Kandahar Province

Kandahar or Qandahar (Pashto: کندھار, Persian: قندهار) is one of the largest of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. It is located in southern Afghanistan, between Helmand, Oruzgan and Zabul provinces. Its capital is the city of Kandahar, which is located on the Arghandab River. The province has a population of nearly 890,000, with over 300,000 living in its capital city. The main inhabitants of Kandahar province are the Pashtuns.

Name

There is speculation about the origin of the name "Kandahar". It is believed that "Kandahar" may derive its name from Gandhara ^[1], an ancient kingdom along the modern Kashmir and Afghanistan border^[2], and former satrapy of the Persian Empire.^[3][4] It is suggested that people of Gandhara migrated south to Arachosia and transferred the name with them.^[5] Alternatively, it is also believed that Kandahar bears Alexander's name from the Arabic and Persian rendering of "Alexander", which derives from Iskandariya for Alexandria.^[6] A temple to the deified Alexander as well as an inscription in Greek and Aramaic by the emperor Ashoka, who lived a few decades later, have been discovered in the old citadel

History

For a more comprehensive history of the Kandahar Province, see the Kandahar City.

Kandahar, the city and province, dates back to the time of the Mahabharata, which dates back to 3,120BC Indo-Aryan era. Kandahar City was founded in the 4th century BC by Alexander of Macedon^{[citation needed]}, near the ancient city of Mundigak.^{[citation needed]} The city has been a frequent target for conquest because of its strategic location in Asia, which connects Southern, Central and Southwest Asia. It was part of the Persian Achaemenid empire before the Greek invasion in 330 B.C. It came under the influence of the Indian emperor Ashoka who erected a pillar there with a bilingual inscription in Greek and Aramaic.^[8]

The army of the Indus entering Kandahar City during the first Anglo-Afghan war in 1839.

Under the Abbasids and later Turkic invaders, Kandahar converted to Islam. Kandahar would go on to be conquered by the Arabs in the 7th century, Turkic Ghaznavids in the 10th century, and Genghis Khan in the 13th century. Ahmad Shah Durrani, the founder of Afghanistan, gained control of the city and province in 1747 and made it the capital of his new Afghan Kingdom. In the 1770s, the capital was transferred to Kabul. Ahmad Shah Durrani's mausoleum is located somewhere in the center of the city.^[9]

British-Indians forces occupied the province during the First Anglo-Afghan War from 1832 to 1842. They also occupied the city during the Second Anglo-Afghan War from 1878 to 1880. It remained peaceful for about 100 years until the late 1970s.

During the Soviet occupation of 1979 to 1989, Kandahar province witnessed many fighting between Soviet and local Mujahideen rebels. After the Soviet withdrawal the city fell to Gul Agha Sherzai, who became a powerful warlord and controlled the province.

At the end of 1994, the Taliban emerged from the area and set out to conquer the rest of the country. Since the removal of the Taliban in late 2001, Kandahar again came under the control of Gul Agha Sherzai. He was replaced in 2003 by Yousef Pashtun followed by Asadullah Khalid taking the post in 2005. The province is currently occupied by NATO forces, mostly by Canadians.

Government and administration

Gul Agha Sherzai was Governor of the province before and after the Taliban regime, until early 2004, when mounting criticism of his efforts led President Hamid Karzai to remove him from the post. For the last 250 years, mostly Pashtuns have been ruling Afghanistan. History shows that many Afghan rulers were from Kandahar, such as Ahmad Shah Durrani, Abdur Rahman Khan, Nadir Khan, Zahir Shah, Hamid Karzai, etc. Kandahar province is made up of 17 districts, and each district has its own Chief. The current Governor of the Kandahar Province is Asadullah Khalid.

The following is a list of the Districts of Kandahar Province:

Districts of Kandahar.

·        Arghandab

·        Arghistan

·        Daman

·        Ghorak

·        Kandahar (capital)

·        Khakrez

·        Maruf

·        Maywand

·        Miyannasheen

·        Naish

·        Panjwai

·        Reg

·        Shah Wali Kot

·        Shorabak

·        Spin Boldak

·        Zhari

Economy

Kandahar had well-irrigated gardens and orchards and was famous for its grapes, melons, and pomegranates, but these were made inaccessible by land mines or destroyed outright in the conflict between the Soviets and the mujahideen, Islamic guerrilla fighters during the Soviet occupation. The city is of significant strategic importance in the region due to the major airport built in the early 1970s with development funding from the United States. The main source of trade is to Pakistan, Iran, and the United States. Kandahar is an agricultural state.

