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120-512: The December 1922 issue of The Locomotive magazine mentions "Travellers from Afghanistan state a railway is being laid down for a distance of some six miles from Kabul to the site of the new city of Darulaman, and also that some of the rolling stock for it is being manufactured in the Kabul workshops." The August 1928 issue of The Locomotive mentions "the only railway at present in Afghanistan

240-718: A Georgian contingent as a military commander as part of Nader's force. Following the defeat of Mughal forces priorly, he then advanced deeper into India, crossing the Indus River before the end of the year. The news of the Persian army's swift and decisive successes against the northern vassal states of the Mughal empire caused much consternation in Delhi, prompting the Mughal ruler, Muhammad Shah, to summon an overwhelming force of some 300,000 men and march this massive host north towards

360-484: A campaign a few years earlier. In 1741, while Nader was passing through the forest of Mazandaran on his way to fight the Daghestanis, an assassin took a shot at him but Nader was only lightly wounded. He began to suspect his son was behind the attempt and confined him to Tehran . Nader's increasing ill health made his temper ever worse. Perhaps it was his illness that made Nader lose the initiative in his war against

480-578: A cement factory,a mechanised bakery, a five-lane highway from Kabul to the Soviet border and dams, including the Salang Pass to the north of Kabul. During the 1960s, Soviet-style microrayon housing estates were built, containing sixty blocks. The government also built many ministry buildings in the brutalist architecture style. In the 1960s the first Marks & Spencer store in Central Asia

600-675: A daily basis, and the Soviet Army stopped patrolling the city in January 1981. A major uprising against the Soviet presence broke out in Kabul in February 1980 in what is called the 3 Hut uprising . It led to a night curfew in the city that would remain in place for seven years. The Soviet Embassy also, was attacked four times with arms fire in the first five years of the war. A Western correspondent revisiting Kabul in December 1983 after

720-517: A daunting flank march through nearly impassable mountain passes, and took the enemy forces positioned at the mouth of the Khyber Pass completely by surprise, decisively beating them despite being outnumbered two-to-one. This led to the capture of Ghazni , Kabul , Peshawar , Sindh and Lahore . As Nader moved into the Mughal territories, he was accompanied by his loyal Georgian subject and future king of eastern Georgia , Erekle II , who led

840-542: A decisive victory over a superior Ottoman force at Yeghevard (modern-day Armenia) and by the summer of 1735, Persian Armenia and Georgia were under his rule again. In March 1735, he signed a treaty with the Russians in Ganja by which the latter agreed to withdraw all of their troops from Persian territory, those which had not been ceded back by the 1732 Treaty of Resht yet, mainly regarding Derbent , Baku , Tarki , and

960-407: A frontier city for the empire; Abul Fazl , Emperor Akbar's chronicler, described it as one of the two gates to Hindustan (the other being Kandahar ). As part of administrative reforms under Akbar, the city was made capital of the eponymous Mughal province, Kabul Subah . Under Mughal governance, Kabul became a prosperous urban centre, endowed with bazaars such as the non-extant Char Chatta . For

1080-461: A legend, one could find a lake in Kabul, in the middle of which the so-called "Island of Happiness" could be found, where a joyous family of musicians lived. According to this same legend, the island became accessible by the order of a king through the construction of a bridge (i.e. "pul" in Persian) made out of straw (i.e. "kah" in Persian). According to this legend the name Kabul was thus formed as

1200-484: A municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province . The city is divided for administration into 22 municipal districts . In 2025 its population is estimated to be 6.74 million people. In contemporary times, Kabul has served as Afghanistan's political, cultural and economical center. Rapid urbanisation has made it the country's primate city and the 75th-largest city in the world . The modern-day city of Kabul

1320-495: A notable minority of Christians) and included his own Qizilbash as well as Uzbeks, Afghans, Christian Georgians and Armenians , and others. He wanted Persia to adopt a form of Shi'a Islam that would be more acceptable to Sunnis and suggested that Persia adopt a form of Shi'ism he called "Ja'fari", in honour of the sixth Shi'a Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq . He banned certain Shi'a practices which were particularly offensive to Sunnis, such as

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1440-617: A period of three years following his return. Nader attacked the empire to, perhaps, give his country some breathing space after previous turmoils. His successful campaign and replenishment of funds meant that he could continue his wars against Iran's archrival and neighbour, the Ottoman Empire . The Indian campaign was the zenith of Nader's career. After his return from India, Nader fell out with his eldest son Reza Qoli Mirza, who had ruled Persia during his father's absence. Reza had behaved highhandedly and somewhat cruelly but he had kept

1560-557: A rabbi in her home throughout the first Islamic Emirate, lived in Morad Khane , Kabul for decades. While she was married to a Muslim man as a child, she still covertly attended synagogue and tried to teach her children what Hebrew prayers she could remember from her childhood. As of her departure in November 2021, there are believed to be no Jews in Afghanistan. The Islamic conquest reached modern-day Afghanistan in 642 AD, at

1680-476: A rescue attempt at the Serena Hotel. There were conflicting reports of who abducted Dubs and what demands were made for his release. Several senior Soviet officials were in the lobby of the hotel during a standoff with the kidnappers, who were holding Dubs in room 117. Afghan police, acting on the advice of Soviet advisors and over the objections of U.S. officials, launched a rescue attempt, during which Dubs

1800-512: A result of these two words combined, i.e. kah + pul . The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Place Names argues that the "suggestion that the name is derived from the Arabic root qbl 'meeting' or 'receiving' is unlikely". It remains unknown when the name "Kabul" was first applied to the city. It "came into prominence" following the destruction of Kapisa and other cities in what is present-day Afghanistan by Genghis Khan (c. 1162–1227) in

