Kandahar

Kandahar is a city in southern Afghanistan, serving as the capital and largest city of Kandahar Province. It is within the jurisdiction of Kandahar District and has an estimated population of 732,629 settled residents. Mullah Hekmatullah is the current mayor of the city. His predecessor was Haji Nimatullah Hassan.

Kandahar is located between the Arghandab River and the Tarnak River, at an elevation of approximately 1,010 m (3,310 ft) above sea level. It is the center of the larger cultural region called Loy Kandahar. The Kandahar Municipality is administratively divided into 15 city districts (nahias), covering a land area of 273 km² (105 sq mi). It has a number of industrial parks, public parks, bazaars, business centers, banks, hotels, restaurants, mosques, hospitals, universities, tourist sites, and places to play sports or just relax. The Ayno Maina township is located in the northeastern part of the city, next to the Kabul–Kandahar Highway.

The region around Kandahar is one of the oldest known areas of human settlement. A major fortified city existed at the site of Kandahar, probably as early as c. 1000–750 BC, and it became an important outpost of the Achaemenid Empire in the 6th century BC. Alexander the Great laid the foundation of what is now Old Kandahar (in the southwestern area of the current city) in the 4th century BC and named it Alexandria Arachosia. Many empires have long fought over the city due to its strategic location along the trade routes of southern, central and western Asia. In 1709, Mirwais Hotak turned the region into an independent kingdom and made Kandahar the capital of the Hotak dynasty. In 1747, Ahmad Shah Durrani, founder of the Durrani dynasty, made Kandahar the capital of the Durrani Empire. It was briefly occupied by the British in the 19th century, the Soviets in the 1980s, and recently by NATO forces.

Kandahar is the founding city and spiritual center of the Taliban. Despite the nation's capital being Kabul, where all government ministries and institutions are based, Kandahar is the seat of power in Afghanistan as the supreme leader and his spiritual advisers are based there. Kandahar has therefore been called the de facto capital of Afghanistan, though the Taliban maintain Kabul as the official capital.

Kandahar is one of the most culturally significant cities of the Pashtun community and has been their traditional seat of power for more than 300 years. It is a major industrial and trading center. The region produces some of the finest fruits, especially grapes and pomegranates, and the city has plants for canning, drying, and packing fruits.