Kabul is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, situated in the east of the country. The capital of the province is Kabul city, which is Afghanistan's capital and largest city. The population of Kabul Province is over 5.5 million people as of 2022, of which over 85 percent live in urban areas. The current governor of the province is Mohammad Aman Obaid.
It borders the provinces of Parwan to the north, Kapisa to the north-east, Laghman to the east, Nangarhar to the south-east, Logar to the south, and Wardak to the west.
History
Kabul's history dates back more than 3,500 years. It was once the center of ZoroastrianismSOUTH ASIA | Kabul: City of lost glories . BBC News (2001-11-12). Retrieved on 2010-10-19. and subsequently also a home for Buddhists and Hindus.
The native citizens of Kabul as per the records of the British Museum are Tajiks and Pashtuns.
The city was invaded by Arab Muslims in the 7th century by introducing Islam but was slowly taken back by the Hindu Shahis of Kabul. It was re-invaded by the Saffarids and Samanids in the 9th century followed by Mahmud of Ghaznavi in the 11th century, when the Hindu Shahi King Jay Pala committed suicide. It became part of the Ghurids after defeating the Ghaznavids, and later it was invaded by the Mongols under Genghis Khan.
Timur, founder of the Timurid dynasty, invaded the region in 14th century and developed it into a major trading center. In 1504, the city fell to Babur from the north of the country and was made into his capital, which became one of the principal cities of his later Mughal Empire. In 1525, Babur described Kabulistan in his memoirs by writing that:
For much of its time Kabul was independent until it became part of the Durrani Empire in 1747. During the First Anglo-Afghan War in 1839, the British army invaded the area but withdrew in 1842, although thousands of them were killed during a surprise ambush on their way to Jalalabad. In retaliation another British force partly burned Kabul before retreating back to British India. The British again occupied the city during the Second Anglo-Afghan War in 1879, after their resident staff were massacred there, but withdrew about a year later when they installed Emir.
In 1919, King Amanullah Khan rose to power during the Third Anglo-Afghan War when Afghanistan's capital and its eastern city of Jalalabad were air raided by the No. 31 and 114 squadrons of the British Royal Air Force in May 1919. Amanullah Khan defeated the British and began modernization of the country after the signing of the Treaty of Rawalpindi. In the late 1920s, switching of power took place until Zahir Shah became the youngest new King.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Kabul was known as the Paris of central Asia as it was transforming into a European style city. Once the jewel of Asia, a very progressive and moderately modern capital. Kabul in those days had, modern cinemas, cafes, formal French gardens, schools, libraries, universities, fine boutiques. The inhabitants of Kabul known as "Kabulis" were highly educated, modern, progressive and cosmopolitan people. Where women and men attended primary school, high school and university. Mini-jupes (mini skirts) were a common sight in the 1970s. Highly educated, culturally aware and yet religious at the same time, there was never an issue with not having your hair covered or the clothes you wore in the Kabul of the 1960s and 1970s. This progressive peaceful society lasted until foreign interference occurred in the late 1970s plummeting the country to what Afghanistan has become today. In December 1979, Soviet armed forces landed at Kabul International Airport to help bolster the PDPA-led government of Afghanistan.
Kabul became the Soviet command center for approximately 10 years during their stay in Afghanistan. In February 1989, Soviet forces withdrew from Afghanistan after they were defeated by the Mujahideens. In spring of 1992 the government of Mohammad Najibullah collapsed, Kabul fell into the hands of Mujahideen forces. Destruction increased as the coalition of the parties broke into rival warring factions, and much of Kabul was damaged. In 1996 the Taliban took over the region and started a new strict Islamic Sharia rule which restricted most forms of education, entertainment, women from working, men from shaving beards, and many normal human activities or hobbies.
Less than a month after the September 11 attacks in the United States, in October 2001, the United States Armed Forces assisted by British Armed Forces provided massive air support to United Front (Northern Alliance) ground forces during Operation Enduring Freedom. The Taliban abandoned Kabul and the United Front came to take control of the city. In December 2001 Kabul became the capital of the Afghan Transitional Administration, which transformed to the present Government of Afghanistan that is led by President Hamid Karzai.
In early 2002 a NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was deployed in Kabul and from there they began taking over other parts of the country. The war-torn city began to see some positive development as millions of expats returned to the country. Its population has grown from about 500,000 in 2001 to over 3 million by 2007. Many foreign embassies re-opened, especially the biggest U.S. Embassy. Afghan government institutions were also re-developed and modernized. Since 2008 the newly trained Afghan National Police (ANP) and the Afghan National Army (ANA) have been in charge of security in the area, while NATO also has a heavy presence but is not patrolling the streets anymore.
While the city is being developed, it is also the scene of occasional deadly suicide bombings and explosions carried out by the Haqqani network, Taliban's Quetta Shura, Hezb-i Islami, Al Qaeda, and other anti-government elements who are allegedly supported and guided by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) spy network.
Geography
Kabul is located between Latitude 34-31' North and Longitude 69-12' East at an altitude of 1800 m (6000 feet) above sea level, which makes it one of the world's highest capital cities. Kabul is strategically situated in a valley surrounded by high mountains at crossroads of north-south and east-west trade routes. One million years ago the Kabul region was surrounded from south-east between Lowgar and Paghman Mountains; Charikar in the north and the Ningai Ghar mountains in the west. This region formed an icy sea. Some deep wells in the region of today's Poli Charkhi in the east part of city are the evidence of that time. Kabul is surrounded by Koh-e Paghman Mountain from the east, Koh-e Qrough Mountain from the south-west and Koh-e Shirdarwaza Mountain from the north-east. Kabul has only one river which is called Kabul River. Kabul River rises at the Paghman Mountain toward South Pass about west of Kabul. It flows in an easterly direction, past Kabul, and through Jalalabad city, and then on to Dakka where it enters Pakistani territory and finally runs into the Indus at Attock.
