KANDAHAR

also spelled Qandahar city in south-central Afghanistan. It lies on a plain next to the Tarnak River, at an elevation of about 3,300 feet (1,000 m). It is southern Afghanistan's chief commercial centre and is situated at the junction of highways from Kabul, Herat, and Quetta (Pakistan). Kandahar has an international airport, though it is primarily used for domestic flights. The strategic and commercial importance of the site, on main routes via Herat to Central Asia, to Kabul and to India, explains its long history of conquests and frequent refoundings. The city was included in the Achaemenian empire by Darius I, was taken by Alexander the Great in 329 BC, was surrendered by Seleucus I to Candra Gupta in 305 BC and dignified by a rock inscription in Greek and Aramaic by his grandson Asoka, and thereafter was successively held by Greco-Bactrians, Parthians, Sakas, Kushans, and Sasanians. During its Islamic period, Kandahar was held by a succession of various Arab, Persian, Turkic, and Mongol overlords. It fell under Arab rule in the 7th century AD, under the Saffarids in the 9th, and under the Ghaznavids in the 10th. Kandahar was destroyed by the Mongol invader Genghis Khan and again by the Turkic conqueror Timur (Tamerlane), after which it was held by the Mughals (16th century) and the Persians (17th century). In 1747 it became the first capital of a unified Afghanistan. From 1839 the British sought control of the area but finally lost it in September 1881. The subsequent history of Kandahar has been comparatively less eventful, though in the 1980s, during the Afghan War, Kandahar was the scene of intermittent fierce fighting between Afghan rebels and Soviet invasion forces. The inhabitants of the modern city of Kandahar, as of the surrounding villages, are mostly Pashtun (Pathan) of the Durrani tribe, with some Ghilzay and Kakar and Persian-speaking elements. Together with Peshawar, Pak., Kandahar is one of the two great cities of the Pashtun and is the centre of the soft-voice form of their language, called Pashto, as contrasted with the harder Pakhto of Peshawar. The centre of the modern city lies just to the west of the crowded old city built by the native Afghan ruler Ahmad Shah Durrani (1722?1772) as his capital. Although only a few sections of the great mud wall that formerly enclosed this old city survive, its geometric plan and rectangular shape6,000 by 1,800 feet (1,800 by 550 m)can still be distinguished. In the northeast corner stands the dominating mausoleum of Ahmad Shah Durrani, the only attempt at monumental architecture in the city. With its handsome gilded dome and the 12 minor tombs of Ahmad Shah Durrani's children grouped around, it contains some good fretwork and inlaid inscriptions. Next to it is the mosque of the Khirqah, sacred because it is said to contain the cloak of the Prophet Muhammad. About 4 miles (6.5 km) west of the present city, extending along the slopes of a rocky ridge and into the plain at its foot, are the ruins of old Kandahar, the earlier city that was sacked and plundered by the Iranian conqueror Nadir Shah in 1738. From the top of the ridge a small citadel overlooks the half-buried ruins. Within its walls is the garden of Baba Wali and a famous shrine that still attracts pilgrims. On the sharp northeast face of the hill, 40 giant steps cut out of the solid limestone lead upward to a small dome-roofed niche that contains inscriptions by the Mughal emperor Babur, who built the steps, recording details of his empire and conquests. His grandson the emperor Akbar also added an inscription. The area surrounding the city of Kandahar is irrigated farmland, and food processing is an important industry in the city, which also has textile factories, notably for wool. Traditionally the main export has been fruit, for which the Kandahar region is famous, particularly grapes, melons, and pomegranates. Other exports include cotton, madder, cuminseed, and asafetida. Pop. (1988 est.) 225,500.