Kabul

Kabul is the capital of Afghanistan and the largest city of Afghanistan, with a population of approximately three million. It is an economic and cultural centre, situated 5,900 feet (1,800 m) above sea level in a narrow valley, wedged between the Hindu Kush mountains along the Kabul River. Kabul is linked with Ghazni, Kandahar, Herat and Mazar-e Sharif via a long beltway (circular highway) that stretches across the country. It is also linked by highways with Pakistan to the east and southeast and Tajikistan to the north.
Kabul's main products include munitions, cloth, furniture and beet sugar, but, since 1978, a state of nearly continuous war has limited the economic productivity of the city.
Kabul is over 3,000 years old and many empires have fought over the city for its strategic location along the trade routes of Southern and Central Asia. In 1504, Babur captured Kabul and used it as his headquarters until 1526, before his conquest of India. In 1776, Timur Shah Durrani made it the capital of modern Afghanistan.[3] The population of the city is predominantly Persian-speaking.[4][5]
==Sikhs from Kabul==
Kabul Wali Mai
Kabul wali mai, or the lady from Kabul is the name chroniclers have given to a woman who rendered devoted service during the digging of the baoli at Goindwal under the supervision of Guru Amardas. Day after day says Sarup Das Bhalla in Mahima Prakash, she toiled away at the site,without anyone knowing who she was, and where she had come from. One day Guru Amar Das told the Sikhs that lady was from Kabul and that she had by her love of the almighty and duty towards her husband attained spiritual insight.
An old manuscript Mahima Prakash sri Guru Amar Das and an inscription at Gurdwara Haveli sahib at Goindwal mention a lady being in charge of the Manji or Sikh centre at Kabul they give her name to be Mai Sevan.
Unfortunately nothing else is known about such great soul. There are million other such great souls who through the years have tirelessly, effortlessly worked hard to uplift Sikhs and Sikhism.
==In the news==
Kabul Sikh cremation goes ahead BBC News, 17 September 2007
A group of local Sikhs have been allowed to carry out a cremation in the Afghan capital, Kabul.
The authorities intervened after Muslims in the Old City stopped Sikhs burning a body at their traditional cremation site in the Qalacha area.
Sikh mourners carried the body to the presidential palace and UN headquarters until the chief of police escorted them back and the cremation went ahead.
Muslims near the site had complained about the smell from funeral pyres.
* Keeping Their Faiths Under Taliban Rule Drew Sikhs and Hindus Together
==External links==
* Wikipedia article on Kabul.
* Wikitravel article on Kabul.
* Kabul Sikhs during Taliban and after
* Inderjeed Singh: lost in Kabul
* NRI Sikhs in Kabul upset with PM visit
* From Kabul with tears and prayers