Afghan Turkestan, also known as Southern Turkestan, is a region in northern Afghanistan, on the border with the former Soviet republics of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. In the 19th century, there was a province in Afghanistan named Turkestan with Mazari Sharif as provincial capital. The province incorporated the territories of the present-day provinces of Balkh, Kunduz, Jowzjan, Sar-e Pol, and Faryab. In 1890, Qataghan-Badakhshan Province was separated from Turkestan Province. It was later abolished by Emir Abdur Rahman.
Mazar-i-Sharīf, also known as Mazar-e Sharīf or simply Mazar, is the fourth-largest city in Afghanistan by population, with an estimated 500,207 residents in 2021. It is the capital of Balkh province and is linked by highways with Kunduz in the east, Kabul in the southeast, Herat in the southwest and Termez, Uzbekistan in the north. It is about 55 km (34 mi) from the Uzbek border. The city is also a tourist attraction because of its famous shrines as well as the Islamic and Hellenistic archeological sites. The ancient city of Balkh is also nearby.
Faryab is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, which is located in the north of the country bordering neighboring Turkmenistan. It has a population of about 1,109,223, which is multi-ethnic and mostly a tribal society. The province encompasses 15 districts and over 1,000 villages. The capital of Faryab province is Maymana. It also borders Jowzjan Province, Sar-e Pol Province, Ghor Province and Badghis Province.
Maymana is the capital city of Faryab Province in northwestern Afghanistan, near the Afghanistan–Turkmenistan border. It is approximately 400 km (250 mi) northwest of the country's capital Kabul, and is located on the Maymana River, which is a tributary of the Murghab River. The population of Maymana was 149,040 in 2015, making it one of the largest cities of northwestern Afghanistan.
Bala murghab is a district situated in the northeast of Badghis Province, Afghanistan. The district capital is Bala Murghab city which is located along the Murghab River. Bala Murghab is surrounded by some other important districts such as Ab Kamari, Muqur, Jawand, and Qadis.
Ishkashim District is one of the 28 districts of Badakhshan province in eastern Afghanistan. The border town of Ishkashim serves as the district's capital. The population of the district is approximately 15,951 residents, majority of whom are believed to be ethnic Tajiks followed by Pashtuns, Uzbeks and others. In addition to Afghanistan's two main languages of Dari and Pashto, the language of Ishkashimi is also spoken in the district by the native people.
Ab Khuda'i or Abzi Khuda'i is a village in the west of Ab Kamari District in Herat Province, of north-west Afghanistan. Its population, consists of approximately 90% Tajik with a small Pashtun, Aimaq and Uzbek minority. Other localities include Alkhan, Anjir, Duzdanak, Gana Gul, Khalifa, and Papal. The village used to be in Badghis Province.
Afghanistan is a multiethnic and mostly tribal society. The population of the country consists of numerous ethnolinguistic groups: mainly the Pashtun, Tajik, Hazara, and Uzbek and minorities of Aimaq, Turkmen, Baloch, Pashai, Nuristani, Gujjar, Brahui, Qizilbash, Pamiri, Kyrgyz, Sadat, and others. Altogether they make up the Afghan people.
Imam Sahib District is situated in the northern part of Kunduz Province, Afghanistan. It borders with Qalay-I-Zal District to the west, Tajikistan to the north, with Archi District to the east and Kunduz District to the south. It has an estimated population of 232,846 as of 2021, which include ethnic Uzbeks at 45%, Pashtuns at 25%, Tajiks at 25% and Hazaras at 1%. The district center is the town of Imam Sahib, located in the northern part of the district. The other main town in the district is Sher Khan Bandar, which serves as Afghanistan's main port of entry to Tajikistan.
Khan Abad District is situated in the eastern part of Kunduz Province, Afghanistan. It borders Kunduz District to the west, Archi District to the northeast, Takhar Province to the east and Ali abad District to the south. The population is 140,600 (2006): 40% Pashtun, 20% Hazara, 25% Tajik, 10% Uzbek and 5% Pashai. The district center is the town of Khan Abad, located in the central part of the district.
Bādghīs is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located in the northwest of the country, on the border with Turkmenistan. It is considered to be one of the country's most underdeveloped provinces, with the highest poverty rate. The capital is Qala e Naw, while the most populous city and the district are Bala Murghab. The ruins of the medieval city of Marw al-Rudh, the historical capital of the medieval region of Gharjistan, are located in the province near the modern city of Bala Murghab.
The Battles of Mazar-i-Sharif were a part of the Afghan Civil War and took place in 1997 and 1998 between the forces of Abdul Malik Pahlawan and his Hazara allies, Junbish-e Milli-yi Islami-yi Afghanistan, and the Taliban.
As a geographically fragmented state, Afghanistan is separated into as many as 14 ethnic groups that have historically faced divisions that devolved into political violence. This conflict reached its culminating point in the 1990s with the rise of the Taliban.
The republican insurgency in Afghanistan is an ongoing armed conflict between the National Resistance Front and allied groups which fight under the banner of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan on one side, and the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan on the other side. On 17 August 2021, former first vice president of Afghanistan Amrullah Saleh declared himself the "caretaker" president of Afghanistan and announced the resistance. On 26 August, a brief ceasefire was declared. On 1 September, talks broke down and fighting resumed as the Taliban attacked resistance positions.
Damla Mohibullah Mawafiq is an Afghan Taliban politician and military figure who is currently serving as Mayor of Maymana, the capital of Faryab Province since November 2021. Mohibullah is known as one of the top snipers in the Taliban ranks.
Mawlawi Mehdi Mujahid was an ethnic Hazara rebel from Afghanistan who led around 200 Hazara fighters during the Balkhab uprising. He was a Taliban commander before rebelling against the Taliban until he was killed on 17 August 2022.
The Balkhab uprising was a Hazara rebellion in Balkhab district, Sar-e Pol Province, Afghanistan against the Taliban. It was led by Mehdi Mujahid, and it began on 23 June 2022 after Mehdi Mujahid's forces captured Balkhab district.
Jamaat Ansarullah, also known as the Tajikistani Taliban, is a Tajik Islamist militant movement currently based out of Badakhshan, Afghanistan. It is related to al-Qaeda.
Mullah Abdul Manan Niazi was an Afghan politician and military commander. In the 1990s, he was the governor of the Herat and Balkh provinces. He was one of the famous commanders of the splinter group of the Taliban led by Mullah Rasool, and one of the opponents of the Taliban group led by Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada. He had many times managed the bloody conflicts between these two groups. He was also a critic of the policy of regional countries, especially Iran and Pakistan, towards Afghanistan.
Abdul Hamid Khorosani, known as Nasser Badri, is a Taliban military commander from Panjshir.
Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan