Chost

Khost or Khowst, a city in eastern Afghanistan, lies on 7,139 hectares in a mountainous region near the Pakistani border . The urban population of 106,083, mainly from the Zadran, Mangal, Zazi, Tani, Gurbaz, Muqbal, and Sabari tribes, lived in 11,787 dwellings arranged in six municipal districts.The town was besieged from July 1983 to November 1987, during the nine-year Soviet war in Afghanistan in the 1980s. Khost Airfield, with a 9000ft runway, served as a base for Soviet military helicopter operations.American forces have used the Khost Airfield since as early as at least January 2007 during the war which commenced in October 2001.Khost is the home of Khost University. The inhabitants of area are Pashto-speaking ethnic Pashtuns. Khost Mosque serves as the main mosque in the city.GeographyKhost is located about 150 kilometres south of Kabul and 100 kilometres southeast of Gardez, in Khost Province in eastern Afghanistan. The city lies on a plateau of minimally 1000m altitude that extends to the East for about 40km until the Bannu Pakistan border. 30 km to the North the peaks start up to 2500to right next to the frontier, while 20km to the South, near the border, the average is around 1,800 m. The valley of Khost is closed to the west with a long mountain chain with peaks that go over 3000m. Through this runs for about 90km the road to Gardez, which is considered extremely dangerous due to the risk of ambush. So Taliban invaded Khost in 1995.