Watapur District is situated in the central part of

Kunar Province Kunar (Pashto: ; Dari: ) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the northeastern part of the country. Its capital is Asadabad. Its population is estimated to be 508,224. Kunar's major political groups include Wahhabis or Ahl-e- Ha ...

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 was split from Asadabad district. The district is mountainous with 60 large and small villages. The population is around 60,000 (2022 est.). Degan, Safi, Ragakhel, Sharbekhel, Nanekhel, Doshakhel, Kohestani, Saidan are the few tribes living in this beautiful place. Watapur District has a high school located in south part of the district. The villages are located in the valleys or in the high mountains, with difficult or no road access to the center - Asadabad, and it takes one day to reach some of them. There was a medical clinic north of Qatar Kala, built by

ISAF ' ps, کمک او همکاري ' , allies = Afghanistan , opponents = Taliban Al-Qaeda , commander1 = , commander1_label = Commander , commander2 = , commander2_label = , commander3 = , command ...

, until it was destroyed by local militants. The district is bisected by the Pech (east-west) and Tregami (north-south) rivers. The district capital, the village of Watapur, lies near the junction of these two rivers. The Tregami valley is broad and agricultural in the south and narrow and mountainous in the north. Most of the inhabitants of the district 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 ...

. In the northern end of the Tregami valley are found three villages of

Nuristanis The Nuristanis, formerly known as Kafiristanis, are an ethnic group native to the Nuristan Province of northeastern Afghanistan and Chitral District of northwestern Pakistan. Their languages comprise the Nuristani branch of Indo-Iranian langua ...

who speak the unique Tregami Language. To the north of the district is the Waygal district of Nuristan Province, whose inhabitants speak the Nuristani Waygali (or Kalasha) Language. The village of Watapur was formerly inhabited by speakers of the Wotapuri Pech River Dardic (Indic) Language. The village of Qatar Kala, in the west of the district, still speaks a dialect of Watapori. Coalition forces completed the construction of the paved

Pech River The Pech River ( ps, پېچ سيند) is located in eastern Afghanistan. Course The Pech River system is fed from glaciers and snow from the Hindu Kush range to its north. The river rises in central Nuristan Province and flows south and southe ...

road through the district in 2008. The road runs along the north bank of the Pech River.

Rasul Amin Rasul Amin ( ps, رسول امين ; 10 May 1939 – 31 October 2009) was an Afghan politician, lexicographer, academic, writer, and former education minister, who resettled in Melbourne, Australia, in the 2000s. Early life and academic life R ...

son of Mohammad Amin who was the Minister of Education of

Afghan Interim Administration The Afghan Interim Administration (AIA), also known as the Afghan Interim Authority, was the first administration of Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban regime and was the highest authority of the country from 22 December 2001 until 13 July ...

in 2001–2002, belongs to this district. The majority of the educated population of this district lives now in

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

, Australia,

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, and

The Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. The Coalition base Combat Outpost Honaker-Miracle is located in the district next to the district center. This base was constructed on land that was seized by the U.S. military without compensation. In 2012, the book "Siren's Song: The Allure of War" by Antonio Salinas was published. The book depicts the experience of an American Platoon operating in the Pech river valley. The platoon was based at COP Honaker Miracle.

References

District Profile

External links

Districts of Kunar Province {{Kunar-geo-stub

See also

References

External links