Climate
Kunduz has a cold semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification BSk) with hot summers and cold winters. Precipitation is generally low except from January to April, with summers almost always rainless
History
Kunduz is the site of the ancient city of Drapsaka. It was a great center of Buddhist learning and very prosperous during the 3rd century AD.
The city used to be called Walwalij and the name Kuhandiz began to be used from the Timurid time.
In the 18-19th centuries it was the capital of a rather large eponymous sometimes independent, sometimes autonomous Uzbek-Tajik khanate that in 1820s encompassed land from Khulm to Pamir[disambiguation needed]. This khanate was finally destroyed by Afghanistan in 1859. Between one hundred and two-hundred thousand Tajiks and Uzbeks fled the conquest of their homeland by Russian Red Army and settled in northern Afghanistan. In the early 20th century, under the governance of Sher Khan Nasher, Kunduz became one of the wealthiest Afghan provinces. This was mainly due to Nasher's founding of the Spinzar Cotton Company, which continues to exist in post-war Afghanistan.
Kunduz is the most important agricultural province which produces wheat, rice, millet, and other products and obtained the nickname of "the hive of the country."
Kunduz is the centre for the north east provinces, and was the stronghold of the Taliban during its regime. It was the last major city held by the Taliban before its fall to US-backed Afghan Northern Alliance forces on November 26, 2001. The city is strategically important because it is the only way connecting Takhar province and Badakhshan provinces, which play a critical role in the existing government.
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