A citadel for Afghanistan’s elite

The 160-acre Saleem Caravan City features villas with balconies and rose gardens and has its own amenities: a swimming pool, two mosques, a school and a shopping arcade.   (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

A worker carries his lunch through the gated community of Saleem Caravan City. Rising from the gray dirt on Kabul’s gritty eastern shoulder, Caravan City’s walls protect the people who have the most to lose if Afghanistan’s government collapses.   (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Goats graze on the edge of Saleem Caravan City. Garbage and sewage clog the gutters outside, but inside the gated community, the roads are paved and marked by freshly painted street signs in Dari and English.   (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Workers customize a new home in Saleem Caravan City that has already been sold. Many of the buyers of the homes -- at $250,000 to $300,000 a pop, cash only -- are top officials in the Afghan government, army and police.  (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Hassillah, 8, is among the 200 students at the gated community’s school. The school has a capacity for 2,500 students.   (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Students attend class at the gated community’s school. Other amenities include a swimming pool, two mosques and a shopping arcade.   (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Saleem Caravan City will also feature apartments in addition to its luxury villas.   (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Savia, 10, left, is among the 200 students at the gated community’s school.   (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

A security guard, one of dozens, patrols the Saleem Caravan City gated community. The armed guards are augmented by a high-tech security system.  (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Entrepreneur Mohammed Ibrahim Caravan lives in the gated community he helped build. His home is a 7,500-square-foot mansion with a pool, hot tub and guest kitchen.   (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Mohammed Ibrahim Caravan, left, talks to new resident Haji Muzail Hotak, the leader of the Hotak tribe and father of seven, inside his home in Saleem Caravan City.   (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Haji Mohammed Aslam, 81, does not count himself among those who are worried that Afghanistan could once again be overrun by the Taliban or descend into civil war.   (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)