Garmsir District (or Garmser; ps, ګرمسير; from Persian گرمسیر, meaning "hot place") is located in the southern part of

Helmand Province Helmand (Pashto/Dari: ; ), also known as Hillmand, in ancient times, as Hermand and Hethumand, is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan Afghanistan is divided into 34 provinces (, '' wilåyat''). The provinces of Afghanistan are the primar ...

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 ...

. The district is large, but all the villages are along the

Helmand River The Helmand River (also spelled Helmend, or Helmund, Hirmand; Pashto/Persian: ; Greek: ' (''Etýmandros''); Latin: ') is the longest river in Afghanistan and the primary watershed for the endorheic Sistan Basin. It emerges in the Sanglakh ...

. The rest is a desert. The district capital,

Garmsir Garmsir ( ps, ګرمسير; from Persian گرمسیر, meaning "hot place") is the center of Garmsir District in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. It is situated on the eastern bank of the Helmand River on at 714 m altitude and 63 km southwest ...

, is located in the northwestern part of the district on the east bank of Helmand River.

History

Garsmir was controlled by the

Safavid dynasty The Safavid dynasty (; fa, دودمان صفوی, Dudmâne Safavi, ) was one of Iran's most significant ruling dynasties reigning from 1501 to 1736. Their rule is often considered the beginning of modern Iranian history, as well as one of th ...

of Iran in the 17th century, under the name Tor Agha. In 1747,

Ahmad Shah Durrani Ahmad Shāh Durrānī ( ps, احمد شاه دراني; prs, احمد شاه درانی), also known as Ahmad Shāh Abdālī (), was the founder of the Durrani Empire and is regarded as the founder of the modern Afghanistan. In July 1747, Ahm ...

conquered it and changed the name to Garmsir, which means "hot place" in Persian. Ahmad Shah sent Pashtun settlers from the Alizai and

Nurzai Nurzai also spelled as ''Noorzai'' ( ps, نورزئی) (meaning ''son of the light'') is the name of a Pashtun tribe, part of the Panjpai section of Durrani Tareen Pashtuns. The word "''nūr''" derives from the Arabic word for ''the light''. Whi ...

tribes to occupy and farm the land. Between the 1950s and 1970s, Garmsir was transformed by the work of the

Helmand and Arghandab Valley Authority The Helmand and Arghandab Valley Authority (HAVA) based in Lashkar Gah, Afghanistan, originally named the Helmand Valley Authority (HVA) until its expansion in 1965,Zahir Shah Mohammed Zahir Shah (Pashto/Dari: , 15 October 1914 – 23 July 2007) was the last king of Afghanistan, reigning from 8 November 1933 until he was deposed on 17 July 1973. Serving for 40 years, Zahir was the longest-serving ruler of Afghanistan s ...

and his successor

Mohammed Daoud Mohammed Daoud (also Muḥammad Dāwūd) (1901-1984) was a Moroccan writer and historian. He was a major nationalist in northern Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region ...

sent 25,000 immigrants to Garmsir to occupy the newly irrigated land. US Marines in Garmsir Marketplace

Garmsir was contested throughout the

Soviet–Afghan War The Soviet–Afghan War was a protracted armed conflict fought in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989. It saw extensive fighting between the Soviet Union and the Afghan mujahideen (alongside smaller groups of anti-Soviet ...

, with

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 th ...

controlling the majority of the district and communist forces holding the district center. The mujahideen captured the district center in August 1988 and expelled the communists. Following the mujahideen victory, violence broke out between Alizai and Noorzai tribal leaders over who would rule the district. The fighting ended with an Alizai victory in September 1989, when

Nasim Akhundzada Mullah Mohammad Nasim Akhundzada (died 1990) was a mujahideen commander and Pashtun warlord who operated in Helmand Province, Afghanistan during the 1980s. Based out of Musa Qala in northern Helmand, Nasim was from the Alizai tribe. He issued a fa ...

brought 600 fighters from Musa Qala to reinforce the Alizai. Approximately 300 people were killed during the year-long conflict. The Alizai chose a

Barakzai Bārakzai ( ps, بارکزی, ''Bārakzay;'' plur. ps, بارکزي, ''Bārakzī'') is the name of a Pashtun tribe from present-day, Kandahar, Afghanistan. '"Barakzai" is a common name among the Pashtuns and it means "son of Barak" in Pashto. A ...

man named Abdullah Jan to serve as district governor. In early 1995, 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 ...

conquered Garmsir, along with the rest of Helmand. They ruled until 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 operatio ...

in 2001. During the

War in Afghanistan (2001–present) War in Afghanistan, Afghan war, or Afghan civil war may refer to: *Conquest of Afghanistan by Alexander the Great (330 BC – 327 BC) *Muslim conquests of Afghanistan (637–709) *Conquest of Afghanistan by the Mongol Empire (13th century), see als ...

, the

Battle of Garmsir The Battle of Garmsir (also Garmser) was a battle between U.S. Marines and other ISAF coalition forces, and Taliban insurgents in Garmsir, southern Afghanistan. It was part of the ongoing Helmand Province campaign and took place primarily betwe ...

took place in the district from 2007 to 2011. The district contained ISAF installations including

Forward Operating Base Delhi Forward Operating Base Delhi in Afghanistan was a military expeditionary base occupied by the United States Marine Corps. It was along the Helmand River Valley in Garmsir at an abandoned Agricultural College building. History The base was origin ...

and

Camp Dwyer Camp Dwyer was a military camp formerly of the United States Marine Corps located within the Helmand River Valley southwest of Garmsir in Garmsir District, Helmand Province, Afghanistan. History The base was originally a forward operating base ho ...

Geography

The district consists largely of desert terrain, except for a narrow irrigated strip 10 kilometers wide and 70 kilometers long in the valley of the

. Almost all of the population lives in the irrigated area. The four main communities are Hazar Joft, Darveshan, Laki, and Safar.

Demographics

The population is 85,500 - 99% of them

Pashtun 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 ...

and 1% Balouch.

Economy

The district is poor. Main sources of income include daily wages (labors, working in fruit markets, and selling home products, driving, shop keeping etc.) and agriculture. Agriculture is the main source of income and most of the arable land is irrigated.

References

External links

District Profile
UNHCR, December 2002
Map of Settlements
AIMS, May 2002 Districts of Helmand Province