List of cities in Afghanistan

Template:Short description Template:Map of major cities of Afghanistan

The only cities in Afghanistan with over 1 million people are the country's capital, Kabul, and the city of Kandahar. The remainder of Afghanistan's municipalities are smaller cities and towns. Afghanistan's total population is estimated to be between 36–50 million individuals.Template:Efn Of this, 26% were reported to be living in urban areas and the rest in rural areas or the countryside.<ref name="NSIA pop"/>

List

The chart below shows 18 cities of Afghanistan with a population over 70,000, by order of population. Population estimates are from 2015.<ref name="auto">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> However, the population estimate of Kabul is from 2025. <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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City	Province	Population
Kabul (the capital)	Kabul	7,175,000
Kandahar	Qandahar	1,089,000
Jalalabad	Nangarhar	998,000
Herat	Herat	715,000
Mazar-i-Sharif	Balkh	635,000
Lashkargah	Helmand	280,381
Kunduz	Kunduz	268,893
Taloqan	Takhar	196,400
Puli Khumri	Baghlan	221,274
Sheberghan	Jowzjan	175,599
Zaranj	Nimroz	160,902
Maymana	Faryab	149,040
Ghazni	Ghazni	143,379
Khost	Khost	106,083
Charikar	Parwan	96,039
Fayzabad	Badakhshan	95,445
Tarinkot	Uruzgan	71,604
Gardez	Paktia	70,641

Ancient names

Ancient names of places or cities in Afghanistan:

Current city and region	Ancient name
Kabul	Kophene,<ref name="anc_geo">The Ancient Geography of India by Alexander Cunningham.</ref> Gaofū, Kābūrā
Ghazni	Ghaznīn, Ghazna
Balkh	Bakhlo, Bactra, Bokhdī
Bamyan	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Herat	Haraiva, Harī, Aria
Laghman	Lampaka<ref name="anc_geo"/>
Jalalabad	Adinapur<ref>Gazetteer of the Peshawar District 1897-98 Page 55</ref>
Kandahar	Arachosia<ref name="anc_geo"/>
Lashkargah	Bost, Bust
Zaranj	Zranka, Zarangia, Drangiana
Kunduz	Drapsaka, Walwalij