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Kabul will survive

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It is hard to pin a date on Kabul’s founding. Additionally, Kabul’s area and size have expanded and contracted numerous times. While today, geographically speaking, Kabul is a small province in central-eastern Afghanistan, in the Mughal Emperor Zaheer-ud-Din Babur’s day, Kabul stretched from the Hindukush mountains to the Indus River, and from Kashmir to Khurasan.

South of the Hindukush, for centuries the ancient city of Bagram, built on the banks of the Panjsher River, was the preeminent political, economic, cultural, and military center of the region. The rise to prominence of Kabul, around a millennium ago, was parallel to the decline of Bagram. Built on the banks of the Kabul River, Kabul lay from southwest to northeast, in the direction of the river.

Given Kabul’s location at a crossroads, the city was destined to achieve greatness. The overland commerce, as well as conquest, routes between India and China, and India and Persia ran through Kabul, which quickly became a major commercial center. The first time ever that India and China made contact with each other was through the overland route that ran over the Hindukush, and by extension through Kabul.

Kabul, a diverse commercial hub with pleasant climates

Babur—in his memoir, the Baburnama—says: ‘As the entrepot between Hindustan and Khurasan, this province [Kabul] is an excellent mercantile center. Merchants who go to Cathay and Anatolia do no greater business. Every year seven, eight, or ten thousand horses come to Kabul.’

Babur further adds that, ‘From Hindustan, caravans of ten, fifteen, twenty thousand pack animals bring slaves, textiles, rock, sugar, refined sugar, and spices. Many Kabul merchants would not be satisfied with a 300 to 400 percent profit. Goods from Khurasan, Iraq, Anatolia, and China can be found in Kabul, which is the principal depot for Hindustan.

Amongst the different ethnic groups that lived in Kabul, Babur names the following: Turks, Aymaques, Arabs, Pashais, Parachis, Tajiks, Barakis (Burkis), Afghans (also known as Pashtuns, Pakhtuns or Pathans), Hazaras, and Negudaris.

Moreover, on the languages and dialects spoken in Kabul, Babur observes that, ‘Eleven or twelve dialects are spoken in Kabul Province: Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Mongolian, Hindi, Afghani [Pashto or Pakhto], Pashai, Parachi, Gabari, Baraki, and Lamghani [Laghmani]. It is not known if there are so many different peoples and languages in any other province.’

Kabul was home to a thriving Christian Armenian community. The Armenians of Kabul had their own church inside Old Kabul, and their own cemetery. Similarly, the Jews of Kabul had their own quarter and synagogue. Hindus, Sikhs, Armenians, and Jews were involved in commerce between Kabul and the surrounding regions.

Kabul’s magnificent climate also brought ‘so many different peoples’ together. Babur remarks, ‘The climate is excellent. In fact, no place in the world is known to have such a pleasing climate as Kabul… near are regions with both warm and cold climates. Within a day’s ride from Kabul it is possible to reach a place where snow never falls. But within two hours one can go where the snows never melt–except in the rare summer so severe that all snow disappears. Both tropical and cold-weather fruits are abundant in Kabul’s dependencies, and they are nearby.’

Kabul, Afghanistan’s cultural oasis

In the process of bringing so many different peoples together, Kabul has managed to develop its own unique vibrant culture and identity, which, although is different from the rest of Afghanistan at times, has had its influence over other cultures throughout Afghanistan.

Across Afghanistan the amount of love and affection for Kabul is boundless. It is not uncommon to see schools, hotels, restaurants, buses, shops, and other businesses named after Kabul. There is a Pashto saying, ‘Penza rupay por kra, zoy pa Kabul loy kra,’ meaning ‘Borrow five rupees, and raise your son in Kabul,’ in reference to Kabul’s better education, etiquette, and culture.

Kabul was home to Afghanistan’s first modern boys’ school, first modern girls’ school, first teachers’ training college, first university, first radio and television stations, first train, first museum, and first airport, among other things. In the 1940s, for the first time in Afghanistan’s history, Radio Kabul allowed female singers to sing, and broadcast their songs.

Twice over the past century—once in the 1920s and again in the 1950s—Kabul pioneered giving Afghan girls and women the right to education and work, and the right to not cover their faces, if they so wished. Although rural conservatives were uncomfortable with the above reforms, other Afghan cities such as Kandahar and Herat imitated Kabul.