1920-504: A short lived one; several years later, Nader was forced to withdraw . During the same period, Nader accused his son of being behind the assassination attempt in Mazandaran. Reza angrily protested his innocence, but Nader had him blinded as punishment, although he immediately regretted it. Soon afterwards, Nader started executing the nobles who had witnessed his son's blinding. In his last years, Nader became increasingly paranoid, ordering

2040-400: A special built length of track under cover. Under a separate covered area are the other two locomotives along with parts from the coaches used on the railway such as bogies and frames. This Asia rail-related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Kabul Kabul is the capital city of Afghanistan . Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also

2160-518: A summer capital, during which time it prospered and increased in significance. It briefly came under the control of the Afsharids following Nader Shah's invasion of India , until finally coming under local rule by the Afghan Empire in 1747. Kabul became the capital of Afghanistan in 1776 during the reign of Timur Shah Durrani (a son of Ahmad Shah Durrani ). In the 19th century the city

2280-525: A symbol of Persian imperial might. It is estimated that Nadir took away with him treasures worth as much as seven hundred million rupees. Among a trove of other fabulous jewels, Nader also gained the Koh-i-Noor and Darya-ye Noor diamonds ( Koh-e-Noor means "Mountain of Light" in Persian, Darya-ye Noor means "Sea of Light"). The Persian troops left Delhi at the beginning of May 1739, but before they left, he ceded back to Muhammad Shah all territories to

2400-608: A time when Kabul was independent. Until then, Kabul was considered politically and culturally part of the Indian world. A number of failed expeditions were made to Islamise the region. In one of them, Abdur Rahman bin Samara arrived in Kabul from Zaranj in the late 600s and converted 12,000 inhabitants to Islam before abandoning the city. Muslims were a minority until Ya'qub bin Laith as-Saffar of Zaranj conquered Kabul in 870 from

2520-457: A vast town, the site of which is now occupied by a village inhabited by a tribe of Persians called Afghans. They hold mountains and defiles and possess considerable strength, and are mostly highwaymen. Their principal mountain is called Kuh Sulayman . In the 14th century, Kabul became a major trading centre under the kingdom of Timur ( Tamerlane ). In 1504, the city fell to Babur from the north and made into his headquarters, which became one of

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2640-523: A year, said that the city was "converted into a fortress bristling with weapons". Contrastingly, that same year American diplomat Charles Dunbar commented that the Soviet troops' presence was "surprisingly modest", and an author in a 1983 Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists article thought that the Soviet soldiers had a "friendly" atmosphere. Afsharid Iran The Guarded Domains of Iran , commonly referred to as Afsharid Iran or

2760-611: Is five miles long, between Kabul and Darulaman." Three small steam locomotives were acquired from Henschel of Kassel in Germany. The tramway closed (date unknown), and was dismantled in the 1940s, but the locomotives are preserved at the National Museum of Afghanistan in Darulaman. There were three small Henschel 0-4-0 T steam locomotives , all three of which survive in a museum in Kabul (as of 2002). However

2880-519: Is located high in a narrow valley in the Hindu Kush mountain range, and is bounded by the Kabul River . At an elevation of 1,790 metres (5,873 ft), it is one of the highest capital cities in the world . The center of the city contains its old neighborhoods, including the areas of Khashti Bridge, Khabgah, Kahforoshi, Deh-Afghanan, Chandavel, Shorbazar, Saraji and Baghe Alimardan. Kabul

3000-540: Is said to be over 3,500 years old, and was mentioned at the time of the Achaemenid Persian Empire . Located at a crossroads in Asia —roughly halfway between Istanbul, Turkey , in the west and Hanoi, Vietnam , in the east—the city is situated in a strategic location along the trade routes of Central Asia and South Asia . It was a key destination on the ancient Silk Road and was traditionally seen as

3120-462: Is unknown, but "certainly pre-dates the advent of Islam when it was an important centre on the route between India and the Hellenic world ". In Sanskrit , it was known as Kubha , whereas Greek authors of classical antiquity referred to it as Kophen , Kophes or Koa . The Chinese traveler Xuanzang (fl. 7th century CE) recorded the city as Koafu (高附). The name "Kabul" was first applied to

3240-792: The Abdali Afghans near Herat . Many of the Abdali Afghans subsequently joined his army. The new shah of the Ghilzai Afghans, Ashraf , decided to move against Nader but in September 1729, Nader defeated him at the Battle of Damghan and again decisively in November at Murchakhort, banishing the Afghans from Persian soil forever. Ashraf fled and Nader finally entered Isfahan, handing it over to Tahmasp in December and plundering

3360-759: The Afsharid Empire , was an Iranian empire established by the Turkoman Afshar tribe in Iran's north-eastern province of Khorasan , establishing the Afsharid dynasty that would rule over Iran during the mid-eighteenth century. The dynasty's founder, Nader Shah , was a successful military commander who deposed the last member of the Safavid dynasty in 1736, and proclaimed himself Shah . During Nader's reign, Iran reached its greatest extent since

3480-580: The Ghilzai Afghans out of Khorasan. He agreed and thus became a figure of national importance. When Nader discovered that Fath Ali Khan was corresponding with Malek Mahmud and revealed this to the shah, Tahmasp executed him and made Nader the chief of his army instead. Nader subsequently took on the title Tahmasp Qoli (Servant of Tahmasp). In late 1726, Nader recaptured Mashhad . Nader chose not to march directly on Isfahan. First, in May 1729, he defeated

3600-463: The Hindu Shahis and established the first Islamic dynasty in the region. It was reported that the rulers of Kabul were Muslims with non-Muslims living close by. Iranian traveller and geographer Istakhri described it in 921: Kábul has a castle celebrated for its strength, accessible only by one road. In it there are Musulmáns , and it has a town, in which are infidels from Hind . Over

3720-527: The Kabul River before being applied to the area situated between the Hindu-Kush and Sindh (present-day Pakistan ). This area was also known as Kabulistan . Alexander Cunningham (died 1893) noted in the 19th century that Kaofu, as recorded by the Chinese was in all likelihood the name of "one of the five Yuchi or Tukhari tribes". Cunningam added that this tribe gave its name to the city after it

