Hotel Inter-Continental Kabul

The Intercontinental Hotel Kabul is one of the five-star hotels in Kabul, Afghanistan. It is located on a hill near the Bagh-e Bala Palace in the Karte Parwan neighborhood of the city. It served as the nation's first international luxury hotel, one of the most visited by foreigners since its opening in 1969. The hotel has 200 rooms and is equipped with a swimming pool, a gym, and about four restaurants for dine in or room service. It was the site of a deadly militant attack in 2011 and again in 2018. Construction of the Hotel Inter-Continental Kabul started in April 1967, and it opened on 9 September 1969. It was developed by the InterContinental Hotels division of Pan Am and built by UK-based Taylor Woodrow. The hotel has had no association with InterContinental Hotels since 1980, following the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan. Despite this, it continues to use the name and logo without connection to the parent company.The Inter-Continental Hotel Kabul is currently owned by the Bakhshisade family. During the 1990s civil war, it was damaged during street warfare by militiamen. 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 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 named 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.