Background:
Gardez is the capital of the Paktia Province of Afghanistan. It is also the name of the District. The population of the city was estimated to be ca. 10,000 in the 1979 census and was estimated to be 70,000 in 2008.The population is overwhelmingly Pashtun. The city of Gardez is located at the junction between two important roads that cut through a huge alpine valley. Surrounded by the mountains and deserts of the Hindu Kush, which boil up from the valley floor to the north, east and west, it is the axis of commerce for a huge area of eastern Afghanistan and has been a strategic location for armies throughout the country’s long history of conflict. Observation posts built by Alexander the Great are still crumbling on the hilltops just outside the city limits. The city of Gardez has a population of 70,641 in 2015.