Kabul Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids Kabul
City center of Kabul
Country	Afghanistan
Province	Kabul Province
Population (2018)	4,635,000

Kabul is the capital of Afghanistan and its largest city, located in the eastern section of the country. It is also a municipality, forming part of the greater Kabul Province. According to estimates in 2015, the population of Kabul is 4.635 million, which includes all the major ethnic groups. Rapid urbanization had made Kabul the world's 75th largest city.

Kabul is located high up in a narrow valley between the Hindu Kush mountains, with an elevation of 1,790 metres (5,873 ft) making it one of the highest capitals in the world. The city is said to be over 3,500 years old, mentioned since at least the time of the Achaemenid Empire. It is at a strategic location along the trade routes of South and Central Asia, and a key location of the ancient Silk Road. Kabul became the capital of Afghanistan in 1776, during the reign of Timur Shah Durrani, the son of Ahmad Shah Durrani.

Children of Kabul

In the early 19th century, the British occupied the city but after establishing foreign relations they were compelled to withdraw all forces from Afghanistan. The city was occupied by the Soviets in 1979 but they too abandoned it after the 1988 Geneva Accords were signed. A civil war in the 1990s between various rebel groups destroyed much of the city, resulting in many casualties.

Kabul is known for its gardens, bazaars, and palaces. It was also formerly a travel destination for young western hippies. Since the removal of the Taliban from power in late 2001, the city began rebuilding itself with assistance from the international community. Despite the many terrorist attacks by anti-state elements, the city is developing and was the fifth fastest-growing city in the world as of 2012. The city is divided into 22 districts.

Places of interest

Each year about 20,000 foreign tourists visit Afghanistan. Most visitors prefer lodging at guest houses, which are found all over the city. The better and safer ones are in the Wazir Akbar Khan neighborhood where the embassies are located.

The old part of Kabul is filled with bazaars along its narrow, crooked streets. Cultural sites include the National Museum of Afghanistan, Bala Hissar - a fort destroyed by the British in 1879, now restored as a military college. There is also the Kolola Pushta fort, which is still guarded by the Afghan Army, and the nearby 19th-century Shahrara Tower fort, which was ruined in 1928.

16th-century mosque inside the Gardens of Babur

Other places of interest include Kabul City Center, which is Kabul's first shopping mall, the shops around Flower Street and Chicken Street, Wazir Akbar Khan district, Kabul Golf Club, Kabul Zoo, Abdul Rahman Mosque, Shah-Do Shamshira and other famous mosques, the National Gallery of Afghanistan, the National Archives of Afghanistan, Afghan Royal Family Mausoleum, the OMAR Mine Museum, Bibi Mahro Hill, Kabul Cemetery, and Paghman Gardens.

Tappe-i-Maranjan is a nearby hill where Buddhist statues and Graeco-Bactrian coins from the 2nd century BC have been found. Outside the city is a citadel and the royal palace. Paghman and Jalalabad are interesting valleys west and east of the city.

Images for kids

Kushan Empire
Buddha statue at the museum in Kabul, early 1st millennium
Humayun with his father Babur, emperors of the Mughal Empire
Shujah Shah Durrani, the last Durrani King, sitting at his court inside the Bala Hissar
Chihil Sutun Palace (also known as "Hendaki"), one of numerous palaces built by the Emir in the 19th century
Etching of Kabul by an Italian artist, 1885
Dilkusha Palace, built in European style in the 1900s
The river bank in the center of Kabul in the 1960s
People and traffic in a part of Kabul, 1976
Center of Kabul in 1979; the Pul-e Khishti bridge crosses the Kabul River to the old city in the south bank
Taj Beg Palace in 1987, the Soviet Army headquarters during the Soviet–Afghan War
Kabul's Jada-e Maiwand in 1993, showing destruction caused by the civil war.
Modern high-rises built in the 2010s
Night scene in Kabul in 2016 looking northeast, with Koh-e 'Aliabad on the left and Koh-e Asamai on the right
Qargha dam and lake
A view of some of the mountains that surround Kabul
Location of Kabul Municipality within Kabul Province
Young Afghan men and women at a rock music festival inside the Gardens of Babur
Houses built on mountains
Afghan girls in Kabul in 2012
Ghazi Stadium
Marketplace in central Kabul
Inside an antiquity shop in Kabul's famous Chicken Street (Kochi Murgha)
Studio of Radio Kabul in the 1950s
The Kabul Bird Market (Ka Foroshi)
National Museum of Afghanistan
Afghanistan National Archives
Bibi Mahro Park
Italian baroque style of Shah Do Shamshira
Tomb of Timur Shah Durrani (early 19th century rebuilt)
Flightline at Hamid Karzai International Airport (Kabul International Airport), 2012
Traffic in Kabul city center in 2013
A Toyota Corolla (E100) at a security checkpoint in 2010
Kabul city announced open calls through the Kabul municipality's HP and its Facebook page, to participate in town meeting and planning process
Kabul mayor Mohammad Daud Sultanzoy speaking with league management during the inauguration ceremony of first ever internet-based solid waste discussion league in 2021
A memorandum of understanding signed by Kabul City mayor Ahmad Zaki Sarfaraz and Nagoya Institute of Technology executive director in 2019
Kabul Medical University
Kabul Education University of Rabbani
The Taq-e Zafar in Paghman
The Minaret of Knowledge and Ignorance, built in the 1920s on a hill in Deh Mazang, commemorating king Amanullah's victory over the Mullah-e Lang in the Khost rebellion
Mausoleum of emir Abdur Rahman Khan, Zarnegar Park
Minaret of the Unknown Corps, memorial of the 1880 Battle of Maiwand
Buddhist stupa of Guldara
Royal Mausoleum at Maranjan hill
The Tang-e Gharu canyon east of Kabul
Traditional hill dwellings
"Old Mikroyan", 1960s built
Ministry of Finance and Khyber Restaurant (1966)
Pamir Cinema building (Agricultural Development Bank)
Pashtany Bank and the brutalist Kabul Tower
Andarabi Road dwellings on the riverbank
Apartments built in the 2000s with contemporary Afghanese style

Kabul facts for kids

Places of interest

Images for kids

See also