The Afghan Royal Family during the Nadir Shah and Zahir Shah eras did not impose any social reforms from Kabul on the rest of the country. Instead, they allowed people outside Kabul to gradually see, understand, and adopt such reforms as girls’ education and removing of the veil, which Kabul had embraced.

Furthermore, Kabul has produced Afghanistan’s top singers such as Ustad Qasem Afghan and Ustad Fazl Ahmad Nainawaz. Kabul has also given birth to Afghanistan’s best contemporary poets such as the poet laureate Qari Abdullah and Sufi Ghulam Nabi Ashqari. In Kabul’s poetic circles, it is common to gather with one’s friends to recite and interpret poems of poets such as Mirza Abdul Qadir Bedil Dehlavi and Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi/Balkhi.

As such, Kabul for centuries has played a role like that of Iran and India, which, while absorbing outsiders and adopting part of their culture, has given the outsiders an indigenous touch and identity. This was as true of early Muslim conquerors and more recently of the Mujahedin, as it was of settlers and immigrants from across the region.

For instance, within months of Ahmad Shah Durrani’s passing in 1772, his son and successor Timur Shah Durrani moved his Empire’s capital from Kandahar to Kabul. Among other reasons, Kabul’s liberal atmosphere and its moderate climate prompted Timur to relocate his capital.

Like Timur Shah, generation after generation of Afghans have flocked to Kabul. Some of those moving in from small towns and villages at first may not feel at ease in Kabul, which may be too liberal for them. But eventually most accept the change, and Kabul becomes their home.

Kabul’s women against foreign occupation

Kabul has led the way in resisting foreign occupation. During the first British invasion (1838-1841) the Afghan uprising, which led to the killing of the British envoy William H. Macnaghten and withdrawal of the British troops, began in Kabul in November 1841. During the withdrawal, an entire 16,500-man British army, consisting of both soldiers and camp followers, was almost entirely annihilated by Ghilzai tribesmen in the mountains and gorges of eastern Kabul.

Women attend a rally in Kabul in the late 1970s. | Imgur via Pinterest

Nearly four decades later, during the Second British invasion of Afghanistan (1878-1881), the Afghans burned down the British Residency at Kabul’s Bala Hisar and killed the British envoy Pierre L. Cavagnari, a second British envoy to be assassinated in Kabul in 38 years.

During both British invasions, Kabul’s girls and women took an active part in the struggle to evict the British. For instance, from rooftops, the women of Kabul would throw stones at, and pour hot water on, passing British soldiers in Kabul’s alleys and streets. Old Kabul’s homes and streets are filled with the tales of Kabul’s women’s struggle against British invaders.

Likewise, a century later, weeks into the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, in late February 1980, the residents of Old Kabul, including girls and women, staged a popular uprising against the heavily armed Soviet troops. The uprising started at night with chants of Allah-o-Akbar—in defiance of Soviet-imposed communism—by residents of Kabul from their rooftops.

The next day, clashes between Soviet troops and Kabul residents followed in the streets. The uprising—during which hundreds of Kabul’s residents including teenage schoolgirls like Naheed, Amina, Salma, and Sultana, embraced martyrdom—was brutally suppressed by Soviet troops. While Kabul’s residents made the ultimate sacrifice for Afghanistan’s freedom, the torch of resistance was passed onto other Afghans who would make sure the Soviets left Afghanistan.

Concluding remarks

Even though Kabul and its brave girls and women are going through a dark period right now due to numerous restrictions imposed on them by Taliban fundamentalists, it is my sincere belief that Kabul and its girls and women will once again, sooner rather than later, emerge victorious from these dark and challenging times, and return to living a cheerful life once again.

The Taliban’s categorizing the girls and women of Kabul as impious and imposing restrictions on them is in line with the offensive descriptions of the girls and women of Kabul which former British colonial chroniclers have provided. It is interesting to see that the Taliban have found more common ground with the British than with fellow Afghans.

The Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada’s preferring to stay in Kandahar can be because he fears being “polluted,” absorbed, and made irrelevant by Kabul. That said, if the Taliban survive, Kabul will conquer them—just like it conquered the Mujahedin. In Kabul the Taliban will metamorphose into a more lenient movement, should they survive the test of time and sanity.

The writer is Arwin Rahi, a former adviser to the Parwan governor in Afghanistan. He can be reached at [email protected].

