Zabul Province

Zabul زابل
An aircraft flies past the Spin Ghar mountains on approach for a routine supply drop in Shah Joy district
Map of Afghanistan with Zabul highlighted
Coordinates: 32°06′N 67°06′E / 32.1°N 67.1°E / 32.1; 67.1Coordinates: 32°06′N 67°06′E / 32.1°N 67.1°E / 32.1; 67.1
Country	Afghanistan
Capital	Qalat
Government
• Governor	Mohammad Ashraf Nasari
Area[1][2]
• Total	17,343 km2 (6,696 sq mi)
Population [3]
• Total	289,300
• Density	17/km2 (43/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+4:30
ISO 3166 code	AF-ZAB
Main languages	Pashto

Zabul (Persian and Pashto: زابل‎) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the south of the country. It has a population of about 289,300,^[3] which is mostly a rural tribal society. Zabul became an independent province from neighbouring Kandahar in 1963. Historically, it was part of the Zabulistan region. Qalat serves as the capital of the province.

Geography

Zabul borders Oruzgan in the north, Kandahar in the west and in the south, Ghazni and Paktika in the east. It shares a border with Balochistan, Pakistan, in the south.

The province covers an area of 17293 km2. Two-fifths of the province is mountainous or semi mountainous terrain (41%) while more than one quarter of the area is made up of flat land (28%).

The primary ecoregion of the province is the central Afghan mountains xeric woodlands. Common vegetation is listed as dry shrub-land and pistachio. The high mountains of the northern portion of the province are in the Ghor-Hazarajat alpine meadow ecoregion, which is characterized by meadows, willows, and sea buckthorn.^[4]

Politics and governance

The current governor of the province is Mohammad Ashraf Nasari. The city of Qalat is the capital of the province. All law enforcement activities throughout the province are controlled by the Afghan National Police (ANP). Zabul's border with neighboring Balochistan province of Pakistan is under the control of the Afghan Border Police (ABP). The border area in this province is used by Taliban insurgents entering from Pakistan. Plans are underway to construct new border stations in the near future. The provincial police chief represents the Ministry of the Interior in Kabul. The ANP is backed by other Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), including the National Directorate of Security (NDS) and NATO-led forces.

The province has especially struggled with retaining NGO's and teachers in the face of Taliban attacks and threats. Until 2006, the only major international presence was an American Provincial Reconstruction Team Zabul (PRT) based in Qalat District 32°07′47″N 066°55′41″E / 32.12972°N 66.92806°E / 32.12972; 66.92806 (PRT at Qalat), when it was joined by a UNAMA & USAID/DAI branch.

Demographics

Afghan children of Zabul province

Ethnolinguistic groups of Afghanistan

Districts of Zabul province

The total population of the province is about 289,300, which is mostly a rural tribal society.^[3] According to the Naval Postgraduate School, the population is primarily Pashtun, sprinkled throughout around 2,500 remote villages. Major tribal groups include the Tokhi and Hotaki Ghilzai and the Noorzai and Panjpai Durrani.

Pashto is the dominant language in the area. The people of Zabul are overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim. Primary occupations within Zabul are agriculture and animal husbandry.^[5]

Districts

Transportation

In 2006, the province's first airstrip was opened near Qalat, to be operated by the Afghan National Army, but also for use by commercial aviation. Twice weekly service was scheduled by PRT Air between Qalat and Kabul. The airstrip is not paved.^[6] The ANA Chief in Zabul is Major General Jamaluddin Sayed^[7]

US marines fire mortars into the mountains.

Sports

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

Gallery

• 

  Afghan National Police 1st Lt. Sardar Hotak, the police chief of Shah Joy district, speaks with guests before a graduation ceremony for Afghan Local Police cadets at the district center

• 

  Afghan police and coalition special operations forces load a police member needing medical care onto an MH-60 Black Hawk helicopter during a medical evacuation in the Shah Joy district in (January 2012)

• 

  Sgt. Johnny Hoyos patrolling the area around a bridge on the Kabul–Kandahar Highway during a quality assurance, quality control visit in 2010.

• 

  A U.S. soldier watches the sunrise after a dismounted patrol mission near Forward Operating Base Baylough, Zabul province.

• 

  U.S. Special Forces are extracted from a mountain pinnacle in Zabul province

• 

  An early-morning dismounted patrol mission near Forward Operating Base Baylough, Zabul

• 

  U.S. soldiers drinking tea at an Afghan National Army outpost

See also

• Provinces of Afghanistan
• Zabulistan
• Zabol
• Abu Ali Lawik

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Zabul Province.

	Urozgan Province		Ghazni Province
			Paktika Province
	Zabul Province
	Kandahar Province		Balochistan,  Pakistan

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