Shamali Plains
The Shomali Plain, also called the Shomali Valley, is a plateau just north of Kabul, Afghanistan. It is approximately 30 km wide and 80 km long. Once, it was a fertile area, rich with water, where fruits and vegetables were cultivated, and where Kabul's residents picknicked on weekends. The region was often battleground during the wars in Afghanistan since 1978. Taliban rule (1996-2001) During the rule of the Taliban (1996-2001), fighting in the Shomali Plain was relatively sparse, but the plateau was maintained as fighting frontier by Ahmad Shah Massoud and his Northern Alliance who challenged the Taliban's control over much of Afghanistan. When the Taliban retreated from the Plain in 1997, they poisoned wells, cut down trees, and destroyed the irrigation system of what was a largely Tajik area,, p. 62 although there are also many Pashtuns in the area. In 1999, the Taliban considered the region, especially towns such as Istalif with 45,000 residents, a liability an ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Kabul
Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. According to late 2022 estimates, the population of Kabul was 13.5 million people. In contemporary times, the city has served as Afghanistan's political, cultural, and economical centre, and rapid urbanisation has made Kabul the 75th-largest city in the world and the country's primate city. The modern-day city of Kabul is located high up in a narrow valley between the Hindu Kush, and is bounded by the Kabul River. At an elevation of , it is one of the highest capital cities in the world. Kabul is said to be over 3,500 years old, mentioned since at least the time of the Achaemenid Persian Empire. Located at a crossroads in Asia—roughly halfway between Istanbul, Turkey, in the west and Hanoi, Vietnam, in the east—it is situated in a stra ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Land Mine
A land mine is an explosive device concealed under or on the ground and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets, ranging from combatants to vehicles and tanks, as they pass over or near it. Such a device is typically detonated automatically by way of pressure when a target steps on it or drives over it, although other detonation mechanisms are also sometimes used. A land mine may cause damage by direct blast effect, by fragments that are thrown by the blast, or by both. Landmines are typically laid throughout an area, creating a ''minefield'' which is dangerous to cross. The use of land mines is controversial because of their potential as indiscriminate weapons. They can remain dangerous many years after a conflict has ended, harming civilians and the economy. Seventy-eight countries are contaminated with land mines and 15,000–20,000 people are killed every year while many more are injured. Approximately 80% of land mine casualties are civilians, with children as the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Salang Tunnel
The Salang Tunnel ( prs, تونل سالنگ ''Tūnel-e Sālang'', ps, د سالنگ تونل ''Da Sālang Tūnel'') is a tunnel in Afghanistan, located at the Salang Pass in the Hindu Kush mountains, between the Parwan Province, Parwan and Baghlan Province, Baghlan Provinces of Afghanistan, provinces, about 90 kilometers north of the capital city of Kabul. Nearly above sea level, it was completed by the Soviet Union in 1964 and connects northern Afghanistan with the capital, Kabul, and southern parts of the country. The Salang Tunnel is of strategic importance and is the only pass going in a north–south direction to remain in use throughout the year, although it is often closed during the cold winters by heavy snowfall. Overview The tunnel represents the major north–south connection in Afghanistan, cutting travel time from 72 hours to 10 hours and saving about . It reaches an altitude of about and is long. The width and height of the tunnel tube are . Other sources sa ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Hindu Kush Mountains
The Hindu Kush is an mountain range in Central and South Asia to the west of the Himalayas. It stretches from central and western Afghanistan, Quote: "The Hindu Kush mountains run along the Afghan border with the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan". into northwestern Pakistan and far southeastern Tajikistan. The range forms the western section of the ''Hindu Kush Himalayan Region'' (''HKH''); to the north, near its northeastern end, the Hindu Kush buttresses the Pamir Mountains near the point where the borders of China, Pakistan and Afghanistan meet, after which it runs southwest through Pakistan and into Afghanistan near their border. The eastern end of the Hindu Kush in the north merges with the Karakoram Range.Karakoram Range: MOUNTAINS, ASIA Encyclopædia Britannica Towards its s ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Parwan Province
Parwan (Dari: ), also spelled Parvan, is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan. It has a population of about 751,000. The province is multi-ethnic and mostly rural society. The province is divided into ten districts. The town of Imam Abu Hanifa serves as the provincial capital. The province is located north of Kabul Province and south of Baghlan Province, west of Panjshir Province and Kapisa Province, and east of Maidan Wardak Province and Bamyan Province. The province famous tourism attraction is the Golghondi Hill, also known as “the flower hill,” is located in Imam Azam city of the ancient Parwan province about an hour away from the capital city of KabuAfter Panjshir this province has been considered as one of the main raising points of Afghanistan War against Soviets. The name Parwan is also attributed to a town, the exact location of which is now unknown, that supposedly existed during prehistory, in the nearby Hindu Kush mountains. Frye, Richard Nelson (1999). "Farr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Charikar
