Maidan Shar ( ps, میدانښار, Maidānkhār; fa, میدانشار, Maidānshār), also Maidan Shahr or simply Maidan, is the capital of Maidan Wardak province in central

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 border ...

. Its population was estimated to be 35,008 in 2003, of which are

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 r ...

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 ...

and

Tajiks Tajiks ( fa, تاجيک، تاجک, ''Tājīk, Tājek''; tg, Тоҷик) are a Persian-speaking Iranian ethnic group native to Central Asia, living primarily in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Tajiks are the largest ethnicity in Taji ...

. On 15 August 2021, Maidan Shar was seized by

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 ...

fighters, becoming the twenty-seventh provincial capital to be captured by the Taliban as part of the wider

2021 Taliban offensive A military offensive by the Taliban insurgent group and other allied militants led to the fall of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan based in Kabul and marked the end of the nearly 20-year-old War in Afghanistan, that had begun following the ...

Description

The city of Maidan Shar has a population of 14,265. It has 4 districts and a total land area of 3,347 hectares. The total number of dwellings in Maidan Shar is 1,585. Zarifa Ghafari became the mayor in 2019, she is one of the few Afghan female mayors, and the youngest to be appointed at the age of 26. She has won awards for her efforts in empowering women's rights in Afghanistan.

Climate

Maidan Shar features a

warm-summer humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezin ...

(''Dsb'') under the Köppen climate classification. It has warm, dry summers and cold, snowy winters. The average temperature in Maidan Shar is 7.6 °C, while the annual precipitation averages 558 mm. July is the warmest month of the year, with an average temperature of 20.8 °C. The coldest month, January, has an average temperature of -7.4 °C.

Land use

Maidan Shar is an urban village located 40 km west of Kabul. The majority of the land is not occupied or utilized with barren land and vacant plots combining for 81% of total land use. Institutional land is the second largest built-up land use (22%). Residential dwellings are concentrated in Districts 1 and 2.

Geography

Maidan Shar is located in the north eastern part of Wardak Province. It is surrounded by the Arghandeh and

Paghman Paghman ( Persian/Pashto: پغمان) is a town in the hills near Afghanistan's capital of Kabul. It is the seat of the Paghman District (in the western part of Kabul Province) which has a population of about 120,000 (2002 official UNHCR est.), ...

mountains of

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 ...

and the Jalrez and Nirkh districts of Wardak Province. It has an area of 345 km². Its elevation above sea level is 2,225 meters. The district consists of 59 main villages and 1 sub-village.

Economy

The majority of people in Maidan Shar are engaged in agriculture, livestock, gardening and trade. The overall economical status of the people of Maidan Shar is poor.

Education

By the end of 2008, there were a total of 14 schools serving approximately 9,268 students. There were around 275 teachers teaching in these schools.http://www.mwardag.gov.af/media/Maidan%20Wardak%20Province%20Three%20years%20Report(English).pdf

Notable people

Hanif Baktash Hanif Baktash PhD (Pashto language, Pashto: ډاکټر حنیف بکتا ش ) is considered as one of the Pashto language, Pashto language's leading contemporary poets and writers. Life and education Mohamad Hanif Baktash, an ethnic Pashtun of t ...

, poet and writer * Zarifa Ghafari, mayor

References

{{Wardak Province Populated places in Maidan Wardak Province Provincial capitals in Afghanistan