 

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Pentagon plans covert spy ring for economic war on China, report says

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22/10/2026

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The US Department of War (Pentagon) is reportedly planning to establish an extensive network of deep-cover agents to wage economic warfare against China and other adversaries of the US.

According to a report by The Washington Post citing six sources familiar with the initiative, the plan has not yet been put into effect. The newspaper reported that the initiative remains at the planning stage. The Pentagon, however, denies that any such initiative exists.

The report said the operatives would pose as entrepreneurs or private sector employees while concealing their ties to the US government. The network’s mission would be to gather economic intelligence and counter China.

The programme is led by Tom Rakusa, who spent 39 years at the CIA. Rakusa serves as a senior adviser to Deputy Secretary of Defence Steve Feinberg.

The proposed spy network is seen as part of a broader policy by the Donald Trump administration to sharpen economic competition with other countries.

The US is already resorting to tariffs, export controls, and investment in strategic sectors, alongside expanding its economic intelligence gathering.

According to The Washington Post, the new initiative demonstrates the Pentagon’s growing influence under the Trump administration. The department is currently seeking a record budget of $1.5 trillion.

Trade war flares up again with Trump’s return to the White House

The trade friction between the US and China flared up again following Donald Trump’s return to the White House. In April 2025, Washington raised tariffs on Chinese goods to as much as 145%, and Beijing retaliated with tariffs of up to 125%.

In May, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio described China as the primary geopolitical challenge facing Washington. Rubio said that to avoid war, the two sides needed to manage their conflict of interests.

In July, Chinese expert Zheng Yongnian did not simply warn that underestimating the US could prove to be a “fatal mistake”; he stated it explicitly.

According to Zheng’s assessment, the US maintains its primacy through the role of the dollar, its military superiority, and its technological advantages.

Even so, the two sides agreed in June to declare a truce and lower tariffs. In autumn 2026, the US and China extended their trade truce until 10 January 2027.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the extension would give the parties more time to discuss economic issues.

Trade deals do not eliminate the strategic contradictions between the two countries. Financial Times columnist Rana Foroohar likened the race between the two nations for commercial, technological, and geopolitical influence to the 19th-century “Great Game” between the Russian and British empires.

Foroohar cited China’s standing in shipbuilding and commercial maritime transport, as well as its expanding footprint in overseas ports, among its key advantages.

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Japan plans curbs on short-term home sales to cool urban prices

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21/10/2026

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Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) plans to restrict short-term property trading to rein in surging home prices in major urban centres, particularly Tokyo.

Led by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, the party aims to make support for working households a core priority ahead of local elections scheduled for April next year.

The LDP’s research commission on housing and land policy met on Wednesday to discuss the issue.

According to a report by the Nikkei Asia newspaper, Commission Chair and LDP lawmaker Midori Matsushima said at the opening of the meeting: “Prices of newly built condominiums across Tokyo’s 23 wards have doubled over the past decade. We must work on measures ensuring that people who wish to live in these homes can actually afford to buy them.”

Homeownership in the capital has become virtually unattainable for broad segments of the population. According to data from the Real Estate Economic Institute, the average sale price of a newly built condominium in Tokyo’s 23 wards rose %18.5 in fiscal 2025 compared with the previous year, reaching 137.84 million yen (around $872,000).

Meanwhile, statistics from the Ministry of Labour show that the average annual income of a full-time worker in the capital remained at 6.78 million yen in fiscal 2025. This widening gap between incomes and residential property prices is directly shaping political priorities.

During its campaign for the House of Representatives election in February, the LDP pledged to curb speculative transactions across metropolitan Tokyo and other regions. Earlier this month, a party project team focused on policies concerning foreign nationals also submitted a recommendation urging the government to introduce immediate tax measures against rising home prices.

Under current legislation, profits realized from properties sold within five years of acquisition are classified as “short-term capital gains”. These returns face a tax rate approaching %40, including income tax and local inhabitant tax.

Although this rate is twice the approximately %20 levied as “long-term capital gains” tax on properties held for more than five years, several party members argue it remains insufficient to deter speculation. Calls to tighten the framework may be considered as part of the annual tax reform package to be drafted in December alongside the LDP’s coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party.

The ruling bloc wants to present concrete housing pledges to voters heading to the polls in April across numerous urban centres, including 22 of Tokyo’s wards where local assembly terms expire.