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3840-670: The Lezgin tribes of Daghestan. Frustratingly for him, they resorted to guerrilla warfare and the Persians could make little headway against them. Though Nader managed to take most of Dagestan during his campaign, the effective guerrilla warfare as deployed by the Lezgins , but also the Avars , Laks and Dargins made the Iranian re-conquest of this particular North Caucasian region this time

3960-654: The North Caucasus and Transcaucasia , as well as mainland northern Iran, by the Russo-Persian War , while the neighbouring Ottomans invaded from the west. By the 1724 Treaty of Constantinople , they agreed to divide the conquered areas between themselves. On the other side of the theatre, Nader joined forces with Sultan Husayn's son Tahmasp II and led the resistance against the Ghilzai Afghans , driving their leader Ashraf Khan easily out of

4080-698: The Ottoman–Persian War . The Ottoman armies were expelled from western Iran and the rest of the Caucasus , and the resultant 1736 Treaty of Constantinople forced the Ottomans to confirm Iranian suzerainty over the Caucasus and recognised Nader as the new Shah . Tahmasp and the Qajar leader Fath Ali Khan (the ancestor of Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar ) contacted Nader and asked him to join their cause and drive

4200-611: The Sasanian Empire . At its height it controlled modern-day Iran, Armenia , Georgia , Azerbaijan , Afghanistan , Bahrain , Turkmenistan , and Uzbekistan , and parts of Iraq , Pakistan , Turkey , United Arab Emirates , Oman and the North Caucasus ( Dagestan ). After his death, most of his empire was divided between the Zands , Durranis , Georgians , Khanate of Kalat , and the Caucasian khanates , while Afsharid rule

4320-453: The Soviet invasion in 1979. As of 1992, there were believed to be two Jews remaining in Afghanistan, both living in a synagogue in Kabul. The congregation's Torah scroll was confiscated during the first Islamic Emirate . Zebulon Simontov was believed and widely reported to be Afghanistan's last Jew, until Tova Moradi fled months after him, with her grandchildren. Moradi, who harbored

4440-611: The Soviet–Afghan War , and while fighting was mostly taking place in the countryside, Kabul was widely disturbed. Political crime and guerrilla attacks on military and government targets were common, and the sound of gunfire became commonplace at night in the outskirts. Large numbers of PDPA party members and Soviet troops were kidnapped or assassinated, sometimes in broad daylight, with acts of terrorism committed by civilians, anti-regime militias and also Khalqists . By July 1980, as many as twelve party members were being assassinated on

4560-486: The Tibetan Empire between 801 and 815. Jews had a presence in Afghanistan from ancient times until 2021. There are records of religious correspondence establishing the presence of Jews in Kabul since the 8th century, though it is believed that they were present centuries or even millenia earlier. The 12th century Arab geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi wrote down his observations of a Jewish quarter in Kabul. In

4680-528: The ghettoization of their communities in Kabul and Herat . Most of Afghanistan's Jews fled the country or congregated in these urban hubs. After the establishment of the state of Israel , the Jewish community requested permission from King Zahir Shah to migrate there. Afghanistan was the only country that allowed its Jewish residents to migrate to Israel without relinquishing their citizenship. Most of those remaining, approximately 2,000 in number, left after

4800-412: The hajj , or pilgrimage, to Mecca , which was within their territory. In the subsequent peace negotiations, the Ottomans refused to acknowledge Ja'farism as a fifth mazhab but they did allow Persian pilgrims to go on the hajj . Nader was interested in gaining rights for Persians to go on the hajj in part because of revenues from the pilgrimage trade. Nader's other primary aim in his religious reforms

4920-640: The 13th century. In the early 17th century, Abbas the Great moved many Afshars from Azerbaijan to Khorasan to defend the north-eastern borders of his state against the Uzbeks , after which the Afshars settled in those regions. Nader belonged to the Qereqlu branch of the Afshars. Since the Safavid era, Mamâlek-e Mahruse-ye Irân ( Guarded Domains of Iran ) was the common and official name of Iran. The idea of

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5040-534: The 1940s and 1950s, urbanisation accelerated and the built-up area was increased in size to 68 km by 1962, an almost fourteen-fold increase since 1925. The Serena Hotel opened in 1945 as the first Western-style luxury hotel. In the 1950s, under the premiership of Mohammad Daoud Khan , foreign investment and development increased. In 1955, the Soviet Union forwarded $ 100 million in credit to Afghanistan which financed public transportation, airports,

5160-534: The 19th century. Adel made the mistake of sending his brother Ebrahim to secure the capital Isfahan. Ebrahim decided to set himself up as a rival, defeated Adel in battle, blinded him and took the throne. Adel had reigned for less than a year. Meanwhile, a group of army officers freed Shahrokh from prison in Mashhad and proclaimed him shah in October 1748. Ebrahim was defeated and died in captivity in 1750 and Adel

5280-671: The 21st century under the Afshar Naderi surname. The Safavids had introduced Shi'a Islam as the state religion of Iran. Nader was brought up as a Shi'a but later sympathised and desired unity with the Sunni faith as he gained power and began to push into the Ottoman Empire. He believed that Safavid Shi'ism had intensified the conflict with the Sunni Ottoman Empire. His army was a mix of Shi'a and Sunni (with

5400-702: The Avesta, the primary canon of texts of Zoroastrianism, refer to the Kabul River and to a settlement called Kubha . The Kabul valley was part of the Median Empire (c. 678–549 BC). In 549 BC, the Median Empire was annexed by Cyrus The Great and Kabul became part the Achaemenid Empire (c. 550–330 BC). During that period, Kabul became a center of learning for Zoroastrianism, followed by Buddhism and Hinduism . An inscription on Darius

