Badakhshan Province

Badakhshān
—  Province  —
Coordinates: 38°0′N 71°0′E
Country	Afghanistan
Government
• Type	Provincial government
• Governor	Shah Waliullah Adeeb
Area
• Total	44,059 km2 (17,011 sq mi)
Population
• Estimate (2011-2012)	889,700
Demographics
• Ethnicities	Tajik, Kyrgyz, Uzbek, Pashtun
• Languages	Persian, Pamiri, Pashto, Kyrgyz, Uzbek
Time zone	UTC+4:30

A Kuchi caravan traveling to the Shewa Valley in northern Badakhshan

Badakhshan (Persian: بدخشان - Badakhshān) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, consisting of 28 districts and having its capital at Feyzabad. It is located in the north-east of the country, between the Hindu Kush and the Amu Darya. It is part of a broader historical Badakhshan region.

Geography

Badakhshan is primarily 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 km², most of which is occupied by the Hindu Kush and Pamir mountain ranges.

Badakhshan was a stopover on the ancient Silk Road trading path, and 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,^{[citation needed]} Badakshan contains temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands, as well as Gissaro-Alai open woodlands along the Pamir River. Common plants found in these areas include pistachio, almond, walnut, apple, juniper, and sagebrush.

Montane Grasslands and Shrublands are also existent in the province, with the Hindu Kush alpine meadow located 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.

South of Fayzabad the terrain becomes dominated by deserts and xeric shrublands. Common vegetation includes thorny bushes, zizyphus, acacia, and Amygdatus. Paropamisus xeric woodlands can be found in the province's northwestern and central areas. Common vegetation includes almond, pistachio, willows, and sea-buckthorn.

History

See also: Badakhshan

Badakhshan etymologically derives from the Sassanid word badaxš, an official title. The suffix of the name, -ān, means the region belonged to someone with the title badaxš. This Sassanid naming convention is seen in other Central Asian locations, including Azerbaijan, Isfahan, and Tehran.

Badakhshan and Panjshir were the only provinces that were never occupied or captured by the Taliban during their drive to control the country. 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. Burhanuddin Rabbani, a Badakhshan native, and Ahmad Shah Massoud were the last remnants of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance during the peak of Taliban control in 2000 and 2001, and they used the province as their base of operations.

The current Governor of the province is Munshi Abdul Majid. His predecessor was Sayed Amin Tareq.

Economy

Classic lazurite specimen from Sar-e-Sang district. Size 7 x 5.4 x 6.8 cm.

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, and bitter winters of the province.

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 mining activity has focused on lapis lazuli, with the proceeds from the lapis mines being used to fund Northern Alliance troops, and before that, anti-Soviet Mujahideen fighters. Recent geological surveys have indicated the location of other gemstone deposits, in particular rubies and emeralds. Exploitation of this mineral wealth could be key to the region's prosperity.

Capital city

Feyzabad International Airport

Fayzabad, the capital of Badakhshan, 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 also has rice and flour mills. During the winter the city is sometimes isolated by deep snow. In 1979 it was a focus of Afghan guerrillas attempting to repel the Soviet invasion. Fayzabad was taken by Soviet forces in 1980 and became a major garrison town.

Demographics

The population of the province is estimated at 889,700 people. The majority of them are Persian-speaking Tajiks. There are also

• speakers of the following Pamiri languages:
  • Shughni
  • Munji
  • Ishkashimi
  • Wakhi
• Pashtuns and Uzbeks, who are mostly nomadic and semi-nomadic and migrate over long distances
• small Kyrgyz minorities
• a small muslim Russian minority who settled there after the Russian-Afghan war during the 1980s

The residents of the province are largely Sunni, but many of the speakers of the Pamiri languages in the southern and eastern districts of the province are Ismaili.

