For Retreating Taliban, Kandahar Last Stronghold
November 12, 2001 10:57 AM ET
KARACHI, Pakistan (Reuters) - If the Taliban collapse in the rest of Afghanistan, the last stand could come in their southern stronghold of Kandahar, the city that gave birth to the militia and has faced more than seven weeks of air attacks.
U.S. bombs and missiles have bombarded the city since early October, and the opposition Northern Alliance is fighting for control of the city of Herat, which would open the way for a move on Kandahar.
A Northern Alliance spokesman said Monday it had taken Herat, although the Taliban earlier said they still held the city.
Standing on the same site as an ancient fort founded by Alexander the Great during his epic sweep into India, Kandahar has changed hands countless times over the years as invading armies or feuding tribes vied for control.
The city -- the second largest in Afghanistan after the capital Kabul -- lies in the heartland of the powerful Pashtun tribes and is the home of the Taliban's spiritual leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar.
Modern Kandahar has changed little from that laid out in grand proportions in 1761 by Ahmed Shah Durrani, founder of the Durrani dynasty and modern-day Afghanistan. It ruled until 1973 and the exiled last king, Zahir Shah, is still touted as a potential figurehead for a new government.
From 1748 to 1773 it was the first capital of a unified and independent Afghanistan.
CLOAK OF THE PROPHET
Gigantic city walls protected by a massive ditch enclosed a thriving economic center strategically placed on the ancient Silk Route linking the Far East with central Asia, Persia and the subcontinent.
Durrani's octangular, domed mausoleum dominates the central bazaar. Next to his tomb is the shrine of the Cloak of Islam's Prophet Mohammad, one of the holiest places of worship in Afghanistan.
The cloak has been shown to the public very rarely. The last time is believed to be 1996 when Mullah Omar brandished it as he declared himself Amirul Monineen, or leader of the faithful.
It had previously been shown in 1935 when a cholera epidemic hit the city and in 1929 when then King Amanullah Khan tried to rally the tribes. He failed and fled as the Kabul throne was seized by a bandit for 10 bloody months.
Kandahar, an oasis town set in desert stretching from Iran in the west to Pakistan's Baluchistan province in the east, is famed for its fruit orchards.
The summer heat is devastating but around the city lush, green fields and orchards produce Kandahari Anars, or pomegranates, famous across India and Pakistan, as well as melons, grapes, figs and peaches.
The area is irrigated by water held behind dams on the Helmand river and its tributary, the Arghandab, but three years into Afghanistan's worst drought in three decades, swathes of land around Kandahar are parched and fruit production has dropped.
After 23 years of almost continuous conflict in Afghanistan, Kandahar and its environs are among the most heavily mined areas in the world.
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