Transportation

Kandahar International Airport

Kandahar International Airport serves the population of southern Afghanistan, especially the Kandahar region, as a method of traveling to other domestic cities by air or to a number of nearby countries. The airport was built in the 1960s with US financial and technical assistance under the United States Agency for International Development program. Kandahar International Airport has been used by the NATO forces to deliver troops and humanitarian supplies since late 2001. The airport was severely damaged during the Soviet attacks on the city during 1979-89 and again during the US raids in late 2001. Repairs and upgrades also occurred during that period; the airport re-opened for civilian use in late 2006.^[10]

Kandahar province has bus services to major towns or village headquarters. It's capital, Kandahar, has a public bus system that take commuters on daily routes to many destinations throughout the city. Besides the buses, there are yellow and white taxicabs that provides 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 Kandahar, with large show rooms selling new or second hand vehicles imported from the United Arab Emirate. More people are buying new cars as the roads and highways are being improved.

Education

Efforts to improve education in Afghanistan are severely hampered without books, which are in short supply. Lack of funding and political will has led to only small gains since the fall of the Taliban. Education has moved somewhat upward in the rest of the country, but southern states, like Kandahar, have seen slow to no progress because of the continued fighting and instability of the region. In 2006 alone, almost 150 educational institutes have closed in Kandahar province alone, according to the education ministry. Regionally more than 50 schools have been attacked this year. Over 60,000 students cannot attend school because of the risk of attack.^[11]

Kandahar University is the largest college or university in the province. In partnership with the Asia Foundation, the 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. Kandahar University, for example, currently has an enrollment of six women and 1,094 men.^[12] All of the 24 women who sat for the exam passed and have been admitted to universities to study medicine, engineering, economics, law, and agriculture. The university is only one of two universities in Kandahar that serve all of southern Afghanistan. The conditions in the university are extremely poor, with no water, limited power, and a closed library. The structures of the University are very weak and unsafe. The university is far behind the universities of the North because of the violence, the two universities in southern Afghanistan also receive very limited funding.

Kapisa Province

Kapiśa (=Kapisha) (Persian: کاپيسا) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan. It is in the north-east of the country. Its capital is Mahmud-i-Raqi, and other districts include Kohistan, Nigrab and Tagab. The population of Kapiśa is estimated to be 360,000, although there has never been an official figure. The area of the province is 1,842 km².

Politics and Security

An elemntary school in Kapisa with ANP police helping with preparation for a medical civic action program.

The Governor of the Province, Abdul Sattar Murad, was removed from office in July 2007 by President Hamid Karzai, and a replacement has not yet been named. The ostensible reason for Murad's removal was 'ineffective governance', but it was widely believed by press sources that Murad was removed because of critical comments he made in a Newsweek interview regarding the central government's ineffectiveness in remote areas of the province [6] [7].

2006 and 2007 have seen increased insurgent activity in the province. Southern areas of the province, in particular the Tagab district, have been the site of repeated clashes between U.S./Afghan forces and insurgent groups [8].

Districts

Districts of Kapisa.

·        Alasay District

·        Hesa Duwum Kohistan District

·        Koh Band District

·        Kohistan Hesa Awal District

·        Mahmud Raqi District

·        Nijrab District

·        Tagab District

Economy

Agriculture is the most general and usual means of sustenance. Trades are made between the people in an ancient way of exchanging commodities on trade days (once a week) called Mila, which means "party" but is interpreted as a large gathering of people, having fun together with trade.

Amenities

There is one hospital in the province. There was once a large textile company, which was destroyed during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan; and one cinema, which was also destroyed. Recently a university named Al Biruni University was established, with programs in engineering, medicine, law and literature. The number of girls schools has been very limited, but it is increasing through the cooperation of Charity NGOs.

Khost Province

Khost (Pashto: خوست) is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. It is in the east of the country. Its capital is the town also called Khost. Khost province used to be part of Paktia province in the past.

