Kandahar

Kandahar, also spelled Qandahar, : کندهار or قندهار) is the second largest city in Afghanistan, with a population of 324,800 (2006 estimate). It is the capital of Kandahar province, located in the south of the country at about 1,005 m (3,297 feet) above sea level. The Arghandab River runs right next to the city. Kandahar is a major trading center for sheep, wool, cotton, silk, felt, food grains, fresh and dried fruit, and tobacco. The region produces fine fruits, especially pomegranates and grapes, and the city has plants for canning, drying, and packing fruit. Kandahar has an international airport and extensive road links with Farah and Herat to the west, Ghazni and Kabul to the northeast, Tarin Kowt to the north, and Quetta in Pakistan to the south. Many empires have long fought over the city, due to its strategic location along the trade routes of Southern and Central Asia. In 1748, Ahmad Shah Durrani, founder of the Durrani Empire, made Kandahar the capital of Afghanistan. It is believed that Kandahar may have derived from the Pashto pronunciation of Alexandria, or Iskanderiya. A temple to the deified Alexander as well as an inscription in Greek and Aramaic by the Indian Emperor Ashoka, who lived a few decades later, have been discovered in the old citadel. An alternative etymology derives the name of the city from Gandhara, the name of an ancient kingdom and its capital city located between the Hindukush and Sulaiman Mountains (basically identical to the modern extend of the Pashtun-inhabited territories in Pakistan and Afghanistan), although Kandahar in modern times and the ancient Gandhara are not totally identical, geographically.