KABUL, Afghanistan — Outside the Kabul fruit market, with its roughly 800 shops and stalls, a crowd of sellers and buyers is arriving for another day of activity. This time of year is the peak of the country’s fruit season, and this harvest has been impressive.

At the gates, four shoeshines polish away in the darkness, clients flashing their phone lights to make sure it’s all shine and no dull spots. Satisfied, they put on their shoes and walk into the market to open their shops, perhaps after a quick breakfast of tea and balls of dough flattened, dipped into oil and fried. Smoke rises from the samovars.

Around the corner, others hover at a cart with cups of sweet hot milk and slices of cake. Those desiring a stronger breakfast, after a late night perhaps, toss a raw egg into the milk, the spoon rhythmically beating against the cup in the morning quiet. “I start the fire an hour before the sunrise, and the tea is boiling by the time the sun comes out,” said Mohammed Ayar, who has sold tea here for eight years.

Inside the market is an abundance of fruit: peaches in crates, apricots and grapes in plastic bags, barely ripe apples sold from the back of a small truck. Melons are plenty, here and in the market next door, aptly called the Melon Market. On any given day, the fruit market can have up to 4,000 visitors.