afghanistanpicnic spots for Kabulis. During the decade of Soviet occupation and the
post-Soviet era the Koh Daman and Panjshir were among the most bitterly
fought-over regions of Afghanistan and became abandoned wastelands
strewn with mines and unexploded ordnance. Today agricultural activity
in the Koh Daman is still in the process of recovery. The Koh Daman is
predominantly farsiwan, though Hazara settlements increase as one travels
up the Ghurband valley on the Charikar–Bamiyan road. On the eastern
side of the valley are a number of prosperous Pushtun settlements, while
the Safis of Tagab in Kapisa province control the strategic road between
Charikar and Sarobi that skirts around Kabul. Several thousand Pashais,
who speak a Dardic language, live in the foothills of the Hindu Kush from
Kapisa to Darra-yi Nur and the Kunar.
In the south and southeast of Kabul province Pushtun tribes, mainly
Ghilzais, are the dominant ethnicity, though there are Persian-speaking
settlements in the upper Kabul river, the Jalrez region and along the Logar.
There are substantial iron deposits around Ghazni and one of the world’s
richest seams of copper is found in Mes Ainak in the Logar, though these
resources have yet to be exploited. The Maidan Shahr region of Wardak
province is renowned for its apples, while Ghazni, one of Afghanistan’s
most renowned historic cities, was the capital of the Ghaznavid dynasty
(977–1186) (see Table 2). Ghazni’s imposing medieval fortress still domin-
ates the town and outside the city walls are the tombs of the Ghaznavid
sultans, the remains of their palaces and two minarets.
Nangahar, on the lower reaches of the Kabul river, is the country’s
only subtropical, frost-free zone, which benefits from the tail end of the
Indian monsoons. Jalalabad, the provincial capital of Nangahar, is a bustling
commercial centre on the main road between Kabul and the Pakistan fron-
tier, and a large volume of Afghanistan’s exports and imports pass through
this town. Electricity for Jalalabad comes from the Sarobi dams, while water
from these storage facilities feeds into an extensive irrigation network. The
Nangahar plain is intensively cultivated. Rice, olives and citrus fruit are grown
here and in recent times cauliflowers have become a major export crop, while
the Khogiyani district on the Surkhab river grows apricots, walnuts, almonds
and grapes. Nangahar’s most profitable and extensively grown crop today,
however, is opium. The mountains of southeastern Afghanistan were once
covered with forests of juniper and holly oak, but due to illegal logging only
a small remnant now remains: only 1.3 per cent of Afghanistan’s land surface
is now forested – one of the lowest ratios in the world.
The Nangahar region and hinterland is almost exclusively Pushtun and
influential tribes include the Afridis, Khogiyanis, Ludins, Mohmands, Safis,