Gardez

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Coordinates: 33°36′00″N 69°13′01″E / 33.6, 69.217

Gardez
The Bala Hesar fortress in the center of Gardez City
Gardez
Province	Paktia
Coordinates	33°36′00″N 69°13′01″E / 33.6, 69.217
Population  (2008)[1]	18,689
Area  - Elevation	2,300 m (7,546 ft)
Time zone	UTC+4:30 Kabul

Gardēz is the capital of the Paktiā province of Afghanistan. It is in the southeast of the country. The population of the city was put at ca. 10,000 in the 1979 census, mainly Tajiks^[2]. The current population is 18,689.^[3] The Encyclopaedia Iranica describes Gardēz as a city "belonging to a network of old isolated Tājīk settlements in southern Afghanistan that are remnants of a time when Pashto had not yet reached the area."^[4]

[edit] Location and infrastructure

Gardēz is located at 2,300m above sea-level and is not far from the Tora Bora region of caves and tunnels. The city is watered by the upper course of the Rūd-e Gardēz (Gardēz-River), which ends in the Āb-e Istāda lake. Gardēz is located at a junction between two important roads, one linking Pakistan with Ghazni, the other connecting Kabul and Khost. The city is west of Khost and 60 miles south of Kabul.

The "old town", located at the foot of the Bālā Hesār fortress, is divided into four disctricts:

• Bāzār-e Kohna (old Bazar)
• Qaraye Āhangarān (district of the blacksmiths)
• Qaraye Arjākhēl (Arjākhēl district)
• Nawābād (new town)

... with Nawābād extending into the new residential quarters, new bazar, and administrative center.

[edit] History

Fifth century marble Ganesha found at Gardez, Afghanistan, now at Dargah Pir Rattan Nath, Kabul. The inscription says that this "great and beautiful image of Mahāvināyaka" was consecrated by the Shahi King Khingala.^[5]

Gardēz is an ancient settlement, located between the South Asia and the Iranian plateau. Unfortunately, its history is only very poorly documented.

Archaeological discoveries, including Indo-Greek, Sassanid, Hephthalite, and Turki-Shāhī coins, as well as several Hindu statues from the 7th century give a small insight into the rich history of Gardēz.

According to the medieval Tārīkh-e Sīstān, the city was founded by the Kharijite warlord Hamza bin Abdullāh Shārī, although scholars agree that this is probably only a reference to the Islamic conquest of the city^[4]. In any case, Gardēz became a center of Kharijite belief for more than a century under the local dynasty of the Aflahids in the distant eastern parts of the Abbasid caliphate.. In 870, the city was conquered by the Saffarid ruler Yaqub bin Layt. In 975, the Ghaznavids took over the city, while the converted Aflahids entered the Ghaznavid nobility.^[6] In 1162, the city fell to the Sultāns of Ghōr.

Renowned for its multi-storied houses - as mentioned by the Central Asian conqueror Babur^[7][8] - the city was part of the Mughal Empire in the 16th century. However, nothing is known of the town during the subsequent centuries and no building remains.

During the Anglo-Afghan wars, Gardēz was handed over to the newly created country Afghanistan and was part of the "buffer-state" between British India and Tsarist Russia.

Today, Gardēz is the administrative center of a district of the Paktiā province, which covers 650 km² and had a total population of 44,000 inhabitants in 1979, but was almost totally depopulated during the Soviet war in Afghanistan.

In 1960 the German government had their biggest rural development project with a budget of 2.5 million Deutsch Marks for the development of Paktiā ("Paktiā Development Authority", see above). The project was unsuccessful as the communist regime came to power in the 1979. The commuists lost control of most of Paktiā during the 80s as the country plunged in to war with only Gardēz remaining in government control.

Today Paktiā remains one of the most stable provinces in the southeast compared to Khost and Paktikā.

[edit] Economy and administration

Gardez has the first Provincial reconstruction team (PRT)

The city of Gardēz is also a major fuel wood market for Kabul. Many of its natural forests are being cut down to provide fuel wood especially during winter. Gardēz is also the regional center for the southeastern Afghanistan that includes Paktikā, Khost and Ghaznī provinces.

Gardēz is a region embedded in tribal traditions and customary law.

During the 1970s, Gardēz experienced an economic boom as a result of the German-funded "Paktiā Development Authority", established in 1965, and of the asphalting of the road to Kabul. Social services included three schools for boys, one school for girls, a hospital, one teacher training institute, the Madrasaye Roshānī, two hotels, forty mosques and two Hindu temples.^[9] Most of these buildings were destroyed during the civil war in the 1980s.

After the fall of the Taliban, the first PRT (provincial reconstruction team) in Afghanistan was established in Paktiā near Gardēz in early March of 2003, headed by the US Army along with a US Agency for International Development (USAID) representative. The PRT's now number over 30 in Afghanistan. The continuing challenge to bring electricity, medical clincs, schools and water to the more remote villages in Paktia are a result of ongoing security issues.

[edit] Famous people from Gardēz

• Mohammad Najibullah, the last president of the Soviet-backed Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. After his overthrow, he was murdered by the Taliban on September 27, 1996. He is buried in Gardēz.
• Shah Gardez, an eleventh century Syed saint from Gardez, established himself in Multan, Pakistan.

[edit] References And Notes

[edit] Literature

• S. Radojicic, "Report on Hydrogeological Survey of Paktya Province", Kabul, UNICEF, 1977
• C.E. Bosworth, "Notes on the Pre-Ghaznavid History of Eastern Afghanistan", in The Islamic Quarterly IX, 1965