Kandahar Province
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UNHCR BACKGROUND REPORT KANDAHAR PROVINCE Prepared by the Data Collection for Afghan Repatriation Project 1 September 1989 PREFACE 'Ihe following report is one in a series of 14 provincial profiles prepared for the United Nations High Conunissioner for Refugees by the Data Collec tion for Afghan Repatriation Project. 'Ihe object of these reports is to provide detailed inforrration on the conditions affecting the repatriation of Afghan refugees in each pru,rince so that UNHCRand its implementing partners may be better able to plan and target progra:rmnes of relief and rehabilitation assistance. Each of the provinces featured in this series is estimated to have at least 35 percent of its pre-1978 population living as refugees. Together, these 14 provinces -- Baghlan, Farah, Ghazni, Hel.rnand, Herat, Kandahar, Kunar, Iaghman, I.agar, Nangarhar, Nbnroz, Paktia, Paktik.a and Zabul -- account for ninety percent of the Afghan refugee population settled in Iran and Pakistan. 'Ihe Data Collection for Afghan Repatriation Project (DCAR)was funded by UNHCRto develop a databasH of information on Afghanistan that would serve as a resource for repatriation planning. Project staff based in Peshawar and Quetta have conducted .interviews and surveys in refugee camps through out NWFP, Baluchistan and Punjab provinces in Pakistan to compile data on refugee origins, ethnic and tribal affiliation and likely routes of refugee return to Afgha11istan. In addition, the project field staff undertake frequent missions into Afghanistan to gather specific inform ation on road conditions, the availability of storage facilities, trans portation and fuel, the level of destruction of housing, irrigation systems and farmland, the location of landmines and the political and military situation at the district (woleswali)and sub-district (alaqadari) levels in those provinces of priority concern to UNHCR. Where possible, written sourcl"IB, including the Afghanistan gazetteers edited by L. Adamec, NGOfield reports and bilateral/multilateral agency reports have been consulted to corroborate field data. Project staff also interview Afghan resistance leaders, journalists and other non-Afghan visitors to the region as sources for inforrnation and corroboration of information gathered in the field. All survey data and 0+-ller related information has been stored in the DCARdatabase. Only summary infor mation has been included in tltLS report. More specific information can be obtained from the DCARm..~in office at the UNHCRSub-Office Peshawar. Where locations are known, the activities of different NGOshave also been identified. 'Ihis information has been provided in order to indicate the types of resources existing in a particular area, and to identify sources of potentially far more detailed information than this report can offer. However, NGOactivities in Afghanistan are rapidly evolving. A more current profile of activities can be obtained from the offices of the two NGOcoordinating conunittees, ACBARin Peshawar and SWABACin Quetta. Both maintain a database on the qeographic coverage and sectoral activities of their member agencies. UNHCR/KANDAHARBACKGROUND REPORI' i 'Ihese provincial reports mainly cover non-goverrunent controlled areas and do not claim to be exhaustive. Rather, they are intended as a reference for the targeting of assistance programmes, and as guides for those agencies that require general background information on target areas, including the major obstacles that may be encountered to the planning and implementation of assistance projects in those areas. Much of the most timely and relevant infonmtion is derived from eyewitness accounts, which often defy the most painstaking efforts to render them consistent with existing knowledge. Names of villages, evaluation of road conditions and travel distances, and the identification of influential individuals take on a remarkably subjective character when more than one Afghan source is consulted. 'Ihese reports, then, cannot substitute for first-hand investigation of local conditions. Ten years of war and social upheaval have led to the dramatic deterior ation of individual security and physical subsistence throughout Afghan istan. 'Ihe rapidly evolving political conditions that will affect the return of refugee and internally displaced populations, as well as the effectiveness of international assistance efforts, are beyond the capacity of even the most experienced observers to predict. 'Ihese background reports represent UNHCR's attempt to develop a coherent response to these potentially chaotic conditions. 'Ihis provincial profile is mainly based upon materials gathered prior to July, 1989. 'Ihe first publication of this material occurred September, 1989 and the second, Febnrrry, 1990. UNHCR/KANDAHARBACKGROUND REFDRI' ii Dusnanoe 36° . ..; ·l· : :.-·.·, : :~-~;:}i.:· 32° International. boundary,. ( : : ·/< •• Province boundary ·:: ~ - 0 Nati~~~i\~piii .·. 0: J~ 0 Provine~. '. capi1ai . Ip - 0 Town, vil,iage · , , ';; ::. • · Main ;~~d. Secondary road ... .. The bovnd•rifls •nd n•nws $hown on thil map do not imply , ·r;:: ~ "' . , •r , J!'.::;. official endorsemenr or •c~pr•nc• by th• Unit•d Nations. Airport'; ·;,:;· ;;- i':·: Dorred line tet,rwsttnrs 11pproxim.t'l!ly r~ LiM of Control in 50 10:0 t!iO~ : , ~~o · 2sokm .Jammu and /(.MJhmir ar,f'flftd upon by India and Pekaran. The 0 fine-.!Jt•tus of Jammu and ~Shmir hH not ,.,,, btHn •9f'f!f!d !==:::;:::::=;::===;~::;:=~==;- 0 , somi .. upon by rn. parti.s. 72• so . 10? ) MAP N0 . 3400 UNl1El) NATIONS NOVEMBER 1966 TABLEOF CONTENTS Page Preface i Baclcground & SUrnmary • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 1 Note on Population statistics . • . 5 Woleswali & Alaqadari Profiles 7\......-.n.,..,.,,.:i.,.1-, 1: 6 .cu. ':¥ .ILU AALUJ • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • ;, • • • • • • • • • • • • • Argllistan ............•......................•........ 1. • • • • • • • • • • • • • 11 Dainan • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 13 Dand • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 14 Ghorak . • . • . 18 Khakrez/Shah Maqsud • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 20 Maruf • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 22 Maywand • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 25 Nish. • . • . 27 Panjwai . • . • . 29 Shahwalik.ot/Dahla . • . • . 32 Shorawak • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • . • • . • . 3 5 Spin Boldak • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • . • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 38 Takhtapul / Shega . • . • . 41 Annex A/Glossary of Tenns and Acronyms ........•...................... A-1 Annex B/Selected Population Statistics for Kandahar •••••••••••••••••• B-1 Annex C/1.ocation of Kandahat" Refugees in Pakistan .................... C-1 Annex D/Kandahar Administr.?.tive District Population Comparisons ...... D-1 Annex E/ACBAR/SWABACDatabase Listing of Projects in Kandahar ••••••• • E-1 UNHCR/KANDAHARBACKGROUND REPORI' iii MAPS Map of Afghanistan ........•.........•.........•...••.. following preface Map Showing Population Density by District/1979 ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• following page 5 Map Showing Projected Repatriation Density by District ••••••••••••••••••••••• following page 5 Note: 'Ihe woleswali of Rek is largely uninhabited desert arrl is not con sidered in this report. UNHCR/KANDAHARBACKGROUND REroRl' iv BACKGROUND& SUMMARY Kandahar Province is the second largest province of Afghanistan and, with a pre-war population of nearly 570,000 was the second-most populous province of the country accounting for more than four percent of the country's entire settled population. L<x::ated in the southeastern corner of the country, Kandahar sl1.rres a 250 mile border with the Pakistan province of Baluchistan. Kandahar is bounded on the north and north west by the mountainous provinces of Uruzgan and Zabul respectively and in the west by Helmand. The province is drained by two major river systems, the Arghistan and Arghandab which support most of the Kandahars' agriculture and population. 'Ihe southern half of the province is largely unpopulated desert except for a band of population that lives along the Pakistan border in the district of Shorawak. Kandahar is the gateway for much of southern and western Afghanistan. The capital of the province, Kandahar city (rnarkaz), has a major airport and is situated at the junction of the country's main highway and its major southern link route to Pakistan (via the Baluchistan border town of Charnan). Because of its strategic location, its well developed agricult ural base and the high level of its population's support for the monarchy, Kandahar Province has suffered some of the most extensive destruction of any region of the country durir,g the war. POPUIATION Forty-two percent of Kandahar's population is estimated by OCARto be living as refugees in the Baluchistan refugee camps of SUrkhab, saranan, Jungle Pir Alizai, Gulistan, 01aman and Panjpai. The approximately 240,000 refugees from Kandahar Province account for nearly 10 percent of all Afghan refugees in Pakistan. Considerable