The climate within region of Kabul is considered to be arid to semi-arid steppe. Because of the very low amounts of precipitation, especially from May to November, Kabul can be very dry and dusty. Extreme temperature changes occur from night to day, season to season, and from place to place. The chief characteristic of Afghanistan's climate is a blue cloudless sky with over 300 days of sunshine yearly. Even during the winter, skies usually remain clear between snowfalls, which are on average annually. The daily temperature for Kabul city in winter is and in summer . The coldest month of the year is January and the hottest month is July. The maximum temperature has been recorded as +42.7 °C in July and the minimum as −26.3 °C in January.
Government and politics
Local governance Kabul was occupied by a number of mujahideen rebel groups and warlords before Najibullah's government collapsed in 1992. The city and province were contested by the various rebel forces who fought for power until it was captured by the Taliban in 1996. A new strict law was introduced by the Taliban. There was very little information on how Afghanistan was governed but the country had only one leader, Mullah Omar, the head of Taliban who fled to Pakistan after the US-led invasion on October 7, 2001. The Taliban laws were quickly abolished and humanities came in effect to enable Kabul to recover from the destruction caused by the mujahideen and Taliban forces. The 2002 loya jirga took place to solve the country's political problems.
Afghanistan adopted a new constitution in January 2004, establishing the country as an Islamic Republic. According to the constitution, the Afghan government consists of a President, two Vice Presidents, and a National Assembly (Parliament). The National Assembly has two houses: the House of People (Wolesi Jirga), and the House of Elders (Meshrano Jirga). There is also an independent Judiciary branch consisting of the Supreme Court (Stara Mahkama), High Courts and Appeal Courts. The President appoints the members of the Supreme Court with the approval of the Wolesi Jirga.
Afghanistan's presidential elections were held in October 2004. Over 8 million Afghans voted in the elections. The Joint Electoral Management Body of Afghanistan certified the elections and declared Hamid Karzai, the interim President, the winner with 55.4% of the vote. Karzai's strongest opponent, Yunus Qanuni, received 16.3% of the vote. The elections were not without controversy; allegations of fraud and ballot stuffing were brought up by many of the presidential candidates including Qanuni. A panel of international experts was set up to investigate the matter. The panel did find evidence of voting irregularities, however, they said that it was not enough to affect the outcome of the elections.
Administrative divisions
+ Districts of Kabul Province District Capital PopulationEstimate2022 Area in km2Pop. densityper km2 Ethnic data (%) NotesBagrami Bagrami 62,709 230 272 Pashtuns (majority), TajikChahar Asyab Qalai Naeem 41,452 246 168 Pashtuns, Tajiks, and few HazaraUNHCR Sub-Office Central Region – District Profile – Char Asiab (PDF) Retrieved on 2011-1-22. Deh Sabz Tarakhel 61,115 525 117 70% Pashtuns30% TajiksFarza Dehnawe Farza 24,313 85 287 Mix Pashtuns and TajiksUNHCR Sub-Office Central Region – District Profile – Farza (PDF) Retrieved on 2011-1-22. Created in 2005 from Mir Bacha Kot DistrictGuldara Guldara 25,907 84 310 70% Tajiks30% PashtunsIstalif Istalif 37,998 108 354 Mix of Tajik, Pashtun, and HazaraUNHCR Sub-Office Central Region – District Profile – Istalif (PDF) Retrieved on 2011-1-22. Kabul (city) Kabul 4,434,550 383 11,575 45% Tajiks (5% Qizilbash), 25% Pashtuns, 25% Hazaras, 2% Uzbeks, 1% Turkmen, 1% Balochi, 1% Hindu.Kalakan Kalakan 34,278 73 470 Predominantly Tajik and some PashtunsUNHCR Sub-Office Central Region – District Profile – Kalakan (PDF) Retrieved on 2011-1-22.Khaki Jabbar Khak-i Jabbar 16,209 590 27 95% Pashtuns5% TajiksUNHCR Sub-Office Central Region – District Profile – Khak-e-Jabbar (PDF) Retrieved on 2011-1-22.Mir Bacha Kot Mir Bacha Kot 59,122 62 956 Tajiks and some Pashtun familiesUNHCR Sub-Office Central Region – District Profile – Mir Bacha Kot (PDF) Retrieved on 2011-1-22. Split in 2005 to create a new Farza DistrictMussahi Mussahi 26,439 119 222 Pashtuns and a number of Tajik familiesUNHCR Sub-Office Central Region – District Profile – Mussahi (PDF) Retrieved on 2011-1-22. Paghman Paghman 138,507 385 360 70% Pashtuns30% TajiksUNHCR Sub-Office Central Region – District Profile – Paghman (PDF) Retrieved on 2011-1-22.Qarabagh Qara Bagh 86,358 214 403 60% Tajiks40% PashtunsUNHCR Sub-Office Central Region – District Profile – Qarabagh (PDF) Retrieved on 2011-1-22.Shakardara Shakar Dara 93,001 271 344