Lashkargāh (Pashto: لښکرګاه; Persian: لشکرگاه), historically called Bost or Boost (بست، بوست), is a city in southwestern Afghanistan and the capital of Helmand Province.

[2] Lashkargah is linked by major roads with Kandahar to the east, Zaranj on the border with Iran to the west, and Farah and Herat to the north-west.

It grew up a thousand years ago as a riverside barracks town for soldiers accompanying the Ghaznavid nobility to their grand winter capital of Bost.

The ruins of the Ghaznavid mansions still stand along the Helmand River; the city of Bost and its outlying communities were sacked in successive centuries by the Ghorids, Mongols, and Timurids.

The massive Helmand irrigation project in the 1940s–1970s created one of the most extensive farming zones in southern Afghanistan, opening up many thousands of hectares of desert to human cultivation and habitation.

Since 2002, the city and region was occupied by United States Marine Corps and the International Security Assistance Force.

[4][5] Militants raised the flag of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan at the city's eastern entrance but withdrew following a few days once the United States agreed to halt its airstrikes on the Taliban near Lashkargah.

[3] Lashkargah has a hot desert climate (Köppen BWh), characterised by little precipitation and high variation between summer and winter temperatures.

[7] The river originates in the Hindu Kush and ends in Hamun-i-Helmand in the Sistan and Baluchistan province of neighboring Iran.

One of the two primary arms of the river crosses through Lashkargah, giving it the attractive air of a riverside city.

In 2006 construction began on a cobblestone road to lead from the south of Lashkargah to the Qala-e-Bost Arch (known to readers of James A. Michener's Caravans as Qala Bist.

As it is located at the confluence of the Helmand and Arghandab rivers, it is blessed with the most hectares of water (4,940 Ha) of any provincial capital in the country.

Lashkargah has a number of Higher educational institutions the Public Helmand University founded in 2008, with Soor Gul Sandakheel as Chancellor with a campus close to the Peace Square and a new Campus to be built close to Lashkargah with a construction budget of 1.5 million US$.

The Bost Agricultural university was registered with the Ministry of Higher Education in 2007, and was inaugurated by former governor of Helmand Province, Assadullah Wafa.

International Organizations and PRT in Lashkargah have helped to complete rehabilitation and infrastructure projects such as building: schools, roads and parks.

In 2005 it was announced that a USAID-funded project would build six reservoirs in Lashkargah, with responsibility for the water supply then being handed over to the Helmand and Arghandab Valley Authority.

[12] As part of Operation Moshtarak in 2010, the British Army and local workforces constructed Route Trident, a road to connect Lashkargah and the northern, more developed city of Gereshk,[13] Governor Mangal's efforts to restructure the city have left Route Trident underfunded, but highly ranked in the priority of rebuilding Lashkargah.

[14] A current project in the city, to aid regeneration is the "Lashkargah Bost Airport and Agriculture Center".

Aziz Ahmad Nikyar gained the title of Mr. Afghanistan in 2006, and also participated in the 2006 Asian Games representing AfghanistanOther popular sports in Lashkargah are Taekwondo, Boxing, Snooker, Volleyball.

According to a BBC programme which interviewed an American-born Afghan, whose father worked on the irrigation project, it was envisaged to create agriculture, but in recent times[when?]