Tucked up in the eaves, if not on the roof of the world, is Kabul, the capital city of Afghanistan. The name is derived from the archaic word Caubul. The city is situated on the banks of Kabul River bordered by the lofty Koh-e paghman and the Koh-e-Qrough mountain range. It occupies a central and strategic location at a crucial spot where the east, west, north and south trade routes meet. This fast–growing city has quite a few sights and sounds to offer. The teeming bazaars nuzzle against the several tall modern buildings. A walk through central Kabul is an essential to get to know a little of the city and its people.
Kabul is linked with the Kandahar, Heart, Ghazni and Mazar-e Sharif, via a long circular highway that stretches across the country. Normally all the main products needed by its inhabitants, from munitions and cloth, to furniture and sugar, are available in this capital city. However, due to the tumultuous events that beset the country continually, the economic productivity of the city is very often curtailed. Above this ancient city where empires rose and fell in quick succession in the past, tales of war, horror and acute suffering still hover.
Today, Kabul's avenue is brimming with baksheekh children selling old maps, Burkha-clad women waving prescriptions of drugs, men wearing brilliant flowing turban and gaily striped chapans amid the towering buildings that bear the scar of war. One may check out the kebab shops, tread the labyrinthine passageways of Mandayi Bazaar or visit the Chahrahi Taurabaz Khan lined with its shops selling carpet, kilims, and 9/11 rugs, a reminder of the attack on the World Trade Center. Still, if one can get enough of the view, it is worthwhile to visit the Jadayi Sulh, to see the city's impressive fort known as Kolala Pushta.
Despite the attractions mentioned, Kabul is no tourist's paradise, with no pristine beaches and luxurious bathes. However, as Nancy Dupree writes in her introduction, cities like Kabul change and even metamorphose a little every day. Indeed, Kabul is emerging from the ruins and travelers are starting to see a new look of it.
