Kalafgan District is a district of

Takhar Province Takhar (Dari , Farsi/Pashto: ) is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located in the northeast of the country next to Tajikistan. It is surrounded by Badakhshan in the east, Panjshir in the south, and Baghlan and Kunduz in the w ...

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 bordere ...

. The district is well governed, with self-governance in parts of Kalafgan because of how remote they are. 42 villages are located in the district. In 2017, Kalafgan was considered to be under full control by the

Afghan Government The government of Afghanistan, officially called the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is the central government of Afghanistan, a unitary state. Under the leadership of the Taliban, the government is a theocracy and an emirate with political powe ...

. However, the

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalist, militant Islamist, jihadist, and Pasht ...

had taken full control by August 2021.

Geography

Kalafgan has an area of 479 square kilometers, comparatively equivalent to the area of

Cape Barren Island Cape Barren Island, officially truwana / Cape Barren Island, is a island in the Bass Strait, off the north east coast of Tasmania, Australia. It is the second largest island of the Furneaux Group; Flinders Island lies to the north, with th ...

. The district has access to a good road, as it lies along the highway linking the provincial capitals of

Taloqan Taloqan ( Persian, also transcribed Taleqan or Taluqan) is the capital of Takhar Province, in northeastern Afghanistan. It is located in the Taluqan District. The population was estimated as 196,400 in 2006. In 2021, the Taliban gained contro ...

and

Fayzabad, Badakhshan Fayzabad (also spelled Feyzabad or Faizabad) ( fa, فيض آباد, Fayzâbâd) is a city in northeastern Afghanistan, with a population of around 39,555 people. It serves as the provincial capital and largest city of Badakhshan Province. It is ...

. There are two rivers flowing through Kalafgan— one that flows from the southeast to the northwest that eventually joins the

Kokcha River The Kokcha River ( fa, رودخانه کوکچه) is located in northeastern Afghanistan. A tributary of the Panj river, it flows through Badakhshan Province in the Hindu Kush. It is named after the Koksha Valley. The city of Feyzabad lies alo ...

, and a smaller river that flows through the southeast portion of the district that flows to the

Khanabad River The Khānabād River ( ps, د خان اباد سیند; fa, رود خان‌آباد) flows in the provinces of Takhar and Kunduz in northern Afghanistan. The Khanabad River is a tributary of the Kunduz River, which is in turn a tributary of the ...

. Kalafgan is bordered by four other districts: Rustaq District to the north, Kishim District to the east,

Farkhar District Farkhar District is a district in Takhar Province of Afghanistan. It is located southeast of Taloqan. The Khanabad River flows inside this valley. Around 99% of the people in Farkhar speak Dari. Farkhar has about 50,000 people and 75 villages. ...

to the south, and

Taluqan District Taluqan, ( prs, تالقان), is a district of Takhar Province, in northeastern Afghanistan. The city has a total population of 258,219 (2015) and has 6 Police districts (nahias). The total land area of the city is 10,744 Hectares while there a ...

to the west. Kishim is located in

Badakhshan Province Badakhshan Province (Persian/ Uzbek: , ''Badaxšān'') is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bordered by Tajikistan's Gorno-Badakhshan in the north and the Pakistani regions of Lower ...

, with all other districts being located in Takhar Province. The Kokcha River forms the border between Rustaq and Kalafgan.

History

The district was created as part of the first 325 district set in 1973, and was controlled by Mujahideen soon after the start of the

Soviet–Afghan War The Soviet–Afghan War was a protracted armed conflict fought in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989. It saw extensive fighting between the Soviet Union and the Afghan mujahideen (alongside smaller groups of anti-Sovie ...

. Kalafgan was initially controlled by

Jamiat-e Islami Jamayat-E-Islami (also rendered as Jamiat-e-Islami and Jamiati Islami; fa, جمعیت اسلامی افغانستان, lit=Islamic Society), sometimes shortened to Jamiat, is a predominantly Tajik political party in Afghanistan. It was origi ...

but switched to Junbesh-i Melli during the 1990s. During the Afghan Civil War (1996–2001), only one village was controlled by the

briefly in 2001. The Taliban had not been a strong presence in the (formerly) relatively peaceful district, with only two incidents from 2018 to May 2020. However, the district was taken by the

by August 2021.

Demographics

Kalafgan has a population of 39171, with a sex ratio of 101 males for every 100 females. Most of the district is made up of

Uzbeks The Uzbeks ( uz, , , , ) are a Turkic ethnic group native to the wider Central Asian region, being among the largest Turkic ethnic group in the area. They comprise the majority population of Uzbekistan, next to Kazakh and Karakalpak mino ...

. The median age is 15.3, with about 50% of the population employed. There are about 5760 households in Kalafgan, with an average size of 6.8 people.

References

{{Authority control Districts of Takhar Province