5520-630: The Great 's tombstone lists Kabul as one of the 29 countries of the Achaemenid Empire. When Alexander the Great annexed the Achaemenid Empire, the Kabul region came under his control. After his death, his empire was seized by his general Seleucus , becoming part of the Seleucid Empire . In 305 BC, the Seleucid Empire was extended to the Indus River which led to friction with the neighbouring Mauryan Empire . During

5640-550: The Guarded Domains illustrated a feeling of territorial and political uniformity in a society where the Persian language, culture, monarchy, and Shia Islam became integral elements of the developing national identity. The concept presumably had started to form under the Mongol Ilkhanate in the late 13th-century, a period in which regional actions, trade, written culture, and partly Shia Islam, contributed to

5760-583: The Mauryan period, trade flourished because of uniform weights and measures. Irrigation facilities for public use were developed leading to an increased harvest of crops. People were also employed as artisans, jewelers, and carpenters. The Greco-Bactrians took control of Kabul from the Mauryans in the early 2nd century BC, then lost the city to their successors in the Indo-Greek Kingdom around

5880-402: The Ottoman Empire. Despite having a huge army at his disposal, in this campaign Nader showed little of his former military brilliance. It ended in 1746 with the signing of a peace treaty, in which the Ottomans agreed to let Nader occupy Najaf . The military forces of the Afsharid dynasty of Persia had their origins in the relatively obscure yet bloody inter-factional violence in Khorasan during

6000-432: The Ottoman ambassador Ali Pasha. In 1738, Nader Shah conquered Kandahar, the last outpost of the Hotaki dynasty and established Naderabad, Kandahar. His thoughts now turned to the Mughal Empire based in Delhi. This once powerful Muslim state to the east was falling apart as the nobles became increasingly disobedient and the Hindu Maratha Empire made inroads on its territory from the south-west. Its ruler Muhammad Shah

6120-411: The Ottomans, and regained most of the territory lost during the recent chaos. At the same time, the Abdali Afghans rebelled and besieged Mashhad, forcing Nader to suspend his campaign and save his brother, Ebrahim. It took Nader fourteen months to crush this uprising. Relations between Nader and the Shah had declined as the latter grew alarmed by his general's military successes. While Nader was absent in

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6240-408: The Persian army. Nader Shah crushed the Mughal army in less than three hours at the large Battle of Karnal on 13 February 1739. After this decisive victory, Nader captured Mohammad Shah and entered with him into Delhi. When a rumour broke out that Nader had been assassinated, some of the Indians attacked and killed Persian troops. Nader, furious, reacted by ordering his soldiers to plunder and sack

6360-399: The Persians had forced the Uzbek khanate of Bukhara to submit, Nader wanted Reza to marry the khan's elder daughter because she was a descendant of his role model Genghis Khan, but Reza flatly refused and Nader married the girl himself. Nader also conquered Khwarezm on this expedition into Central Asia. Nader now decided to punish Daghestan for the death of his brother Ebrahim Qoli on

6480-407: The Soviet manner. Education was modified into the Soviet model, with lessons focusing on teaching Russian , Marxism–Leninism and learning of other countries belonging to the Soviet bloc. Amid growing internal chaos and heightened cold war tensions, the U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, Adolph Dubs , was kidnapped on his way to work at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul on 14 February 1979 and killed during

6600-404: The United States after the American-led invasion of Afghanistan which followed the September 11 attacks in the US in 2001. In 2021, Kabul was re-occupied by the Taliban following the withdrawal of American and NATO-led military forces from Afghanistan . Kabul is also spelled as Cabool , Cabol , Kabol , or Cabul . Kabul was known by different names throughout its history. Its meaning

6720-410: The Yuezhi and based in Bactria . Around 230 AD, the Kushans were defeated by the Sassanid Empire and replaced by Sassanid vassals known as the Indo-Sassanids . During the Sassanian period, the city was referred to as "Kapul" in Pahlavi scripts . Kapol in the Persian language means Royal (ka) Bridge (pol), which is due to the main bridge on the Kabul River that connected the east and west of

6840-406: The advent of the Zands and Qajars, its rulers had various forms of autonomy, but stayed vassals and subjects to the Iranian king. Under the early Qajars, these territories in Transcaucasia and Dagestan would all be fully reincorporated into Iran, but eventually permanently lost as well (alongside Georgia), in the course of the 19th century to Imperial Russia through the two Russo-Persian Wars of

6960-400: The assassination of Nader Shah at the hands of a faction of his officers in 1747, Nader's powerful army fractured as the Afsharid state collapsed and the country plunged into decades of civil war. Although there were numerous Afsharid pretenders to the throne, (amongst many other), who attempted to regain control of the entire country, Persia remained a fractured political entity in turmoil until

7080-438: The assassination of large numbers of suspected enemies. With the wealth he gained, Nader started to build a Persian navy. With lumber from Mazandaran and Gilan , he built ships in Bushehr and order to build new artillery in Amol . He also purchased thirty ships in India. He recaptured the island of Bahrain from the Arabs. In 1743, he conquered Oman and its main capital Muscat . In 1743, Nader started another war against

7200-579: The beginning of Afghanistan. By this time, Kabul had lost its status as a metropolitan city, and its population had decreased to 10,000. Interest in the city was renewed when Ahmad Shah's son Timur Shah Durrani , after inheriting power, transferred the capital of the Durrani Empire from Kandahar to Kabul in 1776. Kabul experienced considerable urban development during the reigns of Timur Shah and his successor Zaman Shah ; several religious and public buildings were constructed, and diverse groups of Sufis , jurists, and literary families were encouraged to settle

7320-399: The campaigns of Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar toward the very end of the eighteenth century reunified the nation. After Nader's death in 1747, his nephew Ali Qoli (who may have been involved in the assassination plot) seized the throne and proclaimed himself Adel Shah ("The Just King"). He ordered the execution of all Nader's sons and grandsons, with the exception of the 13-year-old Shahrokh ,

