It is the capital of Khost province, a mountainous region with snow-capped peaks upwards of 2,500 metres, just thirty kilometers from the Pakistani border.
Khost city [Source: Heather Gottlieb. https://travelob.wordpress.com]
Over one million people live in the province, a population that is a patchwork of Pashtun Sunni Muslims belonging to different tribes and traditional nomadic people known as the Kuchi.
It is the largest city in the southeastern part of the country, and also the largest in the region of Loya Paktia.
To the south and east of Khost lie Waziristan and Kurram in Pakistan.
Khost is the home of Shaikh Zayed University.
The Khost Airport is located in the eastern area of the city.
Khost is located about 150 kilometres south of Kabul.
Khost lies on a plateau not below 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) in altitude that extends to the east for about 40 kilometres (25 mi) until the Pakistan border. Thirty km to the north the peaks rise up to 2,500 to 3,000 metres (8,200 to 9,800 ft) while farther south 20 kilometres (12 mi) away from the border, the average is around 1,800 m.
