Mihtarlam District is located in the center of

Laghman Province Laghman (Dari: ) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the eastern part of the country. It has a population of about 502,148, which is multi-ethnic and mostly a rural society. Laghman hosts a large number of historical landmarks, m ...

and consists of the urban centre and provincial capital

Mihtarlam Mihtarlam ( fa, مهترلام, ps, مهترلام), also spelled Mehtar Lam, is the sixteenth-largest city of Afghanistan. It is the capital of Laghman Province and center of Mihtarlam District. It is the only large urban settlement in the pro ...

and 24 major villages and 269 sub-villages.

Etymology

Mihtarlam derives its name from Mihtarlam Baba ( Lamech), who was reputed to be the father of the prophet

Noah Noah ''Nukh''; am, ኖህ, ''Noḥ''; ar, نُوح '; grc, Νῶε ''Nôe'' () is the tenth and last of the pre-Flood patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5– ...

Geography

It borders with

Kabul Province Kabul (Persian: ), situated in the east of the country, is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. The capital of the province is Kabul city, which is also Afghanistan's capital and largest city. The population of the Kabul Province is ...

to the west, Alishing and Alingar districts to the north and

Qarghayi District Qarghayi District (Persian: ولسوالی قرغه‌ای) has 60 villages. It is the largest district in Laghman Province, and is located 30 km from the provincial centre of Mihtarlam. It borders Mihtarlam District to the north, Alingar Di ...

to the east and south.

Demographics

The district's population is 121,200 (as of 2006) - 60%

Pashtun 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 re ...

, 35%

Tajik Tajik, Tadjik, Tadzhik or Tajikistani may refer to: * Someone or something related to Tajikistan * Tajiks, an ethnic group in Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan * Tajik language, the official language of Tajikistan * Tajik (surname) * Tajik cu ...

and 5% Pashai. The city of Mehterlam has a population of 32,949. It has 10 districts and a total land area of 1,397 hectares. The total number of dwellings in this city is 3,661.

Land use

The Alishang river pours into

Alingar River The Alingar River (also Alingâr) is a river in Laghman Province of eastern Afghanistan. It is one of the major tributaries of the Kabul River, part of the Indus River basin. It has two sources, the Ramgel and Kulem rivers. It gives its name t ...

just south of the district center, and the lands around them are irrigated. Agriculture is the main source of income. Many young men search for work in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

and

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 24 ...

. About 59% of the houses were partially or fully destroyed during the wars. Many people fled, but now they are returning.

is located in eastern Afghanistan 40 km from

Jalalabad Jalalabad (; Dari/ ps, جلال‌آباد, ) is the fifth-largest city of Afghanistan. It has a population of about 356,274, and serves as the capital of Nangarhar Province in the eastern part of the country, about from the capital Kabul. Jala ...

and between two rivers:

Alishang Alishang is a village, river and a fertile valley of Laghman Province, and also the district headquarters of Mihtarlam District, in eastern Afghanistan. It lies about 40 km northwest of Jalalabad. The fertile Alishang valley drained by the ...

and Alingar. It is almost equally divided between built-up land (51%) and non built-up land (49%). Residential land is largely clustered in Districts 1–3. District 1 is also home to a large commercial and institutional area (50 ha).

References

External links

AIMS district map2003 AIMS district profile
Districts of Laghman Province {{Laghman-geo-stub