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7440-492: The capital in 1729 and establishing Tahmasp on the throne. Nader fought to regain the lands lost to the Ottomans and Russians and to restore Iranian hegemony in Iran. While he was away in the east fighting the Ghilzais, Tahmasp waged a disastrous campaign in the Caucasus which allowed the Ottomans to retake most of their lost territory in the west . Nader, displeased, had Tahmasp deposed in favour of his infant son Abbas III in 1732. Four years later, after he had recaptured most of

7560-401: The city . During the course of one day (March 22) 20,000 to 30,000 Indians were killed by the Persian troops, forcing Mohammad Shah to beg Nader for mercy. In response, Nader Shah agreed to withdraw, but Mohammad Shah paid the consequence in handing over the keys of his royal treasury, and losing even the Peacock Throne to the Persian emperor. The Peacock Throne thereafter served as

7680-425: The city as Kaofu in the 7th century AD, which is the appellation of one of the five tribes of the Yuezhi who had migrated from across the Hindu Kush into the Kabul valley around the beginning of the Common Era . It was conquered by Kushan Emperor Kujula Kadphises in about 45 AD and remained Kushan territory until at least the 3rd century AD. The Kushans were Indo-European-speaking peoples related to

7800-409: The city through land grants and stipends. Kabul's first visitor from Europe was Englishman George Forster , who described 18th-century Kabul as "the best and cleanest city in Asia". In 1826, the kingdom was claimed by Dost Mohammad Khan , but in 1839 Shujah Shah Durrani was re-installed with the help of the British Empire during the First Anglo-Afghan War . In 1841 a local uprising resulted in

7920-431: The city to pay his army. Tahmasp made Nader governor over many eastern provinces, including his native Khorasan, and married him to his sister. Nader pursued and defeated Ashraf, who was murdered by his own followers. In 1738, Nader Shah besieged and destroyed the last Hotaki seat of power, at Kandahar . He built a new city nearby, which he named " Naderabad ". In the spring of 1735, Nader attacked Persia's archrival,

8040-447: The city's new-found tourism, western-style accommodations were opened in the 1960s, notably the Spinzar Hotel. Western, American and Japanese tourists visited the city's attractions including Chicken Street and the National Museum that contained some of Asia's finest cultural artifacts. Lonely Planet called it an upcoming "tourist trap" in 1973. Pakistanis visited to watch Indian movies that were banned in their own country. Kabul

8160-402: The city. In 420 AD, the Indo-Sassanids were driven out of Afghanistan by the Xionite tribe known as the Kidarites , who were then replaced in the 460s by the Hephthalites . It became part of the surviving Turk Shahi Kingdom of Kapisa , also known as Kabul-Shahan . According to Táríkhu-l Hind by Al-Biruni , Kabul was governed by princes of Turkic lineage. It was briefly held by

8280-451: The collapse of the Safavid state. The small band of warriors under local warlord Nader Qoli of the Turkomen Afshar tribe in north-east Iran were no more than a few hundred men. Yet at the height of Nader's power as the king of kings, Shahanshah, he commanded an army of 375,000 fighting men which constituted the single most powerful military force of its time, led by one of the most talented and successful military leaders of history. After

8400-484: The country and maintained high schools and lycees in the capital, providing education for the children of the city's elite families. Kabul University opened in 1932, and by the 1960s the majority of teachers were western educated Afghans and the majority of instructors at the university had degrees from Western universities. Kabul's only railway service, the Kabul–Darulaman Tramway , operated for six years from 1923 to 1929. When Zahir Shah took power in 1933, Kabul had

8520-416: The courtiers asking if a man in such a state was fit to rule. In 1732 he forced Tahmasp to abdicate in favour of the Shah's baby son, Abbas III, to whom Nader became regent. Nader decided, as he continued the 1730–35 war , that he could win back the territory in Armenia and Georgia by seizing Ottoman Baghdad and then offering it in exchange for the lost provinces, but his plan went badly amiss when his army

8640-502: The cursing of the first three caliphs. Personally, Nader is said to have been indifferent toward religion and the French Jesuit who served as his personal physician reported that it was difficult to know which religion he followed and that many who knew him best said that he had none. Nader hoped that "Ja'farism" would be accepted as a fifth school ( mazhab ) of Sunni Islam and that the Ottomans would allow its adherents to go on

8760-490: The death of Genghis Khan's grandson. As a result, many natives of Afghanistan fled south toward the Indian subcontinent where some established dynasties in Delhi . The Chagatai Khanate and Kartids were vassals of Ilkhanate until the dissolution of the latter in 1335. Following the era of the Khalji dynasty in 1333, the famous Moroccan scholar Ibn Battuta was visiting Kabul and wrote: We travelled on to Kabul, formerly

8880-431: The early 19th century, Kabul and other major Afghan cities became sites of refuge for Jews fleeing persecution in neighboring Iran. Jews were generally tolerated for most of their time in Afghanistan, up until the passage of anti-Jewish laws in the 1870s. Jews were given a reprieve under the rule of King Nadir Shah until his assassination in 1933. The influence of Nazi propaganda led to increased violence against Jews and

9000-515: The east of the Indus that he had overrun. Nader's soldiers also took with them thousands of elephants, horses and camels, loaded with the booty they had collected. On his return march, the Sikhs came out from the hills and ambushed Nader Shah's troops, taking some of the loot and captives with them. However, the remaining plunder seized from India was so valuable that Nader stopped taxation in Iran for

9120-434: The east, Tahmasp tried to assert himself by launching a campaign to recapture Yerevan . He ended up losing all of Nader's recent gains to the Ottomans, and signed a treaty ceding Georgia and Armenia in exchange for Tabriz . Nader, furious, saw that the moment had come to depose Tahmasp. He denounced the treaty, seeking popular support for a war against the Ottomans. In Isfahan, Nader got Tahmasp drunk then showed him to

