Langar

1. Community demographics

According to key informant interviews conducted with local authority figures, there are approximately 380-400 households in Langar and 200 households in Khan Khail town forming a total of 600 households and 2500-3000 people. These estimates were based on CSO and voting statistics. The town includes Pashtuns, Tajiks, Hazaras and Pashayis with Pashtuns forming a majority. Inhabitants of this area are predominantly Dari speakers along with some families who speak in Pashto in the home. The majority of the population are children and youth (under the age of 24). The health profile of the community is average, with frequent occurrences of pneumonia / coughs as well as psychological problems.

Key informants said there was 10-12 IDP families (50-60 people) living in the town who arrived approximately 8 years ago. The families mostly come from Kunduz and Laghman and rent, buy or have built their homes. The town was burnt and razed by the Taliban in 2004 and many people fled to Kabul, Pakistan or Iran and later returned during the Karzai Presidency (2004-2014). Returnees have rebuilt their homes and constitute about 1000 of the 2500-3000 people in the community, with the population considered unlikely to change.

Approximately 50 of the 380-400 households move to Kabul during the winter months (mostly civil servants, shopkeepers and some traders), and then return to their farming in Langar for the rest of the year (1).

(1) The disjuncture between civil servants, shopkeepers and traders and ‘returning to their farming’ is being investigated.

2. Community geography

Langar is located on flat terrain surrounded by agricultural farms. There is a river approximately 2km to the east of the town. The household and farming water sources are deep potable water wells, but these often become drained in the summer. The town is densely populated at the centre and then houses are more dispersed in the surrounding area. Most of the houses are built from clay bricks or adobe. A very small minority of houses are made of hard bricks or concrete. There are castles with high mud walls.

Major non-residential buildings include a main mosque, a school, a half-built livestock barn and a building that collects milk products constructed by an NGO, with products then being sent to Gozargah Dairy Center in Kabul. There is another NGO called Barak that has rented two houses to provide the only girls education in the village from Year 7 – 12.

There is no main bazaar in Langaar. Instead, there are just a few shops in the center of town that sell gas, oil and solar lamps.

If someone gets sick, they are taken to the Qarabagh district hospital or the refugee township’s hospital, both approximately 6km from Langar. Medical workers who work in Langar bring medicine from the Qalayi Qazi clinic but the lack of a proper clinic was cited as a concern by local authority figures.

3. Economic profile

Local authority figures stated that along with the majority sector of agriculture, the primary industries of the town included carpentry, metalwork and carpet weaving. Most of the town work in agriculture and/or livestock raising. People work in grape vineyards to produce raisins. Farmers also grow berries, nuts, vegetables and wheat. There are also labourers, civil servants, school teachers and people who work as drivers and shopkeepers in Kabul, vehicle technicians / mechanics, plumbers, well-diggers who use drilling machines, carpet weavers and shopkeepers.

The owners of orchards, vineyards or gardens employ approximately 20 people per property for 1-2 months in Spring. Agriculturalists also hire approximately 10 people during the vegetable season for processing tomatoes, potatoes and onions. Livestock farmers also sometimes hire more than 10 people.

Due to the seasonal nature of much of the work and because of slowdowns in employment in winter, some families move to Kabul in the colder months. A limited number of people (usually who do not have agricultural lands), engage in carpet weaving or keep a cow at home and sell its milk and yoghurt.

4. Energy profile

Langar has not yet been connected to the grid, although gridlines have been brought to the town but not installed. Previously, there was a 25kW generator purchased through a development fund which was in use for 8 years. The generator broke in 2017 and because the machine was worn out and consuming a lot of fuel (the price of which was also rising), people could not afford its’ operation costs.

People who buy home generators purchase it from Quwayi Market in Kabul, because it is unavailable in Langar. A similar situation exists for improved cookstoves, which people might purchase from the market in Kabul or Qarabagh district centre. Local authority figures in Langar praised the ability of technicians in the Qarabagh district centre to repair and maintain power generation and lighting devices.

Key informants stated that almost all the households in Langar have standalone solar panels. Some people use gas or fuel-based lanterns for their energy and lighting. Most people use wood, thorn bushes, animal dung or agricultural product remnants (stems of potatoes and other plants), as fuel for cooking. Gas or kerosene stoves are also popular. Most people have sandalis (a table covered by large blankets around which people sit or lie in cold weather), using wood or coal for warmth during winter. Some households use tabakhana (a heating system that transfers heat from an oven to different rooms using ducts under the floor) and use wood, animal dung, thorns and bushes as fuel.