What's a Better Place to Live, Kabul or Peshawar?

[maneatinglizard]

Imagine a scenario where you could live in either city without any legal or citizenship issue (ignore the whole border question and assume the cities are exactly as they are today and under the same administrations). Which would you rather live in, and why?

Or, if you prefer another city in the region (like Kandahar or Herat or Quetta), which is it and why?

[jama0112]

Kandahar, Quetta and maybe peshewar

Both my parents comes from Kandahar, but i have never been there.
Quetta is almost the same as Kandahar, but in Pakistan. Also, i have been in quetta twice, but that was many years ago and i was much younger back then, so i didn't understand anything back then. Also, family from my mom's side lives there.

Peshewar, because i feel like nobody's going to mention Peshewar, and since Pakistan might be more economic stable than Afghanistan, why not?

[maneatinglizard]

In my case, I've only been to one of them (Peshawar), but unfortunately I was not impressed. Now, this was at the end of 2014 right as PTI was taking over, and supposedly they've improved the city a lot, but when I was there it was dirty, dusty, and smelled bad. It was ridden with crime, and the power was going out for hours almost every day in fall. The city has been mismanaged for decades, and it really showed. My dad, who had not been to the city in around 20 years, was shocked to see how much worse it had become since the last time he was there.

While I've never been to Kabul (was planning on visiting this year but it didn't work out), I have a lot of family there, and most of them have lived in Peshawar as well, and everyone pretty much agrees that Kabul is the better city. From what I've heard, it's cleaner, less crowded (though I'm not sure how much those two are still true now considering how much it's expanded in the last decade), has a more reliable electric grid, and even though it was badly damaged in the 90's, and under the control of corrupt and incompetent governments since then, it seems to be better managed than Peshawar somehow.

And in terms of personal preference, I'm not a fan of Peshawar's climate (too hot and humid), and the city has too much Urdu. Oh, and a small thing, but right hand driving is superior to left lol.

I think there's going to be some bias here based on which country we come from, and that's definitely affecting my preference. Half my family lived in Kabul in the "good old days," while everyone had to live in refugee camps and small houses in Peshawar after the Russian invasion. So that surely has an effect on my preference.

[Iblis_Efreetzai]

Imagine a scenario where you could live in either city without any legal or citizenship issue (ignore the whole border question and assume the cities are exactly as they are today and under the same administrations). Which would you rather live in, and why?

Or, if you prefer another city in the region (like Kandahar or Herat or Quetta), which is it and why?

Kabul and Peshawar? Both are dirty and polluted AF. Peshawar has better street food though IMO. ...On the other hand, Peshawaris have inherited a lot of the "dupa dupa" Desi lingo and mannerisms. Kabul has a lot of these wannabe Iranian pop singer types with ridiculous looking "spiral hair" walking around ....yet they're still awkward.

Quetta is a major hub for the drug trade so everyone there is like a drug dealer there ....makes me kind of scared to get kidnapped or held for ransom.

I've never been to Herat, I'd rather visit and see what it's like there.

[khushal]

I've been to both Kabul and Peshawar. Peshawar has better education and medical facilities. Both are I would say equally polluted and dirty although the garbage problem in Kabul is way worse. The police are much nicer in Kabul, they don't really bother anyone, in Peshawar the police job is to harass. Both have good food but Peshawar has more western type establishment than Kabul. Kabul has a better electric service, I hardly saw electric service turn off where its very common in Peshawar.
I felt more at home in Kabul though than in Peshawar. In peshawar, the feeling was that I was more a foreigner and also the Peshawaris are more baighyrat in their mannerism than the Kabulis. The peshwaris also have bad hygiene and less cultured than the Kabulis.
Also I never met a peshawari that knew how to count in Pashto where in Kabul everyone knew, even the farsiwan.

No offense to anyone but that is what I saw. Both are corrupt AF though.

[torkham]

Been to all, Peshawar, Kabul, Kandahar and Quetta.

Peshawar: extremely dirty, filthy city. dusty and feels overcrowded. University, sprawling suburbs, pak army institutions scattered, balihisar, the old (dirty) bazars. Full of history. Agree with Iblees, the accent is bud bud ding ding. British colonial influence - they have retained 'Political Agents' and still call Bajaur and Mohmand as agencies lol. Lot of vulgar culture. Has become quite 'liberated' with empowered women.

Kabul: less dirt than Peshawar unless down town by the river, weather is so much cooler and fresh, snow capped views are nice. It is fast developing, Karte Seh has become so expensive. Aria town is a neat planned community of towers, there is plenty of history in all quarters. True, it is full of modern types with skinny, ankle showing, sock-less loafer types lol but also every community is there. Liberated culture is on the increase

Quetta is surrounded by hills but not snow capped. It too is dusty, broken down old city but less dirty than Peshawar. not as crowded as Peshawar. It is a frontier town, with Afghan familiarity due to large minority of Hazara community and large Pashtun presence. it is a risky place with paki para-military, army and dealers of all sorts. there is sense of danger. good university and hospital in the region. Still conservative.

