, native_name_lang = prs , other_name = , settlement_type =

City A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

, image_skyline = Kunduz River valley.jpg , imagesize = 300 , image_alt = , image_caption = , image_flag = , flag_size = , flag_alt = , flag_border = , flag_link = , image_seal = , seal_size = , seal_alt = , seal_link = , seal_type = , image_shield = , shield_size = , shield_alt = , shield_link = , image_blank_emblem = , blank_emblem_type = , blank_emblem_size = , blank_emblem_alt = , blank_emblem_link = , etymology = , nickname = , nicknames = , motto = , mottoes = , anthem = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_alt = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Afghanistan#Bactria#West Asia , pushpin_mapsize = 300 , pushpin_map_alt = , pushpin_map_caption = Location in Afghanistan , pushpin_map_caption_notsmall = , pushpin_label_position = above , pushpin_outside = , pushpin_relief = yes , pushpin_image = , pushpin_overlay = , coordinates = , coor_pinpoint = , coordinates_footnotes = , grid_name = , grid_position = , subdivision_type =

Country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, whi ...

, subdivision_name =

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 ...

, subdivision_type1 =

Province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions out ...

, subdivision_name1 =

Kunduz Province Qunduz (Dari: ) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the northern part of the country next to Tajikistan. The population of the province is around 1,136,677, which is mostly a tribal society; it is one of Afghanistan's most ethni ...

, subdivision_type2 =

District A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivision ...

, subdivision_name2 =

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 ...

, established_title = First mention , established_date = 329 BCE , established_title1 = , established_date1 = , established_title2 = , established_date2 = , founder = , named_for = , seat_type = , seat = , seat1_type = , seat1 = , parts_type = , parts_style = , parts = , p1 = , government_footnotes = , government_type = , governing_body = , leader_party = , leader_title = , leader_name = , leader_title1 = , leader_name1 = , unit_pref = Metric , area_footnotes = , area_total_km2 = , area_total_ha = 11206 , area_land_km2 = 112 , area_land_ha = , area_water_km2 = , area_water_ha = , area_water_percent = , area_urban_footnotes = , area_urban_km2 = , area_urban_ha = , area_rural_footnotes = , area_rural_km2 = , area_rural_ha = , area_metro_footnotes = , area_metro_km2 = , area_metro_ha = , area_rank = , area_blank1_title = , area_blank1_km2 = , area_blank1_ha = , area_note = , dimensions_footnotes = , length_km = , width_km = , elevation_footnotes = , elevation_m = 351 , elevation_point = , elevation_max_footnotes = , elevation_max_m = , elevation_max_point = , elevation_max_rank = , elevation_min_footnotes = , elevation_min_m = , elevation_min_point = , elevation_min_rank = , population_footnotes = , population_as_of = 2014-2015 , population_total = 268893 , population_rank = , population_density_km2 = auto , population_density_sq_mi = , population_urban_footnotes = , population_urban = , population_density_urban_km2 = , population_density_urban_sq_mi = , population_rural_footnotes = , population_rural = , population_density_rural_km2 = , population_density_rural_sq_mi = , population_metro_footnotes = , population_metro = , population_density_metro_km2 = , population_density_metro_sq_mi = , population_density_rank = , population_blank1_title = Ethnicities , population_blank1 = , population_density_blank1_km2 = , population_density_blank1_sq_mi = , population_blank2_title = Religions , population_blank2 = , population_density_blank2_km2 = , population_density_blank2_sq_mi = , population_demonym = , population_demonyms = , population_note = Population Total is Estimated , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics_type2 = , demographics2_footnotes = , demographics2_title1 = , demographics2_info1 = , timezone_link = , timezone_location = , timezone =

Afghanistan Time Time in Afghanistan is officially UTC+04:30, called Afghanistan Time or AFT. Afghanistan does not observe daylight saving time. IANA time zone database Afghanistan has the IANA time zone database The tz database is a collaborative compila ...

