Urozgan

Tarinkot, also known as Tarin Kowt, is the capital of Uruzgan Province in south-central Afghanistan. It is a compact market town set at roughly 1,317 metres above sea level beside two rivers, whose canals water the orchards and farm plots that surround the city. As the administrative and trading centre of the province, it links the districts of Uruzgan with roads leading to Kandahar, Nili and Malistan.

The town has deep roots in the Loy Kandahar region and has long been associated with the Tarin Pashtun tribes. Tarinkot gained wider attention in November 2001, when local Pashtun groups became the first to organise armed resistance against the Taliban, with Hamid Karzai and a small US Special Forces team supporting the defence of the town. In later years it hosted the American FOB Ripley and the Dutch-led Kamp Holland, before the Taliban took full control of the city in August 2021.

Today the city's life is centred on the bazaar, a small grid of shops and tea houses that supplies the surrounding districts. The local stadium hosts cricket and football, the two most popular sports in the area, while the riverside canals and farmland give the town its agricultural character. There are few large buildings or formal landmarks, and the city remains one of the least developed in Afghanistan.

The local economy depends mainly on agriculture and transport, with no significant large-scale industry. Tarinkot Airport serves Uruzgan and neighbouring Daykundi Province, and the road to Kandahar is the main trade and travel corridor. Many people in the area are Pashto-speaking Pashtuns, including Popalzai, Barakzai, Nurzai, Achakzai, Tokhi and Hotak communities, with smaller Hazara and Baloch groups.

Tarinkot is not a mainstream leisure destination, and the security situation is volatile, so most travel is linked to aid, official, research or business work rather than tourism. For visitors with a specific reason to go, the town offers a close view of rural southern Afghanistan, its tribal history and a difficult but significant recent past.