Kandahar, like Quetta but more rural and tribal, however Aino Mena is developed. It has very hot summers and cool winters, an oasis at the edge of a desert, it is also risky but last 8 years have been stable compared to Kabul, Quetta and Peshawar. Conservative.

[Akbar]

Kabul is better but i will have to say jalalabad, kunar or paktia. These places are green and clean. peshawar is extremely dirty. The sewer system runs through the streets. Ppolice is 100% corrupt.
I would prefer kabul if i had to choose between these two.

[Akbar]

Kabul and Peshawar? Both are dirty and polluted AF. Peshawar has better street food though IMO. ...On the other hand, Peshawaris have inherited a lot of the "dupa dupa" Desi lingo and mannerisms. Kabul has a lot of these wannabe Iranian pop singer types with ridiculous looking "spiral hair" walking around ....yet they're still awkward.

Quetta is a major hub for the drug trade so everyone there is like a drug dealer there ....makes me kind of scared to get kidnapped or held for ransom.

I've never been to Herat, I'd rather visit and see what it's like there.

You are right the peshawar street food is good and the reason is Afghan muhajirs. Its mostly Afghans who sell street food. Nan bread, chapli kabab, manto, choley alogan etc are in both kabul and peshawar.

[maneatinglizard]

Man the street food I saw in Peshawar looked really dirty lol. Flies all over and in everything. I don’t think it could taste good enough for me to want to risk eating it lol.

[Elias]

I would prefer Khost over any other city because of its security and jalghoza .

[randolph85]

The Kabul of old before the war was mostly western looking/dressed people as opposed to today where the Afghans actually look like Afghans with the exceptions. I haven’t been to Kabul in a while but when I was there last I was pleasantly surprised at the decent infrastructure, people were pretty nice, food was great, and I felt safe. I have never been to Peshawar and have no desire to ever go there. For all the Loy Afghanistan stuff, the idea of going to Peshawar to me is like going to Delhi.

[Firdousi]

The Kabul of old before the war was mostly western looking/dressed people as opposed to today where the Afghans actually look like Afghans with the exceptions. I haven’t been to Kabul in a while but when I was there last I was pleasantly surprised at the decent infrastructure, people were pretty nice, food was great, and I felt safe. I have never been to Peshawar and have no desire to ever go there. For all the Loy Afghanistan stuff, the idea of going to Peshawar to me is like going to Delhi.

I do not feel safe in Kabul at all. All those checkpoints every 50 meters, with heavily armed soldiers looking at you are a good reminder that in Afghanistan anything can happen at any moment.

[Firdousi]

Imagine a scenario where you could live in either city without any legal or citizenship issue (ignore the whole border question and assume the cities are exactly as they are today and under the same administrations). Which would you rather live in, and why?

Or, if you prefer another city in the region (like Kandahar or Herat or Quetta), which is it and why?

I was born in Kabul and spent first years of my childhood in there. I remember how beautiful and clean Kabul was. Then civil war started and the city was destroyed. We had to flee after the Taliban took over so I the last memories of Kabul I had was insecurity and ruins.

When I went back to Kabul after Americans took over, dear lord it was depressing. All those high towers built everywhere, with no urban planning was awful to see. The old Kabul was gone. City was crowded as hell (for some reason when I was a kid I remember it as a pleasant and not very populated place). Most of original Kabulis were gone, and now the city was inhabited with people from the rest of the country. Only then I realized how glad I was Herat was not the capital of Afghanistan.

Never been to Peshawar nor I want to go there. I asked my dad and he told me in general Pakistani cities use to be cleaner and way better than India´s. Peshawar was a bit crowded but food was great and also there was a huge Afghan community back then. He really despises Karachi lol

[Firdousi]

Kabul and Peshawar? Both are dirty and polluted AF. Peshawar has better street food though IMO. ...On the other hand, Peshawaris have inherited a lot of the "dupa dupa" Desi lingo and mannerisms. Kabul has a lot of these wannabe Iranian pop singer types with ridiculous looking "spiral hair" walking around ....yet they're still awkward.

Quetta is a major hub for the drug trade so everyone there is like a drug dealer there ....makes me kind of scared to get kidnapped or held for ransom.

I've never been to Herat, I'd rather visit and see what it's like there.

Herat is great: clean (daily public cleaning system), hamams and gardens in every corner, no terrorist attacks, well located near to Iran and Turkemenistan, thriving economy, food is great, nice history, great Iranian and Turkish schools.. but in spring and summer its too hot and weather is a bit dry. Also we have this problem with kidnappings.

I would really like to visit Mazar, Badakhshan, Panjshir (cant remember last time was in there it has changed a lot been told), Nuristan, Ghazni, Kandahar and Jalalabad. I got a friend from "Mahipar" near to Jalalabad. He is always talking about this place and really made my curious. Also Jalalabad despite being close to Pakistan and Nangarhar being an extremely volatile province, seems to be a quite safe place.

[randolph85]

I do not feel safe in Kabul at all. All those checkpoints every 50 meters, with heavily armed soldiers looking at you are a good reminder that in Afghanistan anything can happen at any moment.

Kabul is definitely more dangerous recently. Not only national security but petty crimes/kidnappings and etc.