The province is mountainous and borders Pakistan on the east. Khost was the first city to be liberated from communist rule during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

In 1986, the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) built a training complex and storage facility for Gulbuddin Hekmatyar in Khost province, it was subsequently utilized by Osama bin Laden to train Al-Qaeda volunteers.^{[citation needed]} This site continued in operation until it was ordered to be bombed by President Bill Clinton in August of 1998.^{[citation needed]}

Politics

The current Governor of the Province is Arsala Jamal. In August 2007, he narrowly escaped a suicide car bomb attack in Khost City that killed several of his bodyguards.[1] The August attack was the fourth suicide attack Jamal has faced in his tenure in the volatile province. [2]

Districts

Districts of Khost.

• Bak District
• Gurbuz District
• Jaji Maydan District
• Khost (Matun) District
• Mando Zayi District
• Musa Khel District
• Nadir Shah Kot District
• Qalandar District
• Sabari District
• Shamal District
• Spera District
• Tani District
• Tere Zayi District

Kunar Province

A view of Kunar

Kunar (Pashto: کُنَر) is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located in the northeastern part of the country and on the border with Pakistan. Its capital is Asadabad.

Ethnic Makeup and Geography

Pashtuns makes up the vast majority of the province and maintain a very strong tribal identity, some even going so far as to identify the province, and the eastern edge of Afghanistan in general, as "Pashtunistan".

Kunar is a tiny and sparsely populated province that is heavily mountainous and forested, being embedded in the Hindu Kush mountain range. As Kunar is populated by mainly Pashtuns, it will be useful to know that local people pronounce the name as Kunar or کونر.

Security Situation

US Soldiers near FOB Naray

During both the Soviet occupation, and the more recent conflicts involving U.S., Afghan and NATO forces, Kunar has been a favoured spot of insurgent groups. Its impenetrable terrain, extensive cave networks and border with the semi-autonomous Pakistani Northwest Frontier Province provides several advantages for militant groups. The province is informally known as "Enemy Central" by American troops.

Like many of the mountainous eastern provinces of Afghanistan, the groups involved in armed conflict vary greatly in strength and purpose. Native Taliban forces mingle with foreign Al-Qaeda fighters, while mujahadeen militias, such as Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin, continue to operate as they did in the chaotic post-Soviet years. Another strong militia in the region is the Hezbi Islami faction of the late Mulavi Younas Khalis, who had his headquarters in neighbouring Nurestan Province.

Compounding the problems of the province is an extensive criminal trade in smuggled lumber and other natural resources. This criminal activity is often organized along tribal lines, and has led to intense deforestation in some areas.

Kunar Ambush

The Kunar Ambush is about a small gun battle between allied forces and Islamic rebel groups. The Combatants were German, Dutch, French and Danish forces fighting under European Union command and British, Canadian, Norwegian and Belgian forces under NATO command and Filipino soldiers under UN command and Taliban and al-Qaeda forces.

Hunt for Bin Laden

Osama bin Laden has often been rumoured to be in the province, or close by. In an intensive military operation in summer 2005, called Operation Red Wing, American forces undertook a massive hunt for bin Laden and other senior Al-Qaeda leaders. While attempting to rescue four stranded Navy SEALS during the operation, 19 American Forces were killed when their CH-47 Chinook helicopter was shot down, representing the single biggest loss of American forces since their invasion of the country.

Districts

Districts of Konar.

·        Asadabad

·        Bar Kunar

·        Chapa Dara

·        Chawkay

·        Dangam

·        Dara-I-Pech

·        Ghaziabad

·        Khas Kunar

·        Marawara

·        Narang Wa Badil

·        Nari

·        Nurgal

·        Shaygal Wa Shiltan

·        Sirkanay

·        Wata Pur

Politics

Assadullah Wafa was the former governor of the province (replaced in Aug 2006).

Asadabad hosts both an American Provincial Reconstruction Team office and a UNAMA development office.

Kunduz Province

Kunduz (Persian: كندوز) is one of the provinces of Afghanistan, centered on the city of Kunduz in Afghanistan, with an area of 8,040 km square, and a population of about 820,000[1].

Districts

• Ali abad District
• Archi District
• Chahar dara District
• Imam Sahib District
• Khan Abad District
• Kunduz District

Qalay-I-Zal District