Afghan Turkestan, [lower-alpha 1] also known as Southern Turkestan, [lower-alpha 2] 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 Mazar-e 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 Abdur Rahman. [1]
The whole territory of Afghan Turkestan, from the junction of the Kokcha river with the Amu Darya on the north-east to the province of Herat on the south-west, was some 800 kilometres (500 mi) in length, with an average width from the Russian frontier to the Hindu Kush of 183 km (114 mi). It thus comprised about 150,000 km2 (57,000 sq mi) or roughly two-ninths of the former Kingdom of Afghanistan.[ citation needed ]
The area is agriculturally poor except in the river valleys, being rough and mountainous towards the south, but subsiding into undulating wastes and pasture-lands towards the Karakum Desert.
The province included the khanates of Kunduz, Tashkurgan, Balkh, and Akcha in the east and the four khanates or Chahar Wilayat ("four domains") of Saripul, Shibarghan, Andkhoy (city), and Maymana in the west. [2]
The bulk of the people are Uzbeks and Turkmens with large concentrations of Hazaras, Qizilbashs, Tajiks, and Pashtuns. [3]
Ancient Balkh or Bactria was an integral part of Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex, and was occupied by Indo-Iranians. In the 5th century BCE, it became a province of the Achaemenian Empire and later became part of the Seleucid Empire. About 250 BC Diodotus (Theodotus), governor of Bactria under the Seleucidae, declared his independence, and commenced the history of the Greco-Bactrian dynasties, which succumbed to Parthian and nomadic movements about 126 BC.[ citation needed ]
After this came a Buddhist era which has left its traces in the gigantic sculptures at Bamian and the rock-cut topes of Haibak. The district was devastated by Genghis Khan, and has never since fully recovered its prosperity. For about a century it belonged to the Delhi empire, and then fell into Uzbek hands. In the 18th century it formed part of the dominion of Ahmad Shah Durrani, and so remained under his son Timur.
But under the fratricidal wars of Timur's sons the separate khanates fell back under the independent rule of various Uzbek chiefs. At the beginning of the 19th century they belonged to Bukhara; but under the emir Dost Mohammad, the Afghans recovered Balkh and Tashkurgan in 1850, Akcha and the four western khanates in 1855, and Kunduz in 1859. Dost Mohammad's earliest campaigns begin in the 1830's in the Afghan Turkestan Campaign of 1838-39. The sovereignty over Andkhoy, Shibarghan, Saripul, and Maymana was in dispute between Bukhara and Kabul until settled by the Anglo-Russian agreement of 1873 in favour of the Afghan claim. Under the strong rule of Abdur Rahman these outlying territories were closely welded to Kabul; but after the accession of Emir Habibullah the bonds once more relaxed. In the late 19th and 20th centuries, many ethnic Pashtuns either voluntarily or involuntarily settled in Afghan Turkestan.
In 1890, the district of Qataghan and Badakhshan was divided from Afghan Turkestan and made into the Qataghan-Badakhshan Province. Administration of the province was assigned to the Northern Bureau in Kabul. [4]
Abdur Rahman Khan also known by his epithets, The Iron Amir, was Amir of Afghanistan from 1880 to his death in 1901. He is known for uniting the country after years of internal fighting and negotiation of the Durand Line Agreement with British India.
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.
Transport in Afghanistan is done mostly by road, rail and air. Much of the nation's road network was built in the mid-20th century but left to ruin during the last two decades of that century due to war and political turmoil. Officials of the current Islamic Emirate have continued to improve the national highways, roads, and bridges. In 2008, there were about 700,000 vehicles registered in Kabul. At least 1,314 traffic collisions were reported in 2022.
Badakhshan is a historical region comprising parts of modern-day north-eastern Afghanistan, eastern Tajikistan, and Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County in China. Badakhshan Province is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan. Much of historic Badakhshan lies within Tajikistan's Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region in the southeastern part of the country. The music of Badakhshan is an important part of the region's cultural heritage.
Kunduz is a city in northern Afghanistan, the capital of Kunduz Province. The city has an estimated population of about 268,893 as of 2015, making it about the 7th-largest city of Afghanistan, and the largest city in northeastern Afghanistan. Kunduz is in the historical Tokharistan region of Bactria, near the confluence of the Kunduz River with the Khanabad River. Kunduz is linked by highways with Kabul to the south, Mazar-i-Sharif to the west, and Badakhshan to the east. Kunduz is also linked with Dushanbe in Tajikistan to the north, via the Afghan dry port of Sherkhan Bandar. This city is famous in Afghanistan for its watermelon production.
