Taloqan ( Persian, also transcribed Taleqan or Taluqan) is the capital 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 ...

, in northeastern

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 borde ...

. It is located in the

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 ...

. The population was estimated as 196,400 in 2006. In 2021, 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 ...

gained control of the province during the

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 ...

History

The old city to the west on the riverside was described by

Marco Polo Marco Polo (, , ; 8 January 1324) was a Venetian merchant, explorer and writer who travelled through Asia along the Silk Road between 1271 and 1295. His travels are recorded in '' The Travels of Marco Polo'' (also known as ''Book of the Marv ...

in 1275 CE as: :"a castle called Taikhan, where there is a great corn-market, and the country round is fine and fruitful. The hills that lie to the south of it are large and lofty. They all consist of white salt, extremely hard, with which the people for a distance of thirty days' journey round, come to provide themselves, for it is esteemed the purest that is found in the world. It is so hard, that it can be broken only with great iron hammers. The quantity is so great that all the countries of the earth might be supplied from thence." In 1603, Taloqan ("Talhan") was visited by another European explorer,

Bento de Góis Bento de Góis (1562 – 11 April 1607), was a Portuguese Jesuit missionary and explorer. His name is commonly given in English as Bento de Goes"Bento de Goes", in: or Bento de Goës;Gallagher (trans.) (1953), pp. 499–500. in the past, it has ...

, who was traveling with a caravan from

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 #Districts, 22 municipal dist ...

Yarkand Yarkant County,, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency also Shache County,, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency also transliterated from Uyghur as Yakan County, is a county in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous ...

(then the capital of

Kashgar Kashgar ( ug, قەشقەر, Qeshqer) or Kashi ( zh, c=喀什) is an oasis city in the Tarim Basin region of Southern Xinjiang. It is one of the westernmost cities of China, near the border with Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Pakistan. ...

ia).

Recent history

The

mujahideen ''Mujahideen'', or ''Mujahidin'' ( ar, مُجَاهِدِين, mujāhidīn), is the plural form of ''mujahid'' ( ar, مجاهد, mujāhid, strugglers or strivers or justice, right conduct, Godly rule, etc. doers of jihād), an Arabic term t ...

headquarters of

Ahmad Shah Massoud ) , branch = Jamiat-e Islami / Shura-e Nazar Afghan Armed Forces United Islamic Front , serviceyears = 1975–2001 , rank = General , unit = , commands = Mujahideen commander during the Soviet–Afghan War ...

were located in Taloqan during his campaign against the

Soviet Army uk, Радянська армія , image = File:Communist star with golden border and red rims.svg , alt = , caption = Emblem of the Soviet Army , start_date ...

and the

. Taloqan was the last major city to fall to the

, on 5 September 2000, after a siege which claimed the lives of hundreds of civilians. A bloody capture by the Taliban also triggered a mass exodus in the population, with civilians fleeing towards

Imam Sahib Imām Ṣāhib (Pashto/ fa, امام صاحب) is a town in the Kunduz Province of Afghanistan, center of the Imam Sahib District. It is sometimes called Khwaja or Hazrat.National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. Geonames database entry.search Ac ...

and the

Panjshir Valley The Panjshir Valley (also spelled Panjsher or Darah-I-Panjshir; Pashto/Dari: – ''Dare-ye Panjšēr''; literally ''Valley of the Five Lions'') is a valley in northeastern Afghanistan, north of Kabul, near the Hindu Kush mountain range. It is di ...

. Northern Alliance soldiers managed to stop the Taliban advance to the north and to the east of the city, but weren't able to retake it. Taloqan was liberated in November 2001 by Northern Alliance soldiers following the

United States invasion of Afghanistan In late 2001, the United States and its close allies invaded Afghanistan and toppled the Taliban government. The invasion's aims were to dismantle al-Qaeda, which had executed the September 11 attacks, and to deny it a safe base of operati ...

. The city was attacked during the

(which coincided with the withdrawal of United States troops). On May 2, 2021, PiramQul Ziayi, the most influential anti-Taliban figure in Takhar, was assassinated in Rustaq distric

Following the fall of several districts of Takhar to the Taliba

on June 20, 2021, a group of Takhar elders Including Mohibullah Noori one of Takhar elders and Ashraf Ani a member of Parliament announced at a press conference in Kabul that they will send a group to mobilize people resistant in support of security forces in Takhar. Mohibullah Noori led the group entered the Taloqan City on June 26, 2021 and united the Takhar commanders to resist against Taliba

The Taliban tried to take the city in July 2021, however the attack was repulsed. later During Taliban offensive Haji Agha Gol Qatghani was killed and Khair Mohammad Teymour injured and all forces, including provincial officials, retreated to the Versaj district. Taloqan was captured by the Taliban on 8 August 2021.

Taloqan in Islamic sources

The testament of the Islamic prophet

Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mon ...

indicates that the city will play a major role regarding the

Mahdi The Mahdi ( ar, ٱلْمَهْدِيّ, al-Mahdī, lit=the Guided) is a messianic figure in Islamic eschatology who is believed to appear at the end of times to rid the world of evil and injustice. He is said to be a descendant of Muhammad w ...

. A narration by chain, Imam Baqir states: "Allah Almighty has a treasure in Talaqan which is of neither gold nor silver, but consists of twelve thousand (people), having “Ahmad, Ahmad” for their slogan. They will be led by a young Hashemite man riding a gray mule and wearing a red headband. It is as if I can see him crossing the Euphrates. Should you hear of his coming, rush to him even if you have to crawl over the snow. Another narration states: "Talaqan is a place of treasures of Allah. These treasures are not of gold and silver, but consist of people who have recognised Allah as they should have."Al-Muttaqi al-Hindi, al-Burhan fee Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir az-Zaman, p. 59)

Climate

Taloqan has a

Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in 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, nota ...

''Csa''). In winter there is more rainfall than in summer. The average annual temperature in Taloqan is . About of precipitation falls annually.

References

External links