The city of Kandahar dates back to the middle of the first millennium BCE, originally as a Persian town on the edge of the great Registan Desert in southeastern Afghanistan, that was reestablished and repopulated by Alexander the Great in the BCE fourth century. The ancient site of Kandahar developed on a rocky ridge some three kilometers to the west of the present-day city of the same name, which was founded in the 18th century.

Kandahar was strategically located on the trade routes connecting India and the Middle East, and for this reason it was the target of many conquerors throughout the ages. The city has been in the hands of Persians, Greeks, Arabs (from the seventh century), Turks (10th century), Mongols (12th century), and Indians (16th century). Later, it was conquered by the Safavid-Persians and the Ghilji, a tribe instrumental in the emergence of the modern state of Afghanistan. Nonetheless, as one writer put it, "The Arab Muslim armies that arrived in the seventh century were following the routes used previously by Persian and Greek invaders, but none of these empires, or the nearly 20 empires and dynasties that came late, found Afghanistan easy to conquer and control. The Afghan peoples, though internally divided, tend to unite in fierce opposition to outsiders."

The old city of Kandahar was abandoned following its near-total destruction in 1738, but a few years later a new city was founded a few kilometers to the east, at the location of present-day Kandahar. Between 1748 and 1773 this was the capital of the new kingdom of Afghanistan. Subsequently, the city was temporarily conquered by British troops during the Anglo-Afghan wars, and has been the site of considerable fighting and destruction during the ongoing conflicts in the region.