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| Kabul, the capital and largest city, had an
estimated 1,424,400 inhabitants in 1988, but possibly less than 1 million
in 1995 because so much of it has been destroyed. The city was once distinguished
in Afghanistan for its well-lighted streets and modern buildings, but
virtually no electricity exists anymore, and many of Kabul's structures have
been reduced to rubble. Other important cities are Kandahar or Qandahar
(225,500) in the south, which is dominated by Pashtun tribes; Herat (177,300)
in the west, with a dominant Tajik and
Pashton population; and Mazar-e Sharif (130,600) in the north,
also with a dominant Tajik and Pashton population. Other, towns include
Jalalabad in the east, with a Pashtun majority; Charikar just north of Kabul, with
mixed ethnicity; Andkhvoy and Maimaneh in the north in Uzbek country; and
Kondoz, Feyzabad (Faizabad), and Baghlan,
also in the north with a dominant Tajik ethnicity. Along with a number of
other places, Herat and Kandahar have been extensively damaged in both the
war with the Soviets and the later civil war. Other towns suffered less
extensive damage and have been partly rebuilt. Difficulties with water
quality and public transportation continue to exist from before the war.
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