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Jalalabad

City in Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan

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An aerial view of a section of the city of Jalalabad in Afghanistan.
Bryan Battaglia (U.S. Armed Forces) · Public domain

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Jalalabad is home to Nangarhar University, which is in the northwestern area of the city. The Jalalabad Airport is in the southeastern part of the city. Jalalabad has a number of industrial parks, bazaars, business centers, public parks, banks, hotels, restaurants, mosques, hospitals, universities, and places to play sports or just relax. The city is connected by a road network with Asadabad to the northeast, Torkham to the southeast, and Kabul to the west. It is about 80 mi (130 km) from the city of Kabul.

Jalalabad is located at the junction of the Kabul River and the Kunar River in a plateau to the south of the Hindu Kush mountains. It is a leading center of social and trade activity because of its proximity with the Torkham border checkpoint and border crossing, 65 km (40 mi) away. Major industries include poultry farming, processing agricultural products such as dried fruits, olives, dates, oranges and sugarcane, and producing household products and various types of snacks. For centuries the city was favored by Afghan kings and it has a cultural significance in Afghan poetry. During Timur Shah's reign of the Durrani Empire, Jalalabad served as the Afghan winter capital.

History

Ancient and medieval

Known at the time by names such as Nagarahara and Adinapur, Jalalabad was a major center of Greco-Buddhist culture during the late 1st millennium BCE, focused on sites such as Ahin Posh.

The first surviving references to the city are in early 1st millennium CE accounts by visiting Chinese Buddhist monks. In or about 400 CE, Faxian visited "Nagarahara" and worshiped at sacred Buddhist sites, such as the "Cave of the Buddha's Shadow” (佛影窟). In 630 CE, Xuan Zang, visited "Adinapur" and other locations nearby.

The Buddhist era began to end after the region was conquered by Muslim forces during the late 1st millennium. However, complete conversions to Islam evidently did not occur quickly. In Hudud-al-Alam, written in 982 CE, there is reference to a village near Jalalabad where a local ruler had Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu wives.

The region became part of the Muslim Ghaznavid Empire in the 10th century. Sabuktigin annexed the land all the way west of the Neelum River in Kashmir. "The Afghans and Khiljies who resided among the mountains having taken the oath of allegiance to Sabuktigin, many of them were enlisted in his army, after which he returned in triumph to Ghazni." The Ghurids succeeded the Ghaznavids and expanded the Islamic culture further into Hindustan. The region around Jalalabad later became part of the Khalji territory, followed by that of the Timurids.

Modern

It is said that the original name of Jalalabad was Adinapur or Nagar(a)hara. Jalalabad was named in the last decade of the sixteenth century in honor of Jalal-uddin Mohammad Akbar, ruler of the Mughal Empire at the time. His grandfather Babur had chosen the site for this city which was built by his grandson.

It remained part of the Mughal Empire until around 1738 when Nader Shah and his Afsharid forces defeated the Mughals. Nader Shah's forces were accompanied by the young Ahmad Shah Durrani and his 4,000-strong Afghan army from southern Afghanistan. In 1747, he founded the Durrani Empire (Afghan Empire) after re-conquering the area. The Afghan army has long used the city while going back and forth during their military campaigns into Hindustan.

In 1834, Dost Mohammad Khan subjugated Jalalabad in his campaign to Jalalabad. The British-Indian forces invaded Jalalabad in 1838, during the First Anglo-Afghan War. In the 1842 Battle of Jellalabad, Akbar Khan besieged the British troops on their way to Jalalabad. In 1878, during the Second Anglo-Afghan War, the British again invaded and set up camps in Jalalabad but withdrew two years later.

Jalalabad was besieged by rebel tribes in November 1928, marking the start of the Afghan Civil War of 1928-1929.

Jalalabad is considered one of the most important cities of the Pashtun culture. Seraj-ul-Emarat, the residence of Amir Habibullah and King Amanullah was destroyed in 1929 when Habibullah Kalakani rose to power; the other sanctuaries however, retain vestiges of the past. The mausoleum of both rulers is enclosed by a garden facing Seraj-ul-Emart. The Sulaimankhels, a Pashtun family famous for their scientific research, is from Jalalabad. Other celebrated Pashtun families originate from the villages near Jalalabad too.

By the early 1970s, construction had started on a new planned community within Jalalabad called Reg-e Shamshad Khan. From 1978 to early 1990s, the city served as a strategic location for the Soviet-backed Democratic Republic of Afghanistan and was temporarily renamed to Tarunshahr, in honour of Daoud Tarun. In March 1989, two mujahideen rebel factions backed by Pakistan and the United States assaulted the city during the Battle of Jalalabad. However, government forces managed to drive them out within two months, which was a major setback to the rebel fighters and Pakistan's ISI. The city was heavily bombarded and hundreds of civilians were killed. Many buildings, such as schools, hospitals and public buildings were destroyed during the 2-month battle.

On April 19, 1992, after then-President Najibullah resigned, Jalalabad fell to mujahideen rebel forces under Yunus Khalis. On September 12, 1996, the Taliban took control of the city until they were toppled by the US-backed Afghan forces in late 2001, which resulted in the Afghan Interim Administration under Hamid Karzai taking control. According to the United States, al-Qaeda had been building military training camps in the area.

In March 2007, US marines murdered 19 unarmed civilians and wounded 50 near Jalalabad, in an incident compared by The New York Times to the Haditha massacre. None of those responsible received any serious punishment. The Jalalabad Airport has long served as a military base for the NATO forces. Many suicide attacks by jihadist insurgents have taken place, including in August 2013, April 2015, January 2018, July 2018, September 2018, October 2019 and August 2020. The groups responsible for the attacks include the Taliban, Haqqani Network, al-Qaeda, and ISIS (Daesh). On August 15, 2021, the Taliban took control of Kabul and Jalalabad.

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