Baghlan Province
Baghlan is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. It is in the north of the country; as of 2013, the province has a population of about 910,700. Its capital is Puli Khumri; the ruins of a Zoroastrian fire temple, the Surkh Kotal, are located in Baghlan. The lead nation of the local Provincial Reconstruction Team was Hungary, which operated from 2006 to 2015; the name Baghlan is derived from Bagolango or "image-temple", inscribed on the temple of Surkh Kotal during the reign of the Kushan emperor, Kanishka in the early 2nd century CE. The Chinese Buddhist monk Xuanzang traveled through Baghlan in the mid-7th Century CE, referred to it as the "kingdom of Fo-kia-lang". In the 13th Century CE, a permanent garrison of Mongol troops was quartered in the Kunduz-Baghlan area, in 1253 fell under the jurisdiction of Sali Noyan Tatar, appointed there by Möngke Khan. Sali Noyan's position was inherited by his son Uladu, grandson Baktut; these Turco-Mongol garrison troops formed the Qara'unas faction, by the 14th Century had allied with the Chaghataite Khanate.
Under the rule of Temür the Qara'unas were given to Chekü Barlas, to his son Jahānshāh. Forbes Manz notes that these Kunduz-Baghlan forces appear to have remained cohesive and influential throughout the Timurid period, though under different leaders and different names, up until the Uzbek invasion. By the Islamic year 900, the area was noted in the Baburnama. In the mid-20th Century, as Afghanistan became the target of international development from both the Western and Soviet world, agricultural-industrial projects were initiated in Baghlan; these included factories for the production of sugar for vegetable oil. Czech expertise figured into the development of Baghlans' coal-mining industry, centred at Baghlan's Karkar Valley, the only coal mine in Afghanistan to remain operational up through 1992; the modern Baghlan Province was created out of the former Qataghan Province in 1964. During the Soviet–Afghan War, the Soviets in 1982 established the Kayan military zone in southern Baghlan; the area was defended by 10,000 Ismaili militiamen, increasing to 18,000 by 1992, who sided with the Soviets due to differences with the Islamist opposition.
Afghan Ismailis overall were inclined to support the Communists, though a local Ismaili leader, Sayed Manuchehr, lead a partisan movement against the Communists until Ismaili leader Sayed Mansur Naderi accepted Soviet support. Large portions of Baghlan and neighbouring Samangan Province were under the sway of the Soviet-aligned Naderi clan, the hereditary Ismaili Sayeds of Kayan. Under their jurisdiction, was quiet and societally functional throughout the 1980s, with hospitals and administrative services, funded by the communist central government. Despite the Naderi's alliance with the Communists, they maintained positive relations with the Mujahideen as well, permitting them to move through the area provided they refrained from attacks. One of the Soviets' three primary bases in Afghanistan, was located in Baghlan Province, served as the "largest military supply and armoury centre of the Soviet troops in Afghanistan." As the 2001 Afghan War commenced, Ismaili leader Sayed Mansoor Naderi attempted to retake Baghlan from the Taliban.
Naderi was aligned with Uzbek warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum and his Jumbesh-e Milli party, the competing Tajik-dominated Jamiat-e Islami party was keen to seize control of Baghlan as Taliban power eroded. The Jamiat were able to seize the capital of Pul-i Khumri before Naderi, who despite his strong backing among the Afghan Ismailis and Shia Hazaras, was unable to rally enough supporters to control the province. Naderi failed to retake the capital in 2001 and 2003, in the latter event he negotiated a power-sharing agreement with the dominant Andarabi militias and made the Ismaili bastion of the Kayan Valley his base. On 13 June 2012, two earthquakes hit Afghanistan and there was a major landslide in Burka District of Baghlan Province; the village of Sayi Hazara was buried under up to 30 meters of rock. The town of Puli Khumri serves as the capital of the province. All law enforcement activities throughout the province are handled by the Afghan National Police; the provincial police chief represents the Ministry of the Interior in Kabul.
