Kabul, Afghanistan's Capital

Kabul, with a population of about 750 000, is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan as well as the capital of the province with the same name. It is located on the Kabul River in north-eastern Afghanistan, about 80 km east of the border with Pakistan. The economy used to be based on handicrafts and the manufacture of building materials, machinery, textiles, and processed foods. Kabul University was founded in 1932.

Kabul as a city is more than 3000 years old. In AD 664 it was conquered by Arabs, and in the thirteenth century it was sacked by the Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan. The rise of the Mogul Empire under Babur saw the city elevated to its capital in 1512, and remained so until 1526 when the centre of the empire shifted towards India. In 1773, Kabul became the capital of Afghanistan. It was captured by the British in both 1842 and 1879 during the Afghan Wars. The city was a major Soviet military base during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989 and has been devastated since then by civil war among various Afghan rebel groups and more recently by American bombardments.

Kabul was quite a travellers centre, a popular stop on the overland trail from Europe to India, when I was there in 1973. Cheap places to stay and eat, bazaars with interesting things to buy, and a fantastic museum with, among other things, fascinating pre-Islamic works of art - now apparently all lost, looted, and destroyed by the Taliban fanatics, intent on wiping out all traces of previous cultures and religions. Kabul, from TV pictures that come across, is now a city of sad ruins; but this is what it looked like in late 1973.

	Bus station	Main street	Street market	Houses on the hill
	Masjid Shah-du-Shamera	Pul-i-Khisti mosque	View over Kabul	Nomad family
	In the old city	Near the University	Kabul from the air	Kabul from the air

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