Historical population estimates for Badakhshan Province are as follows:

• 2006: 823,000 (World Gazetteer)
• 2004: 725,700 (Central Statistics Office)
• 2000: 923,144 (Oak Ridge National Laboratory)
• 1998: 924,747 (Oak Ridge National Laboratory)
• 1997: 663,700 (Central Statistics Office)
• 1991: 615,156 (ProMIS UNIDATA)
• 1990: 554,374 (USAID)
• 1979: 497,798 (Central Statistics Office)

Politics

Governors

Further information: List of governors of Badakhshan

Districts of Badakhshan

District map of Badakhshan Province

Districts of Badakhshan Province

District	Map #	Capital	Population	Area	Notes
Arghanj Khwa	6		12,000		Created in 2005 within Fayzabad District
Argo	6		45,000		Created in 2005 within Fayzabad District
Baharak	7	Baharak	14,000		Sub-divided in 2005
Darayim	6		65,000		Created in 2005 within Fayzabad District
Darwaz	1	Nusay	21,000		Sub-divided in 2005
Darwazi Bala	1		11,000		Created in 2005 within Darwaz District
Fayzabad	6	Fayzabad	46,000		Sub-divided in 2005
Ishkashim	8	Ishkashim	11,000
Jurm	10		3,000		Sub-divided in 2005
Khash	10		48,000		Created in 2005 within Jurm District
Khwahan	2	Khwahan	14,000		Sub-divided in 2005
Kishim	9		63,000		Sub-divided in 2005
Kohistan	7		12,000		Created in 2005 within Baharak District
Kuf Ab	2		16,000		Created in 2005 within Khwahan District
Kuran wa Munjan	11	Kuran wa Munjan	8,000
Ragh	4	Ragh	37,000		Sub-divided in 2005
Shahri Buzurg	5	Shahri Buzurg	42,000
Shighnan	3		24,000
Shiki	6		26,000		Created in 2005 within Fayzabad District
Shuhada	7		31,000		Created in 2005 within Baharak District
Tagab	6		22,000		Created in 2005 within Fayzabad District
Tishkan	9		23,000		Created in 2005 from Kishim District
Wakhan	13		13,000
Warduj	7		17,000		Created in 2005 within Baharak District
Yaftali Sufla	6		39,000		Created in 2005 within Fayzabad District
Yamgan	7		20,000		Created in 2005 within Baharak District
Yawan	4		27,000		Created in 2005 within Ragh District
Zebak	12	Zebak	7,000

Sport

The province is represented in Afghan domestic cricket competitions by the Badakhshan Province cricket team.

Notable people from Badakhshan

• Burhanuddin Rabbani - leader of the Jamiat-e Islami political party and former president of Afghanistan
• Tahir Badakhshi - political activist
• Latif Pedram - political activist and candidate for Afghanistan's presidency
• Mahboobullah Kushani - political activist and candidate for Afghanistan's presidency
• Mohammad Wali (Prime Minsiter) - Prime Minsiter (Amanullah Khan)
• Shah Wali Taranasaz - Musician
• Nasratullah Nasrat - Afghan cricketer

Further reading

• Burhanuddin Kushkaki. Rāhnamā-yi Qaṭaghan va Badakhshān. Kabul: Vizarat-i Ḥarbiyah, 1923.
• Jan-Heeren Grevemeyer: Herrschaft, Raub und Gegenseitigkeit: Die politische Geschichte Badakhshans 1500-1883, Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1982
• Wolfgang Holzwarth: Segmentation und Staatsbildung in Afghanistan: Traditionale sozio-politische Organisation in Badakhshan, Wakhan und Sheghnan In: Berliner Institut für vergleichende Sozialforschung [Red.: Kurt Greussing u. Jan-Heeren Grevemeyer] (Hrsg.): Revolution in Iran und Afghanistan - mardom nameh - Jahrbuch zur Geschichte und Gesellschaft des Mittleren Orients Syndikat, Frankfurt am Main 1980, ISBN 3-8108-0147-X.

External links

• Recent activities and developments in Badakhshan