The ANP is backed including the NATO-led forces. Abdul Sattar Bariz has been the governor of the province since October 2015; the population of Baghlan province was reported at 863,700 in the year 2013. Tajiks make up 50% of the population, followed by 20% Pashtuns, 5% Turkmens, 20% Hazaras, 5% Uzbeks, others. Most of the population speak Persian, followed by Pashto-speaking Pashtuns and some Tatars. Baghlan is home to a small community of Ismaili Muslims led by the Sayeds of Kayan; the percentage of households with clean drinking water increased from 19% in 2005 to 25% in 2011. The percentage of births attended to by a skilled birth attendant increased from 5.5% in 2005 to 22% in 2011. The overall literacy rate increased from 21% in 2005 to 24% in 2011; the overall net enrolment rate increased from 29% in 2005 to 62% in 2011. Baghlan's primary crops were cotton and sugar beets, industrial sugar production having begun under Czech supervision in the 1940s; the area produced grapes and pomegranates.
The primary livestock is Karakul sheep. The province produces silk, coal is mined in the Karkar Valley. Baghlan 2007 Baghlan sugar factory bom
Wakhan District
Wakhan District is one of the 28 districts of Badakhshan Province in eastern Afghanistan. The total population for the district is about 13,000 residents; the district has three international borders: Tajikistan to the north, Pakistan to the south, Afghanistan's only border with China to the east. The capital of the district is the village of Khandud, which has a population of 1,244. Wakhan Wakhan Corridor Map at the Afghanistan Information Management Services
Kuran wa Munjan District
Kuran wa Munjan District is one of the 28 districts of Badakhshan Province in eastern Afghanistan. Located in the Hindu Kush mountains, the district is home to 8,000 residents; the district administrative center is Kuran wa Munjan. The district is in the southwest corner of the province, is bordered on its northeast side by the Jurm and Zebak Districts. Most of the district's boundaries are adjacent to other Afghan provinces, but a small section on the eastern edge of the district lies on the international border between Afghanistan and Pakistan; the epicenter of the October 26 2015 Hindu Kush earthquake was 45 km north of here. Map at the Afghanistan Information Management Services
Faryab Province
Faryab is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located in the north of the country bordering neighboring Turkmenistan. It has a population of about 948,000, multi-ethnic and a tribal society; the province encompasses over 1,000 villages. The capital of Faryab province is Maymana. Faryab is a Persian toponym meaning "lands irrigated by diversion of river water"; the name Faryab takes its name from a town founded in the area by the Sassanids. It is the home town of al-Farabi; the area is part of the trans-border region of Greater Khorasan. The history of settlement in Faryab comprises layer upon layer of occupation. At times, it was a melting pot within which a host of cultures have merged into a non-conflictual whole or at least peaceable coexistence. Maymana and Andkhoy entered written history 2,500 years ago when Jews arrived and settled in 586 BC, fleeing the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar; the territory was under Persian control at the time, which gave way to Greek rule following the conquest by Alexander the Great in 326 BC.
Persian dominance was restored from the 3rd to the 7th century AD. The pre-Islamic period ended with the conquest of northern Afghanistan by Arab Muslims; the area "turned into a vast battlefield as the two great Arab and Persian cultures battled for not only political and geographical supremacy but ideological supremacy." As a result, centuries of Zoroastrianism, Nestorian Christianity and indigenous pagan cults were swept away. Various Islamic dynasties influenced the locals, they included the Saffarids, Ghaznavids and Ghurids. The history of Faryab was altered yet again in the 11th century, this time with the invasion of the Mongols, under Genghis Khan and his descendants; as they moved into the area from the north and towns including Maymana were razed, populations massacred, grain and livestock stolen or burnt and ancient irrigation systems obliterated. Faryab was itself destroyed by the Mongols in 1220. Control by the Mongols stemmed from the alternating capitals of Bukhara or Samarkand north of the Amu Darya River.
