Spera (Khost Province)
Spera (also spelt Sperah and Speyrah) is a village and the district center of Spera District, Khost Province, Afghanistan. It is located on at 1,790 m altitude. The town is located within the heartland of the Zadran tribe of Pashtuns. During the US occupation of Afghanistan, Spera sat along a highly used smuggling route from Pakistan into Afghanistan. The area was known to harbor many ex members of both the Taliban and the Al Qaeda. Spera is the location where United States Army Ranger Pat Tillman was fatally shot and killed by friendly fire in 2004. See also * Khost Province Khost (Pashto/Dari: ) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the southeastern part of the country. Khost consists of thirteen districts and the city of Khost serves as the capital of the province. To the east, Khost Province is bord ... References Populated places in Khost Province {{Khost-geo-stub ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Provinces Of Afghanistan
Afghanistan is divided into 34 provinces (, '' wilåyat''). The provinces of Afghanistan are the primary administrative divisions. Each province encompasses a number of districts or usually over 1,000 villages. Provincial governors played a critical role in the reconstruction of the Afghan state following the creation of the new government under Hamid Karzai. According to international security scholar Dipali Mukhopadhyay, many of the provincial governors of the western-backed government were former warlords who were incorporated into the political system. Provinces of Afghanistan Regions of Afghanistan UN Regions Former provinces of Afghanistan During Afghanistan's history it had a number of provinces in it. It started out as just Kabul, Herat, Qandahar, and Balkh but the number of provinces increased and by 1880 the provinces consisted of Balkh, Herat, Qandahar, Ghazni, Jalalabad, and Kabul. * Southern Province – dissolved in 1964 to create Paktia Provinc ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Khost Province
Khost (Pashto/Dari: ) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the southeastern part of the country. Khost consists of thirteen districts and the city of Khost serves as the capital of the province. To the east, Khost Province is bordered by North Waziristan and Kurram, which are districts in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Historically, Khost used to be a part of Paktia, and the larger region surrounding Khost is still referred to as Loya Paktia. Throughout history, the province has been the site of numerous rebellions, leading to the local Pashtun populace to consider themselves the “traditional king-makers in Kabul”. The province was previously known as the Southern Province, and was united with neighbouring Paktia. Khost is also home to numerous Universities, including Shaikh Zayed University, which is the only University in Afghanistan with a faculty in computer science. As of 2021, it was estimated that the population of the province stood at ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Spera District
Spera District is situated in the most southwestern part of Khost Province, Afghanistan. It borders with Paktia Province to the south and west, Shamal District to the north. The district is within the heartland of the Zadran tribe of Pashtuns. To the east it borders Nadir Shah Kot and Tani districts as well as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan. The population of Spera District is around 21,500 people. The district center is the village of Spera, situated in the central part of the district. History On 16 April 2022, Pakistani airstrikes targeted several villages in Spera District, including Afghan-Dubai, Pasa Mela, Mir Sapar, Mandata, and Kanai, and struck refugee camps belonging to internally displaced persons from Waziristan, killing at least 41 people, mainly women and children, and wounding 22 others. Spera was one of the districts most affected by the 2022 Afghanistan earthquake. Approximately 500 homes were destroyed, and 40 people were killed, with 95 others injured in th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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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]   |
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Zadran (Pashtun Tribe)
The Zadran ( ps, ځدراڼ ''dzadrāṇ''; pronounced ''dzādroṇ'' in the Khost-Paktia dialect), also spelled Dzadran or Jadran, is a Pashtun tribe that inhabits the Loya Paktia region in southeastern Afghanistan (Khost, Paktia, and Paktika provinces) and parts of Waziristan in neighboring Pakistan. "Zadran: Pashtun tribe mainly residing in the “Zadran Arc” a 9-district area encompassing portions of the Khost, Paktya, and Paktika provinces." The Zadran are a branch of the Karlani tribal confederacy. They are the largest Pashtun tribal group in Afghanistan's mountainous southeastern region, usually found in areas that are unsuitable for settled agricultural production. They have a reputation for militancy dating to the Soviet–Afghan War. Well-known Taliban fighter Jalaluddin Haqqani, who in later years headed the Haqqani network, is of the Zadran tribe himself, though he is recognized for ending the '' malik'' system by forcing Mohammad Omar Babrakzai to leave Paktia prov ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pashtuns
Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically referred to as Afghans () or xbc, αβγανο () until the 1970s, when the term's meaning officially evolved into that of a demonym for all residents of Afghanistan, including those outside of the Pashtun ethnicity. The group's native language is Pashto, an Iranian language in the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. Additionally, Dari Persian serves as the second language of Pashtuns in Afghanistan while those in the Indian subcontinent speak Urdu and Hindi (see Hindustani language) as their second language. Pashtuns are the 26th-largest ethnic group in the world, and the largest segmentary lineage society; there are an estimated 350–400 Pashtun tribes and clans with a variety of origin theories. The total popul ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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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]   |
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Smuggling
Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations. There are various motivations to smuggle. These include the participation in illegal trade, such as in the drug trade, illegal weapons trade, prostitution, human trafficking, kidnapping, exotic wildlife trade, art theft, heists, chop shops, illegal immigration or illegal emigration, tax evasion, import/export restrictions, providing contraband to prison inmates, or the theft of the items being smuggled. Smuggling is a common theme in literature, from Bizet's opera ''Carmen'' to the James Bond spy books (and later films) '' Diamonds Are Forever'' and '' Goldfinger''. Etymology The verb ''smuggle'', from Low German ''smuggeln'' or Dutch ''smokkelen'' (="to transport (goods) illegally"), apparently a frequentative formation of a word meaning "to sneak ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's Islam by country#Countries, second-largest Muslim population just behind Indonesia. Pakistan is the List of countries and dependencies by area, 33rd-largest country in the world by area and 2nd largest in South Asia, spanning . It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south, and is bordered by India to India–Pakistan border, the east, Afghanistan to Durand Line, the west, Iran to Iran–Pakistan border, the southwest, and China to China–Pakistan border, the northeast. It is separated narrowly from Tajikistan by Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor in the north, and also shares a maritime border with Oman. Islamabad is the nation's capital, while Karachi is its largest city and fina ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Taliban
The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, militant Islamism, Islamist, Jihadism, jihadist, and Pashtun nationalism, Pashtun nationalist political movement in Afghanistan. It ruled approximately three-quarters of the country Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (1996–2001), from 1996 to 2001, before being overthrown following the United States invasion of Afghanistan, United States invasion. It Fall of Kabul (2021), recaptured Kabul on 15 August 2021 after nearly 20 years of Taliban insurgency, insurgency, and currently controls all of the country, although its government has Recognition of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, not yet been recognized by any country. The Taliban government has been criticized for restricting human rights in Afghanistan, including the right of women in Afgh ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Al Qaeda
Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military targets in various countries, including the 1998 United States embassy bombings, the September 11 attacks, and the 2002 Bali bombings; it has been designated as a terrorist group by the United Nations Security Council, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the European Union, India, and various other countries. The organization was founded in 1988 by Osama bin Laden and other volunteers during the Soviet–Afghan War. Following the withdrawal of the Soviets in 1989, bin Laden offered '' mujahideen'' support to Saudi Arabia in the Gulf War in 1990–1991. His offer was rebuffed by the Saudi authorities, which instead sought the aid of the United States. The stationing of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia prompted bin Laden to subsequently wage '' jihad'' agai ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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United States Army Ranger
United States Army Rangers, according to the US Army's definition, are personnel, past or present, in any unit that has the official designation "Ranger". The term is commonly used to include graduates of the US Army Ranger School, even if they never served in a "Ranger" unit. The vast majority of Ranger school graduates never serve in Ranger units and are considered "Ranger qualified". In a broader and less formal sense, the term "ranger" has been used, officially and unofficially, in North America since the 17th century, to describe light infantry in small, independent units—usually companies. The first units to be officially designated Rangers were companies recruited in the colonies of New England by the colonial militia to fight in King Philip's War (1676). Following that time, the term became more common in official usage, during the French and Indian Wars of the 18th century. The US military has had "Ranger" companies since the American Revolution. British units lat ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |