Markaz-i Bihsūd District ( fa, ولسوالی مرکز بهسود) is one of the

districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

Maidan Wardak Province Maidan Wardak (Pashto: ; Dari: ), also called Wardag or Wardak, is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the central region of Afghanistan. It is divided into eight districts and has a population of approximately 500,00 The capital ...

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 ...

. It is located less than an hour-drive west of

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. Acco ...

and south

Bamyan Bamyan or Bamyan Valley (); ( prs, بامیان) also spelled Bamiyan or Bamian is the capital of Bamyan Province in central Afghanistan. Its population of approximately 70,000 people makes it the largest city in Hazarajat. Bamyan is at an alti ...

. The main town in the district is Behsud. The district has an estimated population of 134,852 people, majority of which are ethnic

Hazaras The Hazaras ( fa, , Həzārə; haz, , Āzərə) are an ethnic group and the principal component of the population of Afghanistan, native to, and primarily residing in the Hazaristan (Hazarajat) region in central Afghanistan and generally scatt ...

. The Markazi Behsud is the largest district of Maidan Wardak Province with a number of villages. Most residents of the district are farmers and involved in

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

. The chief of the district is Abdul Rahman Tawfiq. The Hesa Awal Behsood District sits to the northeast of this district. Both are strongholds of Hazara militia forces who have engaged in

guerrilla warfare Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or Irregular military, irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, Raid (military), raids ...

with the

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, m ...

and the

Afghan National Security Forces The Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), also known as the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF), were the military and internal security forces of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Structure The Afghan National Security Forc ...

(ANSF). One of these groups is led by Abdul Ghani Alipur (also known as Commander Shamshir), who was a fugitive of the former Afghan government; his followers used a

rocket-propelled grenade A rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) is a shoulder-fired missile weapon that launches rockets equipped with an explosive warhead. Most RPGs can be carried by an individual soldier, and are frequently used as anti-tank weapons. These warheads are a ...

to shoot down an

Mil Mi-17 The Mil Mi-17 ( NATO reporting name: Hip) is a Soviet-designed Russian military helicopter family introduced in 1975 (Mi-8M), continuing in production at two factories, in Kazan and Ulan-Ude. It is known as the Mi-8M series in Russian servic ...

of the

Afghan Air Force The Air Force of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, also referred to as the Islamic Emirate Air Force and the Afghan Air Force, is the air force branch of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. The Royal Afghan Air Force was e ...

on March 18, 2021, which was transporting several members of the

Afghan National Police The Afghan National Police (ANP; ps, د افغانستان ملي پولیس; prs, پلیس ملی افغانستان), is the national police force of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, serving as a single law enforcement agency all across ...

. All nine ANSF members in the Mi-17 helicopter were killed, including the Afghan pilots. Alipar's militia has continued battling the Taliban after it seized power in August 2021. sporadic clashes were taking place between the militia and the Taliban.

References

External links

* Map showin
Markazi Bihsud District
Hazarajat Districts of Maidan Wardak Province {{Wardak-geo-stub

See also

References

External links