They ruled in a decentralized manner, allowing local tribal chiefs in Maymana and elsewhere considerable autonomy. In 1500, Uzbek princes, in the form of the Khanate of Bukhara, swept across the Amu Darya, reaching Faryab and related areas around 1505, they joined a substantial and pastoral Arab population and ruled the area until the mid-18th century. It became part of the Durrani Empire; the area was untouched by the British during the three Anglo-Afghan wars that were fought in the 19th and 20th centuries. Faryab become a province in 1964. From the administrative reforms of the 1930s until it was known as Maymana and was a sub-province of Balkh Province, which had its headquarters in Mazar-i-Sharif. During the 1990s Afghan Civil War, the front line between Taliban and opposition forces fell between Badghis and Faryab provinces in the mid-1990s. Ismail Khan fled to Faryab to reconstitute his forces following the Taliban takeover of Herat Province, but was betrayed by Abdul Malik Pahlawan. In May 1997, Abdul Malik Pahlawan raised the Taliban flag over the capital of Maymana, switching sides and initiating a renewed Taliban offensive from the west.
Following a series of changing allegiances and falling out with Malik, the Taliban withdrew from the area, but in 1998 a contingent of 8,000 Taliban fighters pressed through Faryab, seizing Abdul Rashid Dostum's headquarters in Sheberghan, in neighboring Jowzjan province. Faryab province has been one of the more peaceful areas in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban government in late 2001. Recent development projects in the province have focused on expanding the agricultural potential of the province, in particular the re-forestation of areas of the province that were denuded in the recent past, it was reported in 2006 that Abdul Malik Pahlawan's Freedom Party of Afghanistan still maintained an armed militant wing, contributing to instability in province. The Afghan National Security Forces began expanding and took over control; the Afghanistan-Turkmenistan border is maintained by the Afghan Border Police while law and order for the rest of the province is provided by the NATO-trained Afghan National Police.
Between 2006 and late 2014, the province had a Provincial Reconstruction Team, led by Norway. The Norwegian PRT had its base at Maymana and had been given the responsibility for the Ghormach District. Afghanistan signed a deal with China National Petroleum Corporation for the development of oil blocks in the Amu Darya basin, a project expected to earn billions of dollars over two decades. CNPC began Afghan oil production in October 2012, in the same month a huge gas reserves were discovered in the Andkhoy District of Faryab province. In July 2016, Human Rights Watch accused Abdul Rashid Dostum's National Islamic Movement of Afghanistan of killing and looting civilians in Faryab; the current governor of the province is Naqibullah Faiq, a position he held since 2018. The town of Maymana is the capital of Faryab province. All law enforcement activities throughout the province a
Jowzjan Province
Jowzjan, sometimes spelled as Jawzjan or Jozjan, is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located in the north of the country bordering neighboring Turkmenistan. The province contains hundreds of villages, it has a population of about 512,100, multi-ethnic and agriculturers. Sheberghan is the capital of Jozjan province; the province is named after the early medieval principality of Juzjan. Between the early 16th century and mid-18th century, the area was ruled by the Khanate of Bukhara, it was conquered by Ahmad Shah Durrani and became part of the Durrani Empire in or about 1750, which formed to the modern state of Afghanistan. The area was untouched by the British during the three Anglo-Afghan wars that were fought in the 19th and 20th centuries. Following a series of changing allegiances and falling out with Uzbek warlord Abdul Malik Pahlawan in 1997, the Taliban withdrew from the area, but in 1998 a contingent of 8,000 Taliban troops pressed through neighboring Faryab, seizing Abdul Rashid Dostum's headquarters in Sheberghan.
Swedish-led Provincial Reconstruction Team, based in Mazar-e-Sharif since about 2005 and responsible for four provinces including Jozjan, established an office and some troops in the province. Security situation in the province has deteriorated in 2009 and 2010. A new Turkish PRT has been established in the province in the summer of 2010, providing security to the area which covers Sar-e Pol; the Afghan National Security Forces began expanding in the last decade and took over security from International Security Assistance Force. The Afghanistan-Turkmenistan border is maintained by the Afghan Border Police while law and order for the rest of the province is provided by the NATO-trained Afghan National Police. Although it can be regarded as a secured place compared to some other provinces of Afghanistan, there is an increasing number of incidents in Darzab, Qush Tepa and Fayzabad districts; the Mazar-e-Sharif-Sheberghan highway has turned into a dangerous traveling route because of militants carrying out attacks against government forces, NGO workers and civilians.
In April 2012 construction of a mega power network with power pylons carrying 500 megawatts of electricity from neighboring Turkmenistan started in the province. Initial work on the $390 million project had been completed. Turkmenistan will install power pylons over a distance of 374 kilometres on its soil toward the Afghanistan border and the project will take a year to complete; the network would supply electricity to many areas in Jozjan, Sar-e Pol and Kabul provinces. The Governor of the province is Murad Quenili, who replaced Mohammad Aleem Sayee in July 2013. Quenili was a senator representing his province Jozjan in the National Assembly of Afghanistan. All law enforcement activities throughout the province are managed by the Afghan National Police; the police chief represents the Ministry of the Interior in Kabul. The ANP is backed including the NATO-led forces; the percentage of households with clean drinking water increased from 24% in 2005 to 44% in 2011. The percentage of births attended to by a skilled birth attendant increased from 9% in 2005 to 21% in 2011.
The overall literacy rate fell from 31% in 2005 to 16% in 2011. The overall net enrolment rate increased from 40% in 2005 to 46% in 2011. Jozjan is situated in the northern part of Afghanistan, bordering Turkmenistan in the north, Balkh province in the east, Sar-e Pol province in the south and Faryab province in the west. Jozjan province covers an area of 10,326 km². More than one quarter of the province is mountainous or semi mountainous terrain, while more than two thirds of the area is made up of flat land, it is one of the provinces known to contain natural gas. Mining and agriculture are the main industries; the population of Jozjan province is about 512,100, who are multi-ethnic and farmers. Occasional ethnic violence is reported in the area, most in 2002.39.5% of the population speak Uzbek, 28.7% speak Turkmen, 17.2% speak Pashto, 12.1% speak Dari Persian and 2.5% speaks other languages. Abu'Ubayd al-Juzjani, the famous pupil of Avicenna, was from this region, hence his name Abdul Rashid Dostum, Vice President of Afghanistan, is from Hodja Dukhu village of this province Soroush Higano, an Afro-Japanese Afghan, Pashtun Barakzai, is from Qarqin in this province.
Qari Hekmat, leader of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in Darzab District. Provinces of Afghanistan Jowzjan Province - Powerpoint Overview
Shighnan District
Shighnan District is one of the 28 districts of the Badakhshan Province in eastern Afghanistan. It's part of the history region of Shighnan, today divided between Afghanistan and Tajikistan; the district borders the Panj River and Tajikistan in the northeast, the Maimay district to the west, the Raghistan district in the southwest, the Kohistan, Arghanj Khwa, Shuhada districts in the south, the Ishkashim district in the southeast. The Khowar, Tajiks and Pamiris are the major ethnic groups. Pashto and Persian are spoken; this District has a population of 27,750 >Shighnan District
Badakhshan Province
Badakhshan Province is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the farthest northeastern part of the country between Tajikistan and northern Pakistan. It shares a 56.5-mile border with China. It is part of a broader historical Badakhshan region; the province contains 22 to 28 districts, over 1,200 villages, 904,700 people. Feyzabad serves as the provincial capital. Badakhshan is bordered by Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province and Khatlon Province in Tajikistan to the north and east. In the east of the province a long spur called the Wakhan Corridor extends above northern Pakistan's Chitral and Northern Areas to a border with China; the province has a total area of 44,059 square kilometres, most of, occupied by the Hindu Kush and Pamir mountain ranges. Badakhshan was a stopover on the ancient Silk Road trading path, China has shown great interest in the province after the fall of the Taliban, helping to reconstruct roads and infrastructure. According to the World Wildlife Fund, Badakhshan contains temperate grasslands and shrublands, as well as Gissaro-Alai open woodlands along the Pamir River.
Common plants found in these areas include pistachio, walnut, apple and sagebrush. Montane grasslands and shrublands are existent in the province, with the Hindu Kush alpine meadow in the high mountains in the northern and southwestern regions; the Wakhan corridor contains two montane grassland and shrubland regions: the Karakoram-West Tibetan Plateau alpine steppe and in the Pamir Mountains and Kuh-e Safed Khers in Darwaz region. South of Fayzabad the terrain becomes dominated by xeric shrublands. Common vegetation includes thorny bushes, zizyphus and Amygdatus. Paropamisus xeric woodlands can be found in central areas. Common vegetation includes almond, pistachio and sea-buckthorn; the area has a long history like the rest of Afghanistan, dating to its conquering by the Achaemenid Empire and beyond. Badakhshan etymologically derives from an official title; the suffix of the name, -ān, means the region belonged to someone with the title badaxš. The territory was ruled by the Uzbek Khanate of Bukhara between the early 16th century and the mid-18th century.
It was given to Ahmad Shah Durrani by Murad Beg of Bukhara after a treaty of friendship was reached in or about 1750 and became part of the Durrani Empire. It was ruled by the Durranis followed by the Barakzai dynasty, was untouched by the British during the three Anglo-Afghan wars that were fought in the 19th and 20th centuries, it remained peaceful for about 100 years until the 1980s Soviet–Afghan War at which point the Mujahideen began a rebellion against the central Afghan government. During the 1990s, much of the area was controlled by forces loyal to Burhanuddin Rabbani and Ahmad Shah Massoud, who were de facto the national government until 1996. Badakhshan was the only province that the Taliban did not conquer during their rule from 1996 to 2001. However, during the course of the wars a non-Taliban Islamic emirate was established in Badakhshan by Mawlawi Shariqi, paralleling the Islamic Revolutionary State of Afghanistan in neighboring Nuristan. Rabbani, a Badakhshan native, Massoud, were the last remnants of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance during the peak of Taliban control in 2001.
Badakhshan was thus one of the few provinces of the country that witnessed little insurgency in the Afghan wars - however during the 2010s Taliban insurgents managed to attack and take control of several districts in the province. On 26 October 2015, the 7.5 Mw Hindu Kush earthquake shook northern Afghanistan with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII. This earthquake destroyed 30,000 homes, left several hundred dead, more than 1,700 injured; the current Governor of the province is Shah Waliullah Adeeb. His predecessors were Baz Mohammad Ahmadi; the borders with neighboring Tajikistan and Pakistan are monitored by the Afghan Border Police. All law enforcement activities throughout the province are handled by the Afghan National Police. A provincial Police Chief is assigned to lead both the ANP and the ABP; the Police Chief represents the Ministry of the Interior in Kabul. The ANP is backed by the military, including the NATO-led forces. Fayzabad, the capital of Badakhshan province, sits on the Kokcha River and has an approximate population of 50,000.
The chief commercial and administrative center of northeast Afghanistan and the Pamir region, Fayzabad has rice and flour mills. Fayzabad Airport serves the province with regular direct flights to Kabul; the percentage of households with clean drinking water increased from 13% in 2005 to 21% in 2011. The percentage of births attended to by a skilled birth attendant increased from 1.5% in 2003 to 2% in 2011. The overall literacy rate fell from 31% in 2005 to 26% in 2011; the overall net enrolment rate increased from 46% in 2005 to 68% in 2011. Despite massive mineral reserves, Badakhshan is one of the most destitute areas in the world. Opium poppy growing is the only real source of income in the province and Badakhshan has one of the highest rates of maternal mortality in the world, due to the complete lack of health infrastructure, inaccessible locations, bitter winters of the province. BORNA Institute of Higher Education being the first private university located on the bank of Kokcha river. Lapis lazuli has been mined in the Sar-e-Sang mines, located in the Kuran wa Munjan District of Badakhshan, for over 6,000 years.
The mines were the largest and most well-known source in ancient times. Most recent
Afghanistan