“We need to support families with children, who are typically at the stage of purchasing a home,” a senior LDP official said.

Opposition parties are also preparing alternative proposals that target not only prospective homebuyers, but also residents forced into the rental market by high property prices and now affected by escalating rents.

Tax steps take precedence over limits on foreign buyers

Several countries seeking answers to housing affordability pressures have imposed direct restrictions on foreign purchasers. In South Korea, real estate policies played a major part in the declining public approval ratings of President Lee Jae Myung.

In August 2025, authorities in Seoul introduced an approval requirement for foreign nationals buying homes in the capital and adjacent areas, while also mandating that buyers reside in the properties for at least two years.

Canada and Australia have enacted temporary bans on foreign residential purchases, while Singapore levies a %60 additional stamp duty on foreign buyers.

The role of overseas investors in Japan’s property market also drew debate during the February election. However, restrictions aimed directly at foreign nationals are viewed as potentially conflicting with international trade and services agreements.

Consequently, rather than imposing restrictions based on the nationality of buyers, the government is discussing tax measures aimed at speculative real estate deals, such as rapid resales.

Fears that sharp market measures could shake regional banks

Concerns have also surfaced that aggressive steps to force down prices could harm the wider national economy.

A senior LDP tax official cautioned that a steep drop in land prices could weaken local financial institutions, warning: “We must consider the impact on regional banks.”

The real estate sector accounts for roughly %18 of total lending by Japanese banks. This proportion sits well above the %10 level recorded during Japan’s bubble economy of the mid-to-late 1980s.

At certain regional banks, property lending accounts for nearly half of total loan portfolios.

According to March 2025 data from the Financial Services Agency, approximately one-quarter of all loans extended by regional banks to the real estate sector are concentrated directly in Tokyo’s five central wards.

Buoyant asset valuations, supported in part by rising stock indices, have underpinned strong public approval for the Takaichi administration. Observers note that property interventions designed to cool the market could drag down equity prices and weaken the government’s standing.

A senior official on the LDP research commission stressed that decision-makers must act with caution regarding the scope and timing of any measures intended to bring price increases under control.

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South Korea plans $120B spend on eight US nuclear power plants

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01/10/2026

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South Korea will spend $120 billion to construct eight nuclear power plants in the US under an agreement that provides for $350 billion in investments in exchange for lower tariffs.

The South Korean government also announced that Seoul and Washington will begin examining a liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Alaska comprising a large-scale pipeline to transport natural gas from the north of the state to the south, alongside the construction of an LNG terminal for exports overseas.

Seoul stated that a decision regarding the LNG project will be made following a commercial feasibility study. However, US President Donald Trump said that South Korea would invest $54 billion in the project, pointing to an apparent lack of full coordination between the two sides on the matter.

Trade and Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan said in a statement: “This announcement opens a new horizon of cooperation where the two countries join forces to develop joint commercial ventures in strategic areas directly linked to economic security and future sectors such as artificial intelligence, nuclear energy, and LNG.”

“We will adhere to the principle of prioritising national interests and investing solely in commercially viable projects,” Kim said.

Speaking at the White House, Trump characterised South Korea’s plans as “one of the largest energy infrastructure investments in American history”.

The announcement followed a meeting between Trump and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung roughly one year ago at the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting held in South Korea, where they agreed on the creation of a $350 billion investment fund.

Under that agreement, $150 billion was allocated to the shipbuilding sector and $200 billion to other sectors. In return, the US announced it would reduce tariffs imposed on goods imported from South Korea from 25% to 15%.

Under the nuclear power project, South Korea’s state-controlled utility will build two plants in the US, while Pennsylvania-based Westinghouse Electric will construct six plants.

According to the South Korean government, this will mark the first instance in which a foreign country builds its own nuclear power plants in the US.

South Korean firms are also evaluating the possibility of acquiring a stake in Westinghouse as part of negotiations over sharing profits generated by the project.

South Korea additionally announced that it will build a $22.3 billion natural gas-fired power plant in Texas with a capacity of 6,472 megawatts.

The facility will be designed to supply electricity directly to nearby data centres. The project’s first phase is targeted to begin commercial operations in 2029, with full-capacity operations slated for 2032.

Seoul also disclosed that it had agreed to allow the US to receive 50% of the profits generated by the projects until South Korea recoups all of its investments.

After South Korea fully recovers its total investment amount, 90% of the profits will go to the US.

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