Badakhshan Province

Badakhshān
—  Province  —
Coordinates:
Country	Afghanistan
Government
- Type	Provincial government
- Governor	Munshi Abdul Majid
Area
- Total	44,059 km2 (17,011.3 sq mi)
- Water	0 km2 (0 sq mi)
Population [1]
- Estimate (2006)	823,000
Ethnicity
- Tajik	{{{demographics1_info1}}}
- Kyrgyz
- Uzbek
Languages
- Persian
- Pamiri
- Pashto
- Kyrgyz
- Uzbek

Badakhshan (Persian: بدخشان - Badakhshān) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, consisting of 28 districts. It is located in the north-east of the country, between the Hindu Kush and the Amu Darya. It is part of the 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 in the province.

According to the World Wildlife Fund, the following ecoregions are found within the boundaries of Badakshan: Temperate Grasslands, Savannas and Shrublands Gissaro-Alai open woodlands—found along the Pamir River. Common plants are pistachio, almond, walnut, apple, and juniper. sagebrush. Montane Grasslands and Shrublands Hindu Kush alpine meadow—found in the high mountains in the northern and southwestern regions. Common vegetation includes meadow and birch forests. Karakoram-West Tibetan Plateau alpine steppe—found in the Wakhan corridor. Pamir alpine desert and meadow—found in the Wakhan corridor. Deserts and Xeric Shrublands Afghan Mountains semi-desert—found south of Feyzabad. Common vegetation includes thorny bushes, zizyphus, acacia, and Amygdatus. Paropamisus xeric woodlands—found in northwestern and central areas. Common vegetation includes almond, pistachio, willows, and sea buckthorn.

History

Badakhshan's name was given by the Sassanids and derives from the word badaxš (an official Sassanian title). The suffix of the name, -ān, means the region belonged to someone with the title badaxš (analogous to Azerbaijan, Isfahan, Tehran, etc).^[2]

Badakhshan and Panjshir were the only provinces that were not occupied 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 province was about to fall to the Taliban when the American invasion allowed the Northern Alliance to reclaim control of the country with the aid of American military air power and assistance.

The current Governor of the province is Munshi Abdul Majid. Previously, it was Sayed Amin Tareq.

Economy

A caravan traveling to the Shewa Valley in northern Badakhshan.

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 district in Badakhshan for many centuries and was the largest and most well-known source in ancient times.^[3][4] 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.^[5] Recent geological surveys have indicated the location of other gemstone deposits, in particular rubies and emeralds.^[6] Exploitation of this mineral wealth could be key to the region's prosperity.^[6]

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 NE Afghanistan and the Pamir region, Fayzabad also has rice and flour mills. In 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 Soviet garrison town.

Demographics

The population of the province is estimated at 823,000 people^[1]. The majority of them are Persian-speaking Tajiks. There are also

• The following Pamiri languages are spoken in Badakhshan by certain populations of Tajiks:
  • Shughni
  • Munji
  • Ishkashimi
  • Wakhi
• small Kyrgyz minorities
• nomadic and semi-nomadic Uzbeks and Pashtuns, who migrate over long distances.

The residents of the province are largely Sunni, but many of the Tajiks who are speakers of one of the Pamiri languages in the northeastern districts of the province are Ismaili.

Historical population estimates for Badakhshan Province are as follows^[7]:

• 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

Districts of Badakhshan

District map of Badakhshan Province

Sport

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

Notable people from Badakhshan

• Nasratullah Nasrat - Afghan cricketer
• 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

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.

References

External links

• Recent activities and developments in Badakhshan

Provinces of Afghanistan Badakhshan · Badghis · Baghlan · Balkh · Bamyan · Daykundi · Farah · Faryab · Ghazni · Ghor · Helmand · Herat · Jowzjan · Kabul · Kandahar · Kapisa · Khost · Kunar · Kunduz · Laghman · Logar · Nangarhar · Nimruz · Nuristan · Oruzgan · Paktia · Paktika · Panjshir · Parwan · Samangan · Sar-e Pol · Takhar · Wardak · Zabul