9240-600: The establishment of the early modern Persianate world. Nader Shah was born (as Nadr Qoli) into a humble semi-nomadic family from the Afshar tribe of Khorasan, where he became a local warlord. His path to power began when the Ghilzai Mir Mahmud Hotaki overthrew the weakened and disintegrated Safavid shah Sultan Husayn in 1722. At the same time, Ottoman and Russian forces seized Iranian land. Russia took swaths of Iran's Caucasian territories in

9360-483: The famous Persian couplet , which states: اگرفردوس روی زمین است همین است و همین است و همین است Transliteration: Agar fardus rui zamayn ast', hameen ast', o hameen ast', o hameen ast'. (If there is a paradise on earth, it is this, and it is this, and it is this!) Kabul remained in Mughal control for the next 200 years. Though Mughal power became centred within the Indian subcontinent , Kabul retained importance as

9480-579: The first time in its history, Kabul served as a mint centre, producing gold and silver Mughal coins up to the reign of Alamgir II . It acted as a military base for Shah Jahan's campaigns in Balkh and Badakhshan . Kabul was also a recreational retreat for the Mughals, who hunted here and constructed several gardens. Most of the Mughals' architectural contributions to the city (such as gardens, fortifications, and mosques) have not survived. During this time,

9600-518: The following centuries, the city was successively controlled by the Samanids , Ghaznavids , Ghurids , Khwarazmshahs , Qarlughids , and Khaljis . In the 13th century, the invading Mongols caused major destruction in the region. Report of a massacre in the close by Bamiyan is recorded around this period, where the entire population of the valley was annihilated by the Mongol troops as revenge for

9720-588: The founder of the Qajar dynasty , seized Mashhad and tortured Shahrokh to force him to reveal the whereabouts of Nader Shah's treasures. Shahrokh died of his injuries soon after and with him the Afsharid dynasty came to an end. One of Shahrokh's sons, Nader Mirza , revolted in 1797 upon the death of Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar but the revolt was crushed and he was executed in April 1803. Shahrokh's descendants continue into

9840-601: The frantic turn of events in mainland Iran he would be able to remain de facto autonomous through the Zand period. Under the successive Qajar dynasty , Iran managed to restore Iranian suzerainty over the Georgian regions, until they would be irrevocably lost in the course of the 19th century , to neighbouring Imperial Russia . Many of the rest of the territories in the Caucasus, comprising modern-day [Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Dagestan , broke away into various khanates . Until

9960-477: The group did not "demur", and Hasan-Ali remained silent. When Nader asked him why he remained silent, Hasan-Ali replied that the best course of action for Nader would be to assemble all the leading men of the state, in order to receive their agreement in "a signed and sealed document of consent". Nader approved of the proposal, and the writers of the chancellery, which included the court historian Mirza Mehdi Khan Astarabadi , were instructed with sending out orders to

10080-526: The killing of the British resident and loss of mission in Kabul and the 1842 retreat from Kabul to Jalalabad , in which 4,500 regular British troops and 14,000 civilians were killed by Afghan tribesmen. In 1842 the British returned to Kabul, demolishing the city's main bazaar in revenge during the Kabul Expedition (1842) before returning to British India (now Pakistan). Akbar Khan took to

10200-469: The kings of Kakheti and Kartli respectively by Nader himself for their loyal service, capitalized on the eruption of instability and declared de facto independence. Erekle II assumed control over Kartli after Teimuraz II's death, thus unifying the two as the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti , becoming the first Georgian ruler in three centuries to preside over a politically unified eastern Georgia, and due to

10320-547: The lost Persian lands, Nader felt confident enough to have himself proclaimed shah in his own right at a ceremony on the Moghan Plain . Nader subsequently made the Russians cede the taken territories taken in 1722–23 through the Treaty of Resht of 1732 and the Treaty of Ganja of 1735. Back in control of the integral northern territories, and with a new Russo-Iranian alliance against the common Ottoman enemy, he continued

10440-887: The meeting point between Tartary , India and Persia . Over the centuries Kabul has been under the rule of various dynasties and empires, including the Seleucids , Bactrian Greeks , Mauryans , the Kushans , the Hindu Shahis , Western Turks , the Turk Shahis , the Samanids , the Khwarazmians , the Timurids , the Mongols and the Arman Rayamajhis. In the 16th century, the Mughal Empire used Kabul as

10560-527: The mid-2nd century BC. Buddhism was greatly patronised by these rulers and the majority of people of the city were adherents of the religion. Indo-Scythians expelled the Indo-Greeks by the mid 1st century BC, but lost the city to the Kushan Empire about 100 years later. It is mentioned as Kophes or Kophene in some classical Greek writings. The Chinese Buddhist monk Hsuan Tsang refers to

10680-490: The military, religious and nobility of the nation to summon at the plains. The summonses for the people to attend had gone out in November 1735, and they began arriving in January 1736. In the same month of January 1736, Nader held a qoroltai (a grand meeting in the tradition of Genghis Khan and Timur ) on the Moghan plains. The Moghan plain was specifically chosen for its size and "abundance of fodder". Everyone agreed to

10800-399: The new king was assassinated during an award ceremony in a school in Kabul. The throne was left to his 19-year-old son, Zahir Shah , who became the last King of Afghanistan . Unlike Amanullah Khan, Nader Khan and Zahir Shah had no plans to create a new capital city, and thus Kabul remained the country's seat of government . During the inter-war period , France and Germany helped to develop

10920-591: The nickname " Paris of Central Asia". This period of tranquility ended in 1978 with the Saur Revolution , and the subsequent Soviet military intervention in 1979 which sparked a 10-year Soviet–Afghan War . The 1990s were marked by civil wars between splinter factions of the disbanded Afghan mujahideen which destroyed much of the city. In 1996, Kabul was captured by the Taliban after four years of intermittent fighting. The Taliban-ruled city fell to

