Chārdara District (; also known as Chahar Dara, Chahar Darreh or Char Darreh) is one of the seven districts in Kunduz Province in northern

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 situated in the south-west part of Kunduz Province and has borders with Qalay-I-Zal District to the north-west,

Kunduz District Kunduz District () is situated in the center of Kunduz Province in Northern Afghanistan, around the provincial capital - the city of Kunduz. It borders Chahar dara District to the west, Qalay-I-Zal and Imam Sahib districts to the north, Archi an ...

to the north-east,

Ali Abad District The Ali abad District () is situated in the southern part of Kunduz Province, Afghanistan. It borders the Baghlan Province to the south, Chahar dara District to the west, Kunduz and Khan Abad districts to the north and Takhar Province to the eas ...

to the south-east, Baghlan Province to the south and

Samangan Province Samangan (Dari: ; Pashto: ) is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located north of the Hindu Kush mountains in the central part of the country. The province covers and is surrounded by Sar-e Pol Province in the west, Balkh in the ...

to the south-west.

Population

Most of this population lives in villages or farms in the north-west portion of the district along the south-west bank of the Kunduz River. This land is cultivated and accounts for approximately 15% of the area of the Chardara District. The remaining land in the district to the south-west comprises desert highlands that are mostly uninhabitable.

Geography

The Kunduz River valley is the dominant terrain feature in Kunduz Province, and the river forms a natural north-eastern boundary between Chardara District and

. The river, along with a major tributary and derivative canals provide irrigation to the single crop cultivation fields that dominate land usage in the north-eastern portion of Chardara District. The district also has some dual crop fields.

War in Afghanistan (2001–present)

When the Taliban were ousted from the Kunduz Province in 2001, parts of the Chardara District were badly damaged. The district remained relatively peaceful until 2008, when

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 ...

and Al-Qaeda-linked insurgents, including

Uzbeks The Uzbeks ( uz, , , , ) are a Turkic ethnic group native to the wider Central Asian region, being among the largest Turkic ethnic group in the area. They comprise the majority population of Uzbekistan, next to Kazakh and Karakalpak mino ...

and

Chechens The Chechens (; ce, Нохчий, , Old Chechen: Нахчой, ''Naxçoy''), historically also known as ''Kisti'' and ''Durdzuks'', are a Northeast Caucasian ethnic group of the Nakh peoples native to the North Caucasus in Eastern Europe. "Eu ...

, began reappearing in the northern part of the country. In Kunduz Province, they established their main foothold in Chardara District and are able to operate openly for the most part. Beginning in April 2009,

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

and

Afghan Afghan may refer to: *Something of or related to Afghanistan, a country in Southern-Central Asia *Afghans, people or citizens of Afghanistan, typically of any ethnicity ** Afghan (ethnonym), the historic term applied strictly to people of the Pas ...

troops based in

Kunduz , native_name_lang = prs , other_name = , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = Kunduz River valley.jpg , imagesize = 300 , image_alt = , image_caption = , image_ ...

made several attempts to combat the rising presence of militants in the Chardara District. In July 2009, German soldiers launched their biggest military operation since

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, to displace the militants from the district. Their operations were largely viewed as unsuccessful as the militants were not ousted from Chardara. In September 2009, at least 70 people were killed near Haji Aman in Chardara District when

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

aircraft struck two oil-tankers hijacked by Taliban insurgents. On 17 November 2009 it was reported that 4 security guards were killed in a battle with militants as they attacked Sediqi Construction Company. 1 Militant was also killed. On 10 February 2011, a suicide bomber killed a district governor and six other people in the district of Chardara, where the insurgency is well entrenched. In 2015, Chardara has been the site of heavy fighting. On 31 May 2016, the 20 remaining hostages from the

Kunduz-Takhar highway hostage crisis On May 31, 2016, Taliban insurgents posing as government officials kidnapped around 220 civilians at a fake checkpoint along the Kunduz-Takhar highway near Arzaq Angor Bagh in Kunduz province, Afghanistan, on the outskirts of the city of Kundu ...

, where the

held around 220 hostages (at least 23 had already been killed) were transported to the village of Omarkhel. As of September 25 2016, the district is controlled by the

References

External links

AIMS District MapUNHCR District Profile
{{Authority control Districts of Kunduz Province