Gardez ( ps, ګردېز ولسوالۍ) is a district in

Paktia Province Paktia (Pashto/Dari: – ''Paktyā'') is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the east of the country. Forming part of the larger Loya Paktia region, Paktia Province is divided into 15 districts and has a population of roughly 6 ...

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 ...

.Gardez District Development Plan - MRRD
The center of the district which is also the capital of Paktia Province is

Gardez , settlement_type =City , image_skyline =gardez_paktya.jpg , imagesize = , image_caption =The Bala Hesar fortress in the center of Gardez City , image_flag = , flag_size = , image_sea ...

Demographics & population

Like in the rest of Afghanistan, no exact population numbers are available. The Afghan Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation & Development (MRRD) along with UNHCR and Central Statistics Office (CSO) of Afghanistan estimated the population of the district to be around 86,609 (CSO 2004). According to the same sources,

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 ...

make up 70% of the total population followed by 30%

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 Tajik ...

Notable people

Abu Sa'id Gardezi Abū Saʿīd ʿAbd-al-Ḥayy ibn Żaḥḥāk b. Maḥmūd Gardīzī ( fa, ابوسعید عبدالحی بن ضحاک بن محمود گردیزی), better known as Gardizi (), was an 11th-century Persian historian and official, who is notable for ...

, 11th-century geographer and historian *

Shah Gardez Shah Yousuf Gardez was an Islamic Sufi saint who came to Multan, (present-day Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab, Pakistan) in 1088 AD. He is said to have restored the city of Multan, converted many people to the Islamic religion, and performed numerous mir ...

, 11th-century Sufi saint who established himself in Multan, India (now in Pakistan) *

Mohammad Najibullah Mohammad Najibullah Ahmadzai (Pashto/ prs, محمد نجیب‌الله احمدزی, ; 6 August 1947 – 27 September 1996), commonly known as Dr. Najib, was an Afghan politician who served as the General Secretary of the People's Democratic Par ...

, President of Afghanistan from 1987 to 1992 *

Khalaf ibn Ahmad Abu Ahmad Wali 'l-Dawla Khalaf ibn Ahmad (November 937 – March 1009) was the Saffarid amir of Sistan from 963 until 1002. Although he was renowned in the eastern Islamic world as a scholar, his reign was characterized by violence and instabilit ...

, the last Saffarid Emir who died in Gardez in 1009 where he had been sent after the Ghaznavid conquest *

Zabiullah Mujahid Zabihullah Mujahid ( ps, ; ''Ẕabīḥullāh Mujāhid'' ; also spelled Dhabih Allah Mujahid) is an Afghan official Central spokesman for the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan since 25 October 2021 and Deputy Ministry of Information and Culture si ...

, Spokesman of the Taliban

References

Districts of Paktia Province {{Paktia-geo-stub