Balkh is a town in the Balkh Province of Afghanistan, about 20 km (12 mi) northwest of the provincial capital, Mazar-e Sharif, and some 74 km (46 mi) south of the Amu Darya river and the Uzbekistan border. Its population was estimated to be 138,594 in 2021-22 by the Afghan National Statistic and Information Authority. Listed as the current 8th most populous city in the country, 2024 estimates set the population of Balkh at 114,883.
Afghanistan is divided into 34 provinces. The provinces of Afghanistan are the primary administrative divisions. Each province encompasses a number of districts or usually over 1,000 villages.
Balkh is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the north of the country. It is divided into 15 districts and has a population of about 1,509,183, which is multi-ethnic and mostly a Persian-speaking society. The city of Mazar-i-Sharif serves as the capital of the province. The Mazar-i-Sharif International Airport and Camp Marmal sit on the eastern edge of Mazar-i-Sharif.
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.
The Second Anglo-Afghan War was a military conflict fought between the British Raj and the Emirate of Afghanistan from 1878 to 1880, when the latter was ruled by Sher Ali Khan of the Barakzai dynasty, the son of former Emir Dost Mohammad Khan. The war was part of the Great Game between the British and Russian empires.
Sheberghān or Shaburghān, also spelled Shebirghan and Shibarghan, is the capital city of the Jowzjan Province in northern Afghanistan.
Kholm or Khulm, formerly known as Tashqurghan, is a town in Samangan Province of northern Afghanistan, 60 km east of Mazar-i-Sharif one-third of the way to Kunduz. Kholm is an ancient town located on the fertile, inland delta fan of the Khulm River. As such, it is an agriculturally rich locale and densely populated. It is famous for its covered market, and is a centre for trading in sheep and wood.
Aqcha or Akcha, is a city in northern Afghanistan. It is located approximately 50 kilometres (31 mi) east of Sheberghan and 100 kilometres (62 mi) west of Mazar-i-Sharif. It serves as the center of the Aqcha District of Afghanistan's Jowzjan Province. The town is situated a few kilometers north of the main Sheberghan-Mazar-i-Sharif road called Aqyol.
Turkestan Province was a province in Afghanistan.
The Afghan Civil War was fought from 9 June 1863 to January 1869. It began as a result of Dost Mohammad Khan's death on 9 June 1863 and the subsequent power struggles among his sons. Dost Mohammad consolidated his power in the second half of his reign within his inner family. His sons were appointed governors of provinces and effectively acted autonomous from the central government. This would inevitably lead to his sons fighting for control after his death.
The Afghan Turkestan Campaign of 1838-39 began in the winter of 1838 and ended in March 1839. The campaign was sent as a result of the tyranny of the Kunduz Khanate's ruler, Murad Beg. It was also launched for reasons such as additional revenue gain and tribute from many of the Uzbek states present in the region, including an attempt at subjugating the prominent states of Khulm and Qataghan. Dost Mohammad also feared the rise of Murad Beg and that the Kunduz Khanate was slowly enroaching on Bamiyan.
The Afghan Conquest of Balkh took place from the spring of 1849, to January 1850. Dost Mohammad Khan returned to the throne following the First Anglo-Afghan War, and continued pursuing his ambitions for the complete reunification of Afghanistan following its collapse from the civil war among Timur Shah's sons. Dost Mohammad began had entered the region once again in 1843 after being restored to the throne in the Hazarajat Campaign of 1843, extending his influence to Bamyan and many other regions. Dost Mohammad continued his ambitions into the region especially due to external threats such as Bukhara and the Emirate of Herat.
The Afghan Conquest of Kunduz took place from May to June 1859. The conflict was between the Kunduz Khanate and the Emirate of Afghanistan. The conflict began after Mir Ataliq, the ruler of Kunduz, though nominally under Afghan rule, wished to remain under a degree of high autonomy. Mir Ataliq rejected many of the Afghan demands to re-enter their suzerainty, leading to Afghan forces under Afzal Khan to began mobilizing. The Afghans assembled their forces along the border of Kunduz, with an envoy delivering an ultimatum, which the Mir Ataliq did not respond to. This led to the Afghans invading in May 1859.