The southern Kandahar Province is located in northern latitude of 12, 13 minutes and 20, 25 seconds. The province comprises extensive flat deserts and mountainous areas where blooming gardens and agriculture lands add to the beauty and economy of the province. 
The province is known as commercial hub of the country and the region has still the capacity to keep its historic value. From north, Kandahar shares border with Uruzgan, in south with Baluchistan and Durand Line, in east with Zabul while Helmand Province is located in its west. 
Appellation of Kandahar Province:
There is speculation about the origin of the name of Kandahar. It is believed that Kandahar bears Alexander's name, and derives from the Pashto rendering of Iskandariya or Alexandria. A temple to the deified Alexander as well as an inscription in Greek and Aramaic by the emperor Ashoka, who lived a few decades later, have been discovered in the old citadel. It is believed that the name Kandahar may derive its name from Gandhara, an ancient Indic kingdom along the modern Kashmir and Afghanistan border. It is believed that at some point the people of Gandhara migrated south to Arachosia and transferred the name with them.
Names of Kandahar Province:
The ancient name of Kandahar as per historic records known as “Hara-Hawai-Hoti” or “Hara Vitee.” But Arghandab was called Harahowati “Sarashvati” with Arghistan was called Arakhosia, with Arakhotis was its capital. But later that was renamed as Arakhozia, Arakozia, and Arakosia during the Greece era.
Ancient Cities of Kandahar:
1 – Arakozi Skandaria:
Before the present Kandahar city, there were three more cities with different names in the province. The first city known as Arakozi, was built by Alexander the great in (329 B.C). It is said that Arghistan was called Arakhosia or “Arakozia” in ancient time. However, the Arghand area was named Arakhosia when Arakhosians have changed their capital from Arghistan to Kadrosia, the present Kandahar.
2 – Old Kandahar:
The city is located east of Sarpoza Mountain--- now known as old city of Kandahar Province. The city was completely destroyed by Nadir Shah in 1738 after defeating the last Hotaki ruler Shah Hussain.
3 – Nadir Abad:
Being a military port, the third city Nadir Abad was established by Nader Shah in 1116. Nader Shah had built another port south of present Kandahar city on the outskirts of Sher Surkh shrine. The great Ahmad Shah had carried out his carnation ceremony in this port and had stayed there for ten years. Later, he had started the reconstruction of new Kandahar city.
The current city of Kandahar:
Since the beginning of his kingdom, the great Ahmad Shah was willing to build the new Kandahar city because Nader Abad port was very small and it could not serve as capital of the big empire. On the other hand, it had a moisture atmosphere. After broad based consultations, he laid the foundation stone of the current capital city or Ahmad Shahi Kandahar in 1135 and named it as Ashraful Bilad. The city was considered as capital of Durani Empire. Historically, many domestic and foreign tourists made a mention of the architecture and dating of Ashraful Bilad in their commentaries and books. 
Earlier, the city had four parts and a covered square in its middle, representing the ancient architecture of the province. In present time, the city is divided into ten municipality districts.
Ancient Sites:
1 – Mandigak Hell:
It has 31 meters height with thousands years old history. Mandigak is created from buildings that built on it around the history. Construction of the first building happened 9,000 years ago.
2 – Ashoka Inscription:
It is one of the ancient artifacts in Kandahar Province, which had been scripted on a big rock near the gate of old Kandahar city and was detected in 1958. The rock has 55 centimeters length and 45 to 50 centimeters thickness. The artifact was written by Greek and Aramaic languages dated back to 250 B.C.
3 – Chel Zina:
Chel Zina is a hall in a mountain in the north of old Kandahar where there are upward stairs leading to the hall. Both the stairs and the hall are sculptured in stones and on both sides of the hall, there are two sculptures of lions as well along with an inspection space on the top. This historical monument was built by King Baber Shah’s son Askari Mirza, which started in 1524 and completed in 1546 Gregorian year. The scripts in the hall were written by Mir Masoom Kandahari and there are total of 43 steps in the stair.  
4- Arg:
Arg was Ahmad Shah Durani’s palace and was located in north of the Kandahar city. This monument was in its original shape until 19th century, but it was repaired during Amir Habibullah tenure. Besides provincial governor’s office, most of the government offices were located in that place.  
5 - AhmadShahi Fortress:
The fortress was covering the Kandahar city in a rectangular shape with having six entries or doors--- Kabul, Khkarper, Herat, Eidgah, Topkhana, and Bro. All the entries had big wooden doors and in each 100 meters the fortress had towers from where the guards were inspecting the surroundings. There were special places in the towers for artilleries as well. The last reparation of the fortress took place during the reign of Amir Habibullah Khan while Sardar Mohammad Usman was the Governor of Kandahar. 
Religious monuments of Kandahar:
Khirqa Shrine and Masque:
The masque and shrine were established in 1772 by King Tairmor Shah Sadozai and were completed in 1776. As soon as the construction was completed, the clothes of Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) were taken to that place. Since its establishment, many changes have been made in the building and the last change was made during the tenure of King Zahir Shah. A number of graves in the surroundings were affected and the area was expanded for the shrine. The shrine was painted during the tenure of King Amir Habibullah. Besides this religious place, there have been many other places in Kandahar province as well.   
Celebrities:
Having the credit of a capital city of the country, the province has many celebrities such as Ahmad Shah Baba, Mirwais Nika, Zarghoona Ana, Malala Maiwandi, Ismail Mosawer, Mir Masoom Kandahari, Mawlawi Ahmad Kandahari, Alama Abulhaq Kandahari, Mowlawi Abdulwasi Kandahari, Abdurhaman Ludin, Mawlawi Mohammad Sarwar Wasef Kandahari, Ghulam Muhaiddin Afghan, Ghulam Mahmad Tarzi, Mohammad Gul Noori, Ahmad Jan Tajir, Mohammad Hussain Talib, AbdulKarim Haqani, Alama Abulwafa Afghani, Parwin Malal, Shikh Tahir Kandahari, Sultan Mahmad Khalis, Shikh Saleh Kandahari, Faiz Mohammad Angar, Sufi Abdulhameed Khan, Wali Mohammad Mokhlis, AbdulSamad Weesa, Abdulrahim Hatif, Abdulmanan Hirat, Alama Abdulhai Habibi, AbdulShakoor Rishad, AbdulRaouf Benawa, Abdulhadi Hand, Zarghoona Kakar, Sulaiman Mako, Dr. Fitrat Nashnas etc.     
Districts:
Kandahar is the first category province in the country and has 18 districts. The districts inlucde Kandahar Capital, Dand, Zherai, Daman, Arghandab, Arghestan, Panjwai, Maroof, Spin Boldak, Maiwand, Shawalikot, Takhta Pul, Khakriz, Nish, Ghorak, Rigistan, Mianshin, and Shorabak.
Besides Pashtoons, there are Baloch, Tajik, Hindus, and Hazara tribes in Kandahar. Its population is two million and has a total of 47, 676 kilometer area which has 2, 794 villages.
Education:
There are 459 schools in Kandahar Province. There are 60 high, 63 secondary, and 271 primary schools. It has four teacher training institutions, two mechanical schools, two agriculture, and 16 religious schools. There are nine private schools and one higher education private institute. As of total 459 schools, as many as 260 educational institutions function while 123 are closed and 67 are newly established. There are 153, 094 students with 112, 858 boys and 40,236 girls. During the recent year, the numbers of newly enrolled students are 34, 861 with 24,105 boys and 10,756 girls.  
University:
There are agriculture, medical, engineering, education, Sharia, economics, and journalism faculties in Kandahar University with 2, 580 students get higher education. The strength of girls’ students stands at 12. A total of 162 lectures impart education with five of them are female. At least 139 students are so far graduated from agriculture, medical, engineering, and education faculties. Among the lecturers, one has Phd, 25 Masters and the rest have Bachelor degrees. The University has three faculties in Helmand and one faculty in Urzgan Province. There are two private universities in Kandahar, having only medical and law faculties.  
Health:
There are two public hospitals, seven private hospitals, 14 basic health centers, 23 comprehensive health centers, 456 health posts and 94 drugstores in Kandahar Province. At least 45 % of Kandahar population travel up to 10 kilometers, to buy medicine from a nearest drugstore and 51 % to travel up to 10 kilometers for medical treatment.
Health facilities:
There is one bed for 4, 400, one doctor for 15, 300, one nurse for 11, 900, and one nursemaid for 4,600 individuals of the Kandahar population.     
Agriculture and livestock:
The agriculture product includes wheat, corns, barely, and other grains.
Fruits: The widely known fruits include grape, pomegranate, apricot, palms, figs, peaches etc.
Vegetable: Tomatoes, eggplant, squash, pepper, onions, cucumber etc.
Cereals: Pea, bean etc.
There are some herbal plants as well.
There are 15, 000 hectares of pomegranate orchards, 20, 000 hectares of grape orchards and around 6,000 hectares of other fruits such as peaches and apricots.
Livestock in Kandahar includes sheep, cows, goats, hens etc.
The total irrigable land is 117, 920 hectares, and the total rain fed land is 2, 000 hectares. The main irrigation sources are Arghandab, Tarnak, Kadni, and Arghistan Rivers and some other natural water canals and deep wells.
The agricultural products of the province are grapes, pomegranate, apricot, peach, melon, watermelon, wheat, corns, figs, almonds, oranges and apples. Some of the agriculture products including vegetables and fruits are being exported to foreign countries.   
Mines:
There are marble stones, fluorite stones, coal, gold, metal and a number of other kinds of natural resources. Still the main source of income of Kandahar residents is agriculture.  
Industry:
Like a number of other provinces, in 2003 industrial parks have been established in Kandahar. The land for industries were allocated and distributed. For attracting entrepreneurs, in 2004 the association of craftsmen was established. Based on the urban development plans land was distributed for 84 factories of which currently 72 are functional and the rest is closed due to lack of electricity. The main products of these factories are grills, aluminum and plastic utensils, sandals, oil, soap etc. Embroidery collars are the popular handicrafts of Kandahar.       
Electricity:
Kandahar needs 100 to 110 megawatts of electricity but currently only 42 megawatts power serves the residents. At least 12 megawatt is produced by Helmand Kajaki Dam and the rest 30 megawatt is coming through generators.
Media outlets in Kandahar:
Kandahar radio, Afghan Zada Radio, Killid Radio, Wranga Radio, Yawwali Radio, Mirmen Radio, Sanga Radio, TalimulIslam Radio, Islam Ghag Radio, Kandahar Nation Radio and Television, Hewad TV, Tolo-e-Afghan Daily, Girdab Daily, Sorghar weekly, Tatobai Weekly, Baserkai weekly, Kandahar Magazine, Khkula bimonthly Magazine, Kandahar University bimonthly Magazine, Hood Quarterly Magazine, Tunda Quarterly Magazine and the Kandahar Municipality outlet.
Government Organs:
Including the Kandahar Provincial Authority, the province has 70 government offices including the Kandahar Capital, the province has 18 administrations.