introductionsouthwest of the modern town under the shadow of the Qaital Ridge.
British excavations in the 1970s uncovered a number of Elamite cuneiform
tablets and a Greek tomb inscription that relates how a certain Sophytos,
having fallen on hard times, regained his family’s fortunes by undertaking
long sea voyages and trading with many cities. Nearby, at Chehel Zina, is a
bilingual rock inscription of the Mauryan king and patron of Buddhism,
Ashoka, and a Persian inscription commissioned by the founder of the
Mughal Empire, Zahir al-Din Babur.
During the Mughal and Safavid era, Kandahar was a wealthy fron-
tier town, trading with both these kingdoms mainly in locally produced
wool, Indian cottons and silks. The town also made a great deal of money
from recasting silver coinage. More recently Kandahar has fallen on hard
times, a situation due mainly to the insecurity arising from the civil war.
Kandahar and Helmand regions are still major centres of conflict and
the anti -government insurgency. Wool and silk still play an important
part in the local economy and the Kandahari style of embroidery adorns
As the sun begins to set,
a man prays in a niche of
Herat’s Timurid Friday
Mosque.