counts remain difficult and only rough estimates are available.
Reconstruction
Public transportation in the city is overcrowded, with only 108 public buses for a population of 2-4 million. A US$ 23 million project to restore and expand the public electric buses system aims at some 50 km of track and 50 vehicles. The goal was to have buses running along one line by the end of 2004, but there is no sign of this project getting underway. Expertise and training will come from the Czech Republic, particularly Ostrov-Skoda. In addition, India, Iran and Japan have agreed to provide more regular buses for the city. Private mini-buses and taxis crowd the streets, often seriously overladen with passengers.
In October 2005, there were thirteen licensed banks in Kabul: including Afghanistan International Bank (managed by the Dutch ING Bank), Standard Chartered Bank, Kabul Bank, Punjab National Bank and the Habib Bank of Pakistan.
The Kabul Hotel (in the center of Kabul) is being revamped by the AKDN at the cost of US$25 million. The reconstruction was nearly completed in October 2005. It is unclear whether plans for a 200-room Hyatt Regency hotel will come to fruition. The landmark InterContinental Hotel has been partially refurbished, but is still dated by Western standards.
History
The first records of Kabul are a mention of the Kubha River around 1200 BCE and a reference to the settlement Kabura by the Persian Achaemenids around 300 BCE. Kabul was known as Chabolo in antiquity. The Bactrians founded the town of Parapamisidae near Kabul, but it was later ceded to the Mauryans in the 1st century BCE, Kushans in the 1st century CE and then Hindus until its capture by the Arabs in 664. Over the next 600 years, the city was successively controlled by the Samanids of Bokhara, the Ghaznavid Empire, and the Ghorids of Bamiyan.
In the 13th century the Mongol horde passed through. In the 14th century, Kabul rose again as a trading center under the kingdom of Timur, who married the sister of Kabul's ruler. But as Timurid power waned, the city was captured in 1504 and made into a capital by Babur and subsequent Mughal rulers. Haidar, an Indian poet who visited at the time wrote "Dine and drink in Kabul: it is mountain, desert, city, river and all else."
Nadir Shah of Persia captured it in 1738. During the mid 18th century Ahmad Shah Durrani rose to power in Afghanistan, re-asserting Afghan rule. In 1772, his son Timur Shah inherited power and made Kabul the capital, even as their empire began to crumble.
In 1826 the throne was claimed by Dost Mohammed, but it was taken by the British army in 1839 (see Afghan Wars), who installed the unpopular puppet Shah Shuja. A 1841 local uprising massacred both the British mission and the British army on their subsequent retreat to Jalalabad. In 1842 the British returned, plundering Bala Hissar in revenge before retreating to India. Dost Mohammed returned to the throne.
The British returned in 1878 as the city was under Sher Ali Khan's rule, but its residents were massacred again. The British army came again in 1879 under General Roberts, partially destroying Bala Hissar before retreating to India. Amir Abdur Rahman was left in control of the country.
In the early 20th century King Amanullah reigned. His reforms included electricity and schooling for girls. He drove a Rolls Royce, and lived in Darul Aman Palace in south-west Kabul. In 1919 he announced Afghanistan's independence from Id Gah Mosque, after the Third Anglo-Afghan War. In 1928, Amir Habibullah Khan Khadim-e-Dine-Rasoolullah, a Tajik rebel, deposed Amanullah and took control of Kabul City and much of northern Afghanistan before being ousted by Nadir Khan, Amanullah's half-brother.
In 1932 Kabul University opened, and the 1950s saw the streets of the city paved with Soviet assistance.
After 1940, the city began to grow as an industrial center.
In the 1960s, Kabul developed a cosmopolitan mood. The first Marks and Spencer store in Central Asia was built there, and Kabul Zoo was inaugurated in 1967. The Zoo was maintained with the help of visiting German Zoologists, and focused on Afghan fauna.
In 1975 an east-west electric trolley-bus system provided public transportation across the city. The system was built with assistance from Czechoslovakia.
After the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the Soviet Union occupied the city on December 23, 1979, turning it into their command center during the 10-year conflict between the Soviet-allied government and the mujahedeen rebels. The American embassy in Kabul closed on January 30, 1989. Kabul fell into guerrilla hands after the 1992 collapse of the Mohammad Najibullah government. As these forces divided into warring factions, the city increasingly suffered. In December the last of the 86 trolley buses in the city came to a halt due to the conflict. A system of 800 public buses continued to provide transportation to the population of about one million.
At this time, Burhannudin Rabbani's Jamiat-e Islami (Islamic Council of Afghanistan) held power but the nominal prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hezb-e Islami began a five-year shelling of the city from its south, which lasted until 1996. Kabul was factionalised, and fighting continued between Jamiat-e Islami, Dostum and the Hazara Hezb-e Wahdat. Tens of thousands of civilians were killed and more fled as refugees.
Kabul was captured by the Taliban in September, 1996, publicly lynching ex-president Najibullah, repressing the city's dangerously literate populace and effectively moving the capital to Kandahar.
The Taliban abandoned the city on November 12, 2001 due to extensive American bombing and Kabul came under the control of the Afghan Northern Alliance. After the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, it became the capital of the Afghan Transitional Administration.
The city is served by Kabul International Airport.
Attractions
The old part of Kabul is filled with bazaars nestled along its narrow, crooked streets. Kabul University was established in 1931, and there are a number of colleges. Cultural sites include the very good Kabul Museum. Afghan National Museum, notably displaying an impressive statue of Surya excavated at Khair Khana, Babur's tomb and gardens, the mausoleum of Mohammad Nadir Shah, the Minar-i-Istiklal (column of independence) built in 1919 after the Third Afghan War, the tomb of Timur Shah, and some important mosques. Bala Hissar is a fort destroyed by the British in 1879, in retaliation for the death of their envoy, now restored as a military college. Darul Aman Palace is the destroyed former Defence Ministry building. The Minaret of Chakari has Buddhist swastika and both Mahayana and Theravada qualities.
Other places of interest include West Kabul, Kabul Zoo, Babur Gardens, Bala Hisar, Shah Do Shamshera Mosque, the Afghan National Gallery, the Afghan National Archive, the Afghan Royal Family Mausoleum, the OMAR Mine Museum, Bibi Mahroo Hill, the Kabul Christian Cemetery, and Paghman Gardens. Tappe-i-Maranjan is a nearby hill where Buddhist statues and Graceo-Bactrian coins from the 2nd century BC have been found. The mausoleum of the first Mughal Emperor Babur is also on the outskirts of Kabul. Outside the city proper is a citadel and the royal palace. Paghman and Jalalabad are interesting valleys north and east of the city.
The Kabul Zoo was once home to a lion named Marjan who was maimed in a grenade attack. The story goes that a soldier climbed into her cage in order to show off and was killed by the lion. Later, an angry friend of the dead soldier threw a grenade at Marjan and cost the lion an eye.
See also
- Kabul Golf Club
- Radio Kabul
- Timeline of Afghan history
- Camp Julien
- International Security Assistance Force
- List of cities in Afghanistan