Babur\u2014in his memoir, the Baburnama\u2014says: \u2018As 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.<\/em>\u2019<\/p>\n Babur further adds that, \u2018From 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<\/em>.<\/a><\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Moreover, on the languages and dialects spoken in Kabul, Babur observes that, \u2018Eleven 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<\/em>.\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Kabul\u2019s magnificent climate also brought \u2018so many different peoples<\/em>\u2019 together. Babur remarks, \u2018The climate is excellent. In fact, no place in the world is known to have such a pleasing climate as Kabul<\/em>\u2026 near<\/em> are regions with both warm and cold climates. Within a day\u2019s 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\u2013except in the rare summer so severe that all snow disappears<\/em>. Both tropical and cold-weather fruits are abundant in Kabul\u2019s dependencies, and they are nearby.’<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Kabul, Afghanistan\u2019s cultural oasis <\/strong><\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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, \u2018Penza rupay por kra, zoy pa Kabul loy kra,<\/em>\u2019 meaning \u2018Borrow five rupees, and raise your son in Kabul<\/em>,\u2019 in reference to Kabul\u2019s better education, etiquette, and culture.<\/p>\n Kabul was home to Afghanistan\u2019s first modern boys\u2019 school, first modern girls\u2019 school, first teachers\u2019 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\u2019s history, Radio Kabul allowed female singers to sing, and broadcast their songs.<\/p>\n Twice over the past century\u2014once in the 1920s and again in the 1950s\u2014Kabul 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.<\/p>\n 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\u2019 education and removing of the veil, which Kabul had embraced.<\/p>\n Furthermore, Kabul has produced Afghanistan\u2019s top singers such as Ustad Qasem Afghan and Ustad Fazl Ahmad Nainawaz. Kabul has also given birth to Afghanistan\u2019s best contemporary poets such as the poet laureate Qari Abdullah and Sufi Ghulam Nabi Ashqari. In Kabul\u2019s poetic circles, it is common to gather with one\u2019s friends to recite and interpret poems of poets such as Mirza Abdul Qadir Bedil Dehlavi and Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi\/Balkhi.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n For instance, within months of Ahmad Shah Durrani\u2019s passing in 1772, his son and successor Timur Shah Durrani moved his Empire\u2019s capital from Kandahar to Kabul. Among other reasons, Kabul\u2019s liberal atmosphere and its moderate climate prompted Timur to relocate his capital.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Kabul\u2019s women against foreign occupation<\/strong><\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Women attend a rally in Kabul in the late 1970s. | Imgur via Pinterest<\/p><\/div>\n Nearly four decades later, during the Second British invasion of Afghanistan (1878-1881), the Afghans burned down the British Residency at Kabul\u2019s Bala Hisar and killed the British envoy Pierre L. Cavagnari, a second British envoy to be assassinated in Kabul in 38 years.<\/p>\n During both British invasions, Kabul\u2019s 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\u2019s alleys and streets. Old Kabul\u2019s homes and streets are filled with the tales of Kabul\u2019s women\u2019s struggle against British invaders.<\/p>\n 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\u2014in defiance of Soviet-imposed communism\u2014by residents of Kabul from their rooftops.<\/p>\n The next day, clashes between Soviet troops and Kabul residents followed in the streets. The uprising\u2014during which hundreds of Kabul\u2019s residents including teenage schoolgirls like Naheed, Amina, Salma, and Sultana, embraced martyrdom\u2014was brutally suppressed by Soviet troops. While Kabul\u2019s residents made the ultimate sacrifice for Afghanistan\u2019s freedom, the torch of resistance was passed onto other Afghans who would make sure the Soviets left Afghanistan.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/harici.com.tr\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Socialist-Women-Afghanistan.jpeg\")