JALALABAD or JELLALABAD, a town and province of Afghanistan. The town lies at a height of 1,95o ft. in a plain on the south side of the Kabul river, 96 m. from Kabul and 76 from Peshawar. Estimated pop., 6,000. Between it and Peshawar intervenes the Khyber pass, and between it and Kabul the passes of Jagdalak, Khurd Kabul, etc. The site was chosen by the em peror Baber, and he laid out some gardens here; but the town itself was built by his grandson Akbar in A.D. 1560. It resembles the city of Kabul on a smaller scale, and has one central bazaar, the streets generally being very narrow. The most notable episode in the history of the place is the famous defence by Sir Robert Sale during the first Afghan war, when he held the town from Nov.
1841 to April 1842. The town is now fortified, surrounded by a high wall with bastions and loopholes. The province of Jalalabad is about 8o m. in length by 35 in width, and includes the large district of Laghman north of the Kabul river, as well as that on the south called Ningrahar. The climate of Jalalabad is similar to that of Peshawar. It is one of the most important positions in Afghan istan, for it dominates the entrances to the Laghman and the Kunar valleys, commanding routes to Chitral or India north of the Khyber, as well as the Kabul-Peshawar road.