Imam Abu Hanifa ( fa, امام ابو حنیفه), historically known as Charikar (Persian: چاریکار) but renamed by Talibans recently to Imam Abu Hanifa, is the main town of the Koh Daman Valley and the capital of Parwan Province in northern Afghanistan. It has a population of around 171,200, which is majority Tajik populated. The city lies on the Afghan Ring Road, 69 km from Kabul along the route to the northern provinces. Travelers would pass Imam Abu Hanifa City when traveling to Mazar-i-Sharif, Kunduz or Puli Khumri. Despite the proximity to Kabul, slightly more than half of the land is not built-up. Of the built-up land almost equal parts is residential (37%) as vacant plots (32%) with a grid network of road coverage amounting to 19% of built-up land area. Imam Abu Hanifa City is at the gateway to the Panjshir Valley, where the Shamali plains meet the foothills of the Hindu Kush. Imam Abu Hanifa City is known for its pottery and high-quality grapes. The city of ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Bagram
Bagram (; Pashto/ fa, بگرام) is a town and seat in Bagram District in Parwan Province of Afghanistan, about 60 kilometers north of the capital Kabul. It is the site of an ancient city located at the junction of the Ghorband and Panjshir Valley, near today's city of Charikar, Afghanistan. The location of this historical town made it a key passage from Ancient India along the Silk Road, leading westwards through the mountains towards Bamiyan, and north over the Kushan Pass to the Baghlan Valley and past the Kushan archeological site at Surkh Kotal, to the commercial centre of Balkh and the rest of northern Afghanistan. Bagram was also a capital of Kushan empire Climate According to the Köppen climate classification system, Bagram has a hot-summer humid continental climate (''Dsa'') with brief, but cold winters and long, hot and dry summers. Precipitation is most likely between the months of October and April. Dust storms and sand storms occur frequently during certain ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
AH76
Asian Highway 76 (AH76) is a major road of northern Afghanistan. It connects Pole khomri at AH7 to Mazar-i-Sharif, passing through Samangan on the way, and then passes west and eventually ends at Herat, where it unites with AH1 and AH77 At Mazar-e-Sharif the road continues and joins the A01 and AH77 highways. Another road passes north from the A76 and connects it to Termiz in southern Uzbekistan. Note though that this "other road" is often regarded as a continuation of the A76, although it is actually part of the historical Pamir Highway, now known as the M41 highway ( AH62). This road links Mazar-i-Sharif across the Amu Darya river, to Termiz. The Pamir Highway or the M41 is an extremely important highway of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, which connects Termiz to Kara Balta to the west of Bishkek and links with the M39 highway twice at both cities. The AH76 begins in Pole khomri at from Asian Highway 1 Asian Highway 1 (AH1) is the longest route of the Asian H ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
United Nations High Commissioner For Refugees
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement to a third country. It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, with over 17,300 staff working in 135 countries. Background UNHCR was created in 1950 to address the refugee crisis that resulted from World War II. The 1951 Refugee Convention established the scope and legal framework of the agency's work, which initially focused on Europeans uprooted by the war. Beginning in the late 1950s, displacement caused by other conflicts, from the Hungarian Uprising to the decolonization of Africa and Asia, broadened the scope of UNHCR's operations. Commensurate with the 1967 Protocol to the Refugee Convention, which expanded the geographic and temporal scope of refugee assistance, UNHCR operated across the world, with the bu ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
War In Afghanistan (2001–present)
War in Afghanistan, Afghan war, or Afghan civil war may refer to: *Conquest of Afghanistan by Alexander the Great (330 BC – 327 BC) *Muslim conquests of Afghanistan (637–709) *Conquest of Afghanistan by the Mongol Empire (13th century), see also Mongol invasion of Central Asia (1216–1222) *Mughal conquests in Afghanistan (1526) *Afghan Civil War (1863–1869), a civil war between Sher Ali Khan and Mohammad Afzal Khan's faction after the death of Dost Mohammad Khan * Anglo−Afghan Wars (first involvement of the British Empire in Afghanistan via the British Raj) ** First Anglo−Afghan War (1839–1842) ** Second Anglo−Afghan War (1878–1880) ** Third Anglo−Afghan War (1919) *Panjdeh incident (1885), first major incursion into Afghanistan by the Russian Empire during the Great Game (1830–1907) with the United Kingdom of Britain and Ireland * First Afghan Civil War (1928–1929), revolts by the Shinwari and the Saqqawists, the latter of whom managed to take over Kabul for ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran border, west, Turkmenistan to the Afghanistan–Turkmenistan border, northwest, Uzbekistan to the Afghanistan–Uzbekistan border, north, Tajikistan to the Afghanistan–Tajikistan border, northeast, and China to the Afghanistan–China border, northeast and east. Occupying of land, the country is predominantly mountainous with plains Afghan Turkestan, in the north and Sistan Basin, the southwest, which are separated by the Hindu Kush mountain range. , Demographics of Afghanistan, its population is 40.2 million (officially estimated to be 32.9 million), composed mostly of ethnic Pashtuns, Tajiks, Hazaras, and Uzbeks. Kabul is the country's largest city and ser ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Istalif
Istālif ( prs, استالف) is a village northwest of Kabul, Afghanistan, situated at an elevation of in the Shomali Plains, west of Kalakan and south-west of Bagram. It is the center of Istalif District, Kabul Province, Afghanistan. Istalif is famous for its handmade glazed potteries. Etymology Its name might derive from Greek ''staphile'' ("bunch of grapes") or Parachi ''estuf'' ("cow-parsnip"). History Istalif was always renowned as one of the most beautiful places in Afghanistan – the Emperor Babur fell in love with it in the 16th century and used to hold parties in his rose garden and summer house there. Alexander Burnes, a British political agent to Dost Mohammed in the 19th century, had come here to relax amid the plane and walnut trees. He described that the mountains streams are full of fishes and the orchards and vineyards are richest. During the final phase of the First Anglo-Afghan War, as General Pollock's Army of Retribution marched into Kabul, many fami ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |