What is the importance of Kabul in the nonfiction book, The Afghanistan Papers?

Kabul is Afghanistan’s capital city. It has a population of over thirteen million. It is located in a province of the same name, in the mountainous northeast of the country. The city sits in a fertile riverine valley near the convergence of the Logar and Kabul rivers. It has a semi-arid climate, witch cold, snowy winters, and hot summers. It is very diverse city, with significant populations of all of Afghan’s major ethnic groups: Hazara, Pashtun, Tajik, Uzbek, Baloch, and Turkmen. The majority of the city’s population is Tajik and is Sunni Muslim. There is also a substantial Shia minority in the city, estimated to be approximately one quarter of the city’s population, roughly overlapping with the city’s Hazara.

The city is the center of Afghanistan’s government administration, as well as its economic hub. It lies approximately 100 kilometers from the border with Pakistan.