11040-399: The one red and yellow striped, the other yellow edged with red: they were made of such an enormous size, to prevent their being carried off by the enemy, except by an entire defeat. The regimental colours were a narrow slip of silk, sloped to a point, some were red, some white, and some striped. Navy Admiral flag being a white ground with a red Persian Sword in the middle. Although based on

11160-679: The only 10 kilometers (6 miles) of rail and the country had few internal telegraphs, phone lines or roads. Zahir turned to the Japanese, Germans and Italians for help in developing a modern transportation and communications network. A radio tower built in Kabul by the Germans in 1937 provided communication with outlying villages. A national bank and state cartels were organised to allow for economic modernisation. Textile mills, power plants, carpet and furniture factories were built in Kabul, providing much-needed manufacturing and infrastructure. During

11280-740: The peace in Persia. Having heard a rumour that Nader was dead, he had prepared to seize the throne by having the Safavid royal captives, Tahmasp and his nine-year-old son Abbas III, executed. On hearing the news, Reza's wife, who was Tahmasp's sister, committed suicide. Nader was not pleased with the young man's behaviour and humiliated him by removing him from the post of viceroy, but he took him on his expedition to conquer territory in Transoxiana . Nader became increasingly despotic as his health declined markedly. In 1740 he conquered Khanate of Khiva . After

11400-591: The population was about 60,000. Under later Mughal Emperors , Kabul became neglected. The empire lost the city when it was captured in 1738 by Nader Shah , who was en route to invade the Indian subcontinent . Nine years after Nader Shah and his forces invaded and occupied the city as part of the more easternmost parts of his Empire, he was assassinated by his own officers, causing its rapid disintegration. Ahmad Shah Durrani , commander of 4,000 Abdali Afghans , asserted Pashtun rule in 1747 and further expanded his new Afghan Empire . His ascension to power marked

11520-514: The population was concentrated on the south side of the river. The city was modernised throughout the regime of King Habibullah Khan , with the introduction of electricity, telephone, and a postal service. The first modern high school, Habibia , was established in 1903. In 1919, after the Third Anglo-Afghan War , King Amanullah Khan announced Afghanistan's independence in foreign affairs at Eidgah Mosque in Kabul. Amanullah

11640-496: The principal cities of his later Mughal Empire . In 1525, Babur described Kabulistan in his memoirs by writing that: There are many differing tribes in the Kābul country ; in its dales and plains are Turks and clansmen and 'Arabs ; and in its town and in many villages, Sārts ; out in the districts and also in villages are the Pashāi , Parājī , Tājik , Bīrkī and Afghān tribes. In

11760-401: The proposal of Nader becoming the new king, many—if not most—enthusiastically, the rest fearing Nader's anger if they showed support for the deposed Safavids. Nader was crowned Shah of Iran on March 8, 1736, a date his astrologers had chosen as being especially propitious, in attendance of an "exceptionally large assembly" composed of the military, religious and nobility of the nation, as well as

11880-560: The son of Reza Qoli. Meanwhile, Nadir's former treasurer, Ahmad Shah Abdali , had declared his independence by founding the Durrani Empire . In the process, the eastern territories were lost and in the following decades became part of Afghanistan , the successor-state to the Durrani Empire. The northern territories, Iran's most integral regions, had a different fate. Erekle II and Teimuraz II , who, in 1744, had been made

12000-546: The surrounding lands, resulting in the reestablishment of Iranian rule over all of the Caucasus and northern mainland Iran again. Nader suggested to his closest intimates, after a hunting party on the Moghan plains (presently split between Azerbaijan and Iran), that he should be proclaimed the new king (shah) in place of the young Abbas III. The small group of close intimates, Nader's friends, included Tahmasp Khan Jalayer and Hasan-Ali Beg Bestami . Following Nader's suggestion,

12120-404: The third locomotive (Henschel 19691 of 1923) might possibly be a different gauge and thus from a different railway all together. The other two locomotives (Henchel 19680 and 19681 of 1923) were originally found in the former engine shed of the Kabul and Darulaman Railway and show green paint (although heavily faded and largely gone). The most intact locomotive being Henchel 19681 and is displayed on

12240-461: The thirteenth century. The centrality of the city within the region, as well as its cultural importance as a nexus of ethnic groups in the region, caused Kabul to become known as the Paris of Central Asia in the late 20th century. The origin of Kabul, who built it and when, is largely unknown. The Hindu Rigveda , composed between 2000 and 1500 BC and one of the four canonical texts of Hinduism , and

12360-536: The throne from 1842 to 1845 and was followed by Dost Mohammad Khan. The Second Anglo-Afghan War broke out in 1879 when Kabul was under Sher Ali Khan 's rule, as the Afghan king initially refused to accept British diplomatic missions and later the British residents were again massacred. During the war, Bala Hissar was partially destroyed by a fire and an explosion. In Kabul, an established bazaar city, leather and textile industries developed by 1916. The majority of

12480-521: The using the colour green, as green was associated with Shia Islam and the Safavid dynasty . The two imperial standards were placed on the right of the square already mentioned: one of them was in stripes of red, blue, and white, and the other of red, blue, white, and yellow, without any other ornament: though the old standards required 12 men to move them, the SHAH lengthened their staffs, and made them yet heavier; he also put new colours of silk upon them,

12600-660: The western mountains are the Hazāra and Nikdīrī tribes, some of whom speak the Mughūlī tongue. In the north-eastern mountains are the places of the Kāfirs , such as Kitūr and Gibrik . To the south are the places of the Afghān tribes . Mirza Muhammad Haidar Dughlat , a poet from Hindustan who visited at the time wrote: "Dine and drink in Kabul: it is mountain, desert, city, river and all else." It

