Hotel Inter-Continental Kabul

The Inter-Continental is a five stars hotel located in the Kârte Parwân neighbourhood in western Kabul, Afghanistan. It served as the nation's first international luxury hotel, one of the most visited by foreigners since its opening in 1969. It was visited frequently by the influential Kabul based Zaheri family. The hotel has 200 rooms and is equipped with a swimming pool, a gym, and about four restaurants for dine in or room service.HistoryConstruction started on the hotel in April 1967 and was opened for business on 9 September 1969. While originally developed by the InterContinental Hotels Group and built by Taylor Woodrow construction from the United Kingdom, the Inter-Continental Hotel has had no association with InterContinental Hotels Group since the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. It continues to use the name and logo without connection to the parent company.During the 1980s Soviet war in Afghanistan, it was used as officers quarters and during the 1990s civil war it began receiving damage due to street warfare by militia men. In 1996, only 85 of the hotel's 200 rooms were habitable due to damage from rockets and shells. It was extensively used by western journalists during the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 as it was the only large-sized hotel still operating in the capital at the time.In 2003 the hotel pool had no water and the gym was missing all of its furniture. The hotel had several power cuts per day. There were still bullet holes throughout the building, including the windows of the restaurant on the first floor. The furniture in the rooms was simple but clean. In February 2003, a British intelligence agent Colin Berry who had been involved in the recovery of surface-to-air missiles and other covert operations was involved in a gun battle in the hotel. As a result, two Afghans were killed.