Bala Hissar, Kabul

[1] Bala Hissar sits to the south of the modern city centre at the tail end of the Kuh-e-Shēr Darwāzah (lion door) mountain.

Pre-Kushan pottery as well as Indo-Greek and Achaemenid coins have been recovered in its vicinity, indicating settlements in the area from at least the 6th century CE.

Usage of the site as a citadel has been dated to a period as early as the 5th century; however, minimal evidence exists regarding its precise history.

His son and successor Shah Jahan, prior to his accession, built himself quarters within the fortress that earned the admiration of Jahangir.

The British envoy to Kabul, Sir Pierre Louis Napoleon Cavagnari was murdered inside the fort in September 1879 triggering a general uprising and the second phase of the Second Anglo-Afghan War.

[3] On August 5, 1979, the Bala Hissar uprising was organized by anti-government groups, but it was suppressed within hours and tens of people were arrested and executed by the communist regime.

Bala Hissar once again became the focal point of conflict between factions during the Afghan civil war in 1994, between Massoud's and Hekmatyar's forces.

Before the Taliban takeover it was manned by the 55th Division of the Afghan National Army and one can see the remnants of tanks and heavy weapons positioned on the fortress remains overlooking Kabul.

On 2 February 2021, the Afghan Acting Minister of Information and Culture, Mohammad Tahir Zuhair, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (an agency of the Aga Khan Development Network) on the reconstructing and consolidation of the walls and the structure, as well as to establish an archeological park at the site.