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 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.
Mazar-i-Sharīf, also known as Mazar-e Sharīf or simply Mazar, is the fifth-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.
The Afghan Civil War was fought from 14 November 1928 to 13 October 1929. Rebelling, and subsequently governing Saqqawist (Saqāwīhā) forces under Habibullāh Kalakāni fought against various opposing tribes and rival monarchs in the Kingdom of Afghanistan, among whom Mohammed Nādir Khān eventually achieved a preponderant role. Despite early successes, such as the capture of Kabul and defeat of Amanullah Khan on 17 January 1929 or the capture of Kandahar on 3 June, the Saqqawists were eventually deposed by anti-Saqqawist forces led by Nadir on 13 October 1929, leading to Nadir's ascension as King of Afghanistan, who ruled until his assassination on 3 November 1933.
Ustad Abdul Ali Mazari was an Afghan Hazara politician and leader of the Hezbe Wahdat during and following the Soviet–Afghanistan War,who advocated for a federal system of governance in Afghanistan. He believed that this would end political and ethnic division in Afghanistan by guaranteeing rights to every ethnic group. He was allegedly captured and murdered by the Taliban during negotiations in 1995. He was commonly known as Baba Mazari for his leadership of Hezbe Wahdat within the Hazara community.
Inayatullah Khan, was the King of Afghanistan for three days in January 1929. He was the son of former Afghan Emir, Habibullah Khan. Inayatullah's brief reign ended with his abdication.
Atta Muhammad Nur is an Afghan exiled politician and former Mujahid Leader who served as the Governor of Balkh Province in Afghanistan from 2004 to January 25, 2018. An ethnic Tajik, he worked to educate the Mujahideen after the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, gaining the nickname "The Teacher". He then became a mujahideen resistance commander for the Jamiat-e Islami against the Soviets.
Habibullah Kalakani, derogatively called "Bacha-ye Saqao", was the ruler of Afghanistan from 17 January to 13 October 1929, as well as a leader of the Saqqawists. During the Afghan Civil War (1928–1929), he captured vast swathes of Afghanistan and ruled Kabul during what is known in Afghan historiography as the "Saqqawist period". He was an ethnic Tajik. No country recognized Kalakani as ruler of Afghanistan.
Faiz Muhammad Kāteb also known as Kāteb (کاتب) was a writer and historian. He was Afghan court chronicler, a skilled calligrapher and secretary to Habibullah Khan from 1901 to 1919.
Mazar-e-Sharif International Airport, officially called Mawlana Jalaluddin Mohammad Balkhi International Airport, is located about 9 km (5.6 mi) east of Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan, which is around 15 minutes of driving distance from the center of the city.
Mohammad Nadir Shah was King of Afghanistan from 15 October 1929 until his assassination in November 1933. He became the king after his victory in the Afghan Civil War of 1928–29. Previously, he served as Minister of War, Afghan Ambassador to France, and as a general in the Royal Afghan Army. He and his son Mohammad Zahir Shah, who succeeded him, are part of the Musahiban.
The Khost rebellion, also known as the 1924 Mangal uprising, the Khost revolt or the Mangal Revolt was an uprising against the Westernization and modernizing reforms of Afghanistan’s king, Amanullah Khan. The uprising was launched in Southern Province, Afghanistan, and lasted from March 1924 to January 1925. It was fought by the Mangal Pashtun tribe, later joined by the Sulaiman Khel, Ali Khel, Jaji, Jadran and Ahmadzai tribes. After causing the death of over 14,000 Afghans, the revolt was finally quelled in January 1925.
Turkestan Province was a province in Afghanistan.
The 2011 Afghanistan Ashura bombings were a pair of bombings in the Afghan capital of Kabul and Mazar-e-Sharif. The Kabul suicide bombing took place at around noon local time, on the day when Muslims commemorate Ashura, an annual holy day throughout the Muslim world particularly by the Shi'a Muslims.
Amir Ali Ahmad Khan, Shaghasi was an Afghan king from the Shaghasi family of the Barakzai tribe who was declared king of Afghanistan twice in 1929. He was first declared amir of Afghanistan by an influential cleric, Naqib Sahib on 20 January 1929, in eastern Afghanistan, but was defeated by Kalakani at Jagdalak on 19 February 1929. He was also declared as the amir of Afghanistan for the second time on 23 June 1929 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, by another highly influential Mufti Abd. Wasi Kandahari, but was defeated and captured by Kalakani on 3 July 1929.
The Saqqawists were an armed group in Afghanistan who were active from 1924 to 1931. They were led by Habibullāh Kalakāni, and in January 1929, they managed to take control of Kabul, the capital of the Kingdom of Afghanistan, re-establishing the Emirate of Afghanistan. Following military reversals in the Afghan Civil War (1928–1929), they were forced out of the capital in October 1929. Saqqawist activity ended in 1931.
The Emirate of Afghanistan was an unrecognized state in Central Asia ruled by the Saqqawists that existed from January to October 1929. Habibullāh Kalakāni became the state's only emir on 18 January 1929. After the fall of Kalakāni on 13 October 1929, the Emirate ended.
Purdil Khan was an Afghan Saqqawist politician who served as minister of defence under Habibullāh Kalakāni during the Afghan Civil War of 1928–29, and briefly became the leader of the movement during a rebellion in July 1930.
On 21 April 2022, a powerful bomb rocked the Shia Seh Dokan mosque in Mazar-i-Sharif, Balkh Province, Afghanistan, killing at least 31 people and injuring more than 87 others. The Islamic State – Khorasan Province claimed responsibility via Telegram.
On 25 May 2022, three explosions hit a group of minivans in the Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif, Balkh Province. 9 people were killed and 15 others wounded.
