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Kandahar City April 2011 Kandahar City Kandahar Province TLO DISTRICT PROFILE Kandahar City, Kandahar A TLO District Profile April 2011 © 2011, The Liaison Office. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, recording or otherwise without prior written permission of the publisher, The Liaison Office. Permission can be obtained by emailing [email protected] Acknowledgements This report is financed by the The authors would like to thank all Department of Foreign Affairs and individuals who spent time with the International Trade Canada | Affaires research team to contribute to this étrangères et Commerce international report as well as TLO colleagues whose Canada. comments and contributions helped to improve the clarity of the report and TLO would like to emphasize its the correctness of its facts. All commitment to independent and mistakes, opinions and impartial research. The findings in this recommendations, however, are the report are the sole opinion of TLO and sole responsibility of TLO. do not necessarily reflect the views and position of the Canadian government. About The Liaison Office (TLO) The Liaison Office (TLO) is an In addition to the TLO headquarter in independent Afghan non-governmental Kabul, the organization has a total of organization seeking to improve local four (3) regional (Paktia-Southeast, governance, stability and security Kandahar-South, Nangarhar-East) and through systematic and five (5) provincial (Uruzgan, Khost, institutionalized engagement with Paktika, Helmand, Nimroz) offices customary structures, local across Afghanistan, with over 200 staff. communities, and civil society groups. TLO was established in 2003 by TLO’s mission is to facilitate the formal swisspeace on the request of integration of communities and their community leaders in the Southeast. traditional governance structures TLO has been funded by various donors within Afghanistan’s newly emerging from the non-governmental and peace, governance and reconstruction governmental sectors, international framework. organizations and foundations. TLO main areas of activity are Currently the main donors include the Research/Analysis using the do-no Heinrich Boell Foundation, the United harm approach; Dialogue facilitation States Institute of Peace and the and participatory peacebuilding, access governments of Australia (AusAID), to justice and Livelihoods. Netherlands, Norway, Canada, Germany, and Switzerland (SDC). Kandahar City Preface On 21 November 2001, US aerial and Each report is divided into four logistical support helped the Northern sections: Alliance oust the Taliban regime from 1. Basic information about the power in Kabul. Soon after, Kandahar district’s population and City - the ‘spiritual homeland’ of the physical geography. Taliban- fell to the US-led invasion. As 2. A sketch of the district’s a result of the invasion, the Afghan political history, with a focus on government was fundamentally tribal and mujahideen restructured once again for the sixth party/leadership dynamics from time in four decades (monarchy, the beginning of the Soviet War republic, communist, mujahideen, to recent (post-2001) political Taliban, and NATO-supported developments. democracy). Most Kandaharis—indeed, 3. Overview of sub-national many Afghans all across the country— government structures. were optimistic that a new government 4. Background on socio-economic accompanied by effective international services and their accessibility support would bring an end to conflict to district residents. and inaugurate a period of peace and prosperity after two decades of Although tribal dynamics are instability and conflict. Instead, almost sometimes examined in greater detail ten years later, violent conflict persists in the political history section, this is in Kandahar as the Taliban-led not intended to suggest that tribal insurgency and the NATO / Afghan politics is the primary or the most government continue to fight for important force at play in Kandahar or control of the province. This struggle southern Afghanistan. Rather, tribal has significant national and regional dimensions are highlighted because ramifications. they have been a focal point of TLO’s institutional attention, and are often In order to improve an understanding under-examined by newcomers to the of Kandahar province, The Liaison region while being implicitly Office (TLO) profiled all 18 districts, understood by most local actors. creating an overview of the political, historical, and socio-economic context These profiles are created in an effort in this important province. This profile to introduce engaged and interested is part of the complete Kandahar series. parties to local power dynamics and Page 4 of 36 Kandahar City defining issues in specific localities. In enormously from region to region, or creating them, TLO does not seek to even within a single district, the reader promote any given side in the must keep in mind that collecting, continuing conflicts. Rather, our hope triangulating, assessing, and is that responsible documentation of disseminating political and the complex histories of the power ethnographic research in a time of dynamics at the district level will conflict is difficult, sensitive, and enhance the ability of involved parties inescapably imprecise. to promote stability, reconciliation, We at TLO are deeply aware of the peace, and prosperity in Kandahar limitations of conducting research on Province. the social and political dynamics in a In each of these district profiles, every region as volatile and quickly changing effort has been made to present the as Kandahar. After much internal information available to TLO in a debate, we determined it advantageous responsible and efficacious manner to make what we have understood to with attention to both district specific date, however uncertain, available to and wider regional contexts. the public for examination and responsible use. Given that circumstances in Afghanistan change quickly and vary Page 5 of 36 Kandahar City Table of contents Acknowledgements 3 About The Liaison Office (TLO) 3 Preface 4 Executive Summary 7 1 District Context ..................................................................................................................................... 9 1.1 Location ................................................................................................................................ 9 1.2 Population, Tribal Composition, and City Precincts (Nahiya) ............................................ 10 1.3 Loya Wiala (Nahiya 9) and Mahalajat ................................................................................ 11 2 Political History ................................................................................................................................... 12 2.1 The Pashtun Tribes .............................................................................................................. 12 2.2 Pashtun Tribes in Kandahar ................................................................................................ 12 2.3 The Soviet Intervention and the Mujahideen Parties (1979 – 1992) ................................... 14 2.4 The Civil War (1992 -1995) ................................................................................................ 16 2.5 The Rise of the Taliban (1995 – 2001) ............................................................................... 16 2.6 The US Intervention, and a New Government .................................................................... 16 2.7 The Political System Today ................................................................................................ 17 2.8 The Insurgency .................................................................................................................... 17 2.9 International Military Actors .............................................................................................. 18 3 Governance .......................................................................................................................................... 19 3.1 Provincial Governors .......................................................................................................... 19 3.2 Provincial Chiefs of Police .................................................................................................. 20 3.3 Provincial Council ............................................................................................................... 21 4 Economy and Services ........................................................................................................................ 23 4.1 Agriculture .......................................................................................................................... 23 4.2 Poppy Economy .................................................................................................................. 24 4.3 Banks, Currency and Money Changers ............................................................................... 24 4.4 Trade Associations .............................................................................................................. 24 4.5 Education ............................................................................................................................ 24 4.6 Health .................................................................................................................................
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