12720-484: The writings of Jonas Hanway , we can see that the flags of the army regiments of King Nader were three-eared, but we cannot come to a conclusion about whether the royal flags of that time were three-eared or four-eared. Nader Shah's flag Imperial Standard of the Afsharid dynasty Nader in his Battles Afsharians parade in Persepolis an Afsharid soldier with his flag – Persepolis parade Another Imperial Standard of

12840-526: Was a stop on the Hippie trail from Bamyan to the west towards Peshawar . The city was known for its street sales of hashish and became a major attraction for western hippies . On 28 April 1978, President Daoud and most of his family were assassinated in Kabul's Presidential Palace in what is called the Saur Revolution . Pro-Soviet PDPA under Nur Muhammad Taraki seized power and slowly began to institute reforms. Private businesses were nationalised in

12960-589: Was also put to death at the request of Nader Shah's widow. Shahrokh was briefly deposed in favour of another puppet ruler Soleyman II but, although blinded, Shahrokh was restored to the throne by his supporters. He reigned in Mashhad and from the 1750s his territory was mostly confined to the city and its environs. He also faced the Durrani invasions into Khorasan, eventually becoming subjugated to them in Ahmad Shah 's second campaign . In 1796 Mohammad Khan Qajar ,

13080-450: Was built in the city. Kabul Zoo was inaugurated in 1967, which was maintained with the help of visiting German zoologists . During this time, Kabul experimented with liberalisation, notably the loosening of restrictions on speech and assembly, which led to student politics in the capital and demonstrations by Socialist, Maoist, liberal or Islamist factions. Foreigners flocked to Kabul as the nation's tourism industry expanded. To accompany

13200-590: Was confined to a small local state in Khorasan. Finally, the Afsharid dynasty was overthrown by Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar in 1796, who would establish a new native Iranian empire and restore Iranian suzerainty over several of the aforementioned regions. The dynasty was named after the Turkoman Afshar tribe from Khorasan in north-east Iran, to which Nader belonged. The Afshars had originally migrated from Turkestan to Azerbaijan (Iranian Azerbaijan) in

13320-476: Was from here that Babur began his 1526 conquest of Hindustan, which was ruled by the Afghan Lodi dynasty and began east of the Indus River in what is present-day Pakistan . Babur loved Kabul due to the fact that he lived in it for 20 years and the people were loyal to him, including the weather that he was used to. His wish to be buried in Kabul was finally granted. The inscription on his tomb contains

13440-558: Was heard loudly saying: " Kabul must burn! Kabul must burn! ", and mastered the idea of proxy war in Afghanistan. Pakistani President Zia-ul-Haq authorised this operation under General Rahman, which was later merged with Operation Cyclone , a programme funded by the United States and carried out by the Central Intelligence Agency . The Soviets turned the city of Kabul into their command centre during

13560-456: Was nicknamed the Paris of Central Asia . According to J. Bruce Amstutz , an American diplomat in Kabul: [Before the 1978 Marxist coup d'etat] Kabul was a pleasant city [..] Though poor economically, it was spared the eyesore slums so visible in other Asian cities. The Afghans themselves were an imposing people, the men tall and self-assured and the women attractive. Until the late 1970s, Kabul

13680-573: Was occupied by the British : after establishing foreign relations and agreements, they withdrew from Afghanistan and returned to British India . Kabul is known for its historical gardens, bazaars , and palaces such as the Gardens of Babur , Darul Aman Palace and the Arg . In the second half of the 20th century, the city became a stop on the hippie trail undertaken by many Europeans and gained

13800-672: Was occupied by them in the 2nd century BCE. This "supposition seems likely" as the Afghan historian Mir Ghulam Mohammad Ghobar (1898–1978) wrote that in the Avesta (sacred book of Zoroastrianism ), Kabul was known as Vaekereta , whereas the Greeks of antiquity referred to it as Ortospana ("High Place"), which corresponds to the Sanskrit word Urddhastana , which was applied to Kabul. The Greek geographer Ptolemy (died c.  170 CE ) recorded Kabul as Καβουρα ( Kabura ). According to

13920-454: Was powerless to reverse this disintegration. Nader asked for the Afghan rebels to be handed over, but the Mughal emperor refused. Nader used the pretext of his Afghan enemies taking refuge in India to cross the border and invade the militarily weak but still extremely wealthy far eastern empire. In a brilliant campaign against the governor of Peshawar, he took a small contingent of his forces on

14040-472: Was reform-minded and he had a plan to build a new capital city on land 6 km from Kabul. This area, named Darulaman , consisted of the famous Darul Aman Palace , where he later resided. Many educational institutions were founded in Kabul during the 1920s. In 1929 King Amanullah left Kabul after a local uprising orchestrated by Habibullah Kalakani , but he was imprisoned and executed after nine months in power by King Nader Khan . Three years later, in 1933,

14160-478: Was routed by the Ottoman general Topal Osman Pasha near the city in 1733. Nader decided he needed to regain the initiative as soon as possible to save his position because revolts were already breaking out in Persia. He faced Topal again with a larger force and defeated and killed him. He then besieged Baghdad, as well as Ganja in the northern provinces, earning a Russian alliance against the Ottomans. Nader scored

14280-565: Was shot in the head from a distance of six inches and killed. Many questions about the killing remain unanswered. On 24 December 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and Kabul was heavily occupied by Soviet Armed Forces . In Pakistan, Director-General of the ISI Akhtar Abdur Rahman advocated for the idea of covert operation in Afghanistan by arming Islamic extremists who formed the mujahideen. General Rahman

14400-474: Was to weaken the Safavids further since radical Shi'a Islam had always been a major element in support for the dynasty. He had the chief mullah of Persia strangled after he was heard expressing support for the Safavids. Among his reforms was the introduction of what came to be known as the kolah-e Naderi . This was a hat with four peaks which symbolised the first four caliphs . Nader Shah consciously avoided

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