Sharana ( ps, ښرنه) or Sharan ( fa, شاران) is the capital of

Paktika Province Paktika (Pashto/Dari: ) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the eastern part of the country. Forming part of the larger Loya Paktia region, Paktika has a population of about 789,000, mostly ethnic Pashtuns. The town of Sharana ...

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 at an altitude of 2,200 meters. Its population was estimated to be 2,200 in 2006. The city of Sharana has a population of 15,651 (in 2015) and is located within the heartland of the

Sulaimankhel The Sulaimankhel ( ps, سليمان خېل), or Suleiman Khel, are a Pashtun sub-tribe of the Ghilji tribe of Bettani confederation of Pashtuns, Mostly Nomadic People. In the early 20th century, the tribe was recognised as generally pastoral. ...

tribe of

Ghilji The Ghiljī ( ps, غلجي, ; fa, خیلجی, Xelji) also spelled Khilji, Khalji, or Ghilzai or Ghilzay (), are one of the largest Pashtun tribes. Their traditional homeland is Ghazni and Qalati Ghilji in Afghanistan but they have also settle ...

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 re ...

. It has 6 districts and a total land area of 5,893 hectares. The total number of dwellings in this city are 1,739. On 14 August 2021, Sharana was seized by

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 ...

fighters, becoming the twentieth 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 ...

Climate

With an influence from the local steppe climate, Sharana features a

cold semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi-ar ...

(''BSk'') under the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

. The average temperature in Sharana is 10.8 °C, while the annual precipitation averages 265 mm. September is the driest month with 1 mm of rainfall, while March, the wettest month, has an average precipitation of 54 mm. July is the warmest month of the year with an average temperature of 23.6 °C. The coldest month January has an average temperature of -4.5 °C, with the average lows at -10.9 °C.

Land use

Barren land and agriculture account for 73% of total land. Sharana has the largest share of land classified as institutional (14%) of any Afghan provincial capital.

References

Populated places in Paktika Province Provincial capitals in Afghanistan {{Paktika-geo-stub

Climate

Land use

See also

References