, utc_offset = +4:30 , timezone_DST = , utc_offset_DST = , postal_code_type = , postal_code = , area_code_type = , area_code = , area_codes = , geocode = , iso_code = , registration_plate_type = , registration_plate = , code1_name = , code1_info = , blank_name_sec1 = Main language , blank_info_sec1 =

Pashto Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani (). Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official langua ...

Dari Dari (, , ), also known as Dari Persian (, ), is the variety of the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan. Dari is the term officially recognised and promoted since 1964 by the Afghan government for the Persian language,Lazard, G.Darī ...

Uzbek , blank_name_sec2 =

Climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorologi ...

, blank_info_sec2 =

BSk BSK is a three-letter abbreviation that may refer to: Sports * OFK Beograd, Serbian football club * FK BSK Borča, Serbian football club * FK BSK Batajnica, Serbian football club * FK BSK Banja Luka, Bosnian-Herzegovinian football club * FK BSK L ...

, website = , module = , footnotes = Kunduz (; ps, ; fa, original name: ) is a city in northern

, the capital of

. The city has an estimated population of about 268,893 as of 2015, making it about the 7th-largest city of Afghanistan, and the largest city in northeastern Afghanistan. Kunduz is in the historical

Tokharistan Tokharistan (formed from "Tokhara" and the suffix ''-stan'' meaning "place of" in Persian) is an ancient Early Middle Ages name given to the area which was known as Bactria in Ancient Greek sources. In the 7th and 8th century CE, Tokharistan c ...

region of

Bactria Bactria (; Bactrian: , ), or Bactriana, was an ancient region in Central Asia in Amu Darya's middle stream, stretching north of the Hindu Kush, west of the Pamirs and south of the Gissar range, covering the northern part of Afghanistan, sou ...

, near the confluence of the

Kunduz River The Kunduz River ( ps, د کندز سیند; fa, رود قندوز) is a tributary of the Amu Darya in northern Afghanistan. It rises in Bamyan Province in the Hindu Kush, and in its upper reaches is also known as the Bamyan River or the Surkhab R ...

with the

Khanabad River The Khānabād River ( ps, د خان اباد سیند; fa, رود خان‌آباد) flows in the provinces of Takhar and Kunduz in northern Afghanistan. The Khanabad River is a tributary of the Kunduz River, which is in turn a tributary of the ...

. Kunduz is linked by highways with

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 ...

to the south,

Mazar-i-Sharif , official_name = , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = , pushpin_map = Afghanistan#Bactria#West Asia , pushpin_label = Mazar-i-Sharif , pushpin ...

to the west, and

Badakhshan Badakhshan is a historical region comprising parts of modern-day north-eastern Afghanistan, eastern Tajikistan, and Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County in China. Badakhshan Province is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan. Much of historic ...

to the east. Kunduz is also linked with

Dushanbe Dushanbe ( tg, Душанбе, ; ; russian: Душанбе) is the capital and largest city of Tajikistan. , Dushanbe had a population of 863,400 and that population was largely Tajik. Until 1929, the city was known in Russian as Dyushambe (ru ...

Tajikistan Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centr ...

to the north, via the Afghan dry port of

Sherkhan Bandar Sher Khan or Shir Khan ( ps, شیر خان بندر; prs, شیرخان بندر) is a border town in the northern Kunduz Province of Afghanistan, next to the Panj River. The town's main attraction is the Sher Khan Bandar, which is a dry port and ...

. This city is famous for its watermelon in Afghanistan As of 2015, the land use of the city (within the municipal boundary) is largely agricultural (65.8% of total area). Residential land comprises nearly half of the 'built-up' land area (48.3%) with 29,877 dwellings. Institutional land comprises 17.9% of built-up land use, given that the airport is within the municipal boundary. 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 city 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 ...

Etymology

Kunduz is also sometimes spelled (

romanized Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and ...

) as Kundûz, Qonduz, Qondûz, Konduz, Kondûz, Kondoz, or Qhunduz. The name of the city is derived from the Persian compound, ''kohan dež'', "old/ancient fort".

History

Kunduz is the site of the ancient city of Drapsaka. It was a great centre of

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

learning and very prosperous during the 3rd century AD. The city used to be called Walwalij (or ''Varvarliz'') and the name ''Kuhandiz'' began to be used from the Timurid time. In the 18th and 19th centuries it was the capital of an Uzbek

khanate A khaganate or khanate was a polity ruled by a khan, khagan, khatun, or khanum. That political territory was typically found on the Eurasian Steppe and could be equivalent in status to tribal chiefdom, principality, kingdom or empire. Mo ...

which reached its largest extent, from

Balkh ), named for its green-tiled ''Gonbad'' ( prs, گُنبَد, dome), in July 2001 , pushpin_map=Afghanistan#Bactria#West Asia , pushpin_relief=yes , pushpin_label_position=bottom , pushpin_mapsize=300 , pushpin_map_caption=Location in Afghanistan ...

to the

Pamir Mountains The Pamir Mountains are a mountain range between Central Asia and Pakistan. It is located at a junction with other notable mountains, namely the Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun, Hindu Kush and the Himalaya mountain ranges. They are among the wor ...

, during the reign of

Murad Beg Mir Mohammad Murad Beg (1780-1840s) was ''Khan'' of Kunduz (modern Afghanistan) in the 19th century. Earlier in the 19th century, he defeated Mir Yar Beg to take control of Badakhshan, and extended his rule north of the Oxus river The Amu Dary ...

(1815–1842). After Murad's death, the khanate declined and was eventually subjugated by Afghanistan in 1859. It was part of

The Great Game The Great Game is the name for a set of political, diplomatic and military confrontations that occurred through most of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century – involving the rivalry of the British Empire and the Russian Empi ...

between the British and Russians. In the early 20th century, between one-hundred and two-hundred thousand Tajiks and Uzbeks fled the conquest of their homeland by Russian Red Army and settled in northern Afghanistan. In the early 20th century, under the governance of Sher Khan Nasher, Kunduz became one of the wealthiest Afghan provinces. This was mainly due to Nasher's founding of the Spinzar Cotton Company, which continues to exist in post-war Afghanistan. Kunduz is the most important agricultural province which produces

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and '' Porteresia'', both wild and domesticat ...

millet Millets () are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. Most species generally referred to as millets belong to the tribe Paniceae, but some millets a ...

, and other products and obtained the nickname of "the hive of the country." Kunduz is the centre for the northeast provinces and was captured by the

in 1997. It was the last major city held by the Taliban before its fall to US-backed

Afghan Northern Alliance The Northern Alliance, officially known as the United Islamic National Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan ( prs, جبهه متحد اسلامی ملی برای نجات افغانستان ''Jabha-yi Muttahid-i Islāmi-yi Millī barāyi Nijāt ...

forces on 26 November 2001. Kunduz

During the summer of 2015, the Taliban advanced and attacked the city, which resulted in a battle for control of the city against Afghan forces. Tens of thousands of inhabitants were displaced internally by the fighting. On 28 September 2015 the Taliban flag was again raised in the city center and the Taliban managed to capture the city prison and free many prisoners. The

Afghan Armed Forces ("The land belongs to Allah, the rule belongs to Allah") , founded = 1997 , current_form = , branches = * Afghan Army * Afghan Air Force , headquarters = Kabul , website = , commander-in-chie ...

counter-attacked and managed to re-capture the city in 15 days. The Taliban announced that, after achieving their objectives, they have withdrawn from the city's center.

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 s ...

, a Taliban spokesperson, said that their main object in leaving the city is to avoid civilian casualties from air raids. In April 2018 the Afghan Air Force conducted an airstrike that killed and injured dozens of civilians at a religious school in Kunduz. On 31 August 2019, the Taliban forces launched another attack on the city, setting off a major battle with local security forces. On 19 May 2020, the Taliban killed one policeman and one civilian and injured 18 others in a motorbike bomb blast in Kunduz. On the same day, the Taliban attempted again to capture Kunduz, attacking several government posts but were repelled by the Afghan security forces. The Taliban were forced to flee the city, leaving ten dead bodies behind. Eight Afghan soldiers and three civilians were killed and 55 others were wounded during the Taliban attack. On 8 August 2021, the Taliban as part of their nationwide military offensive captured Kunduz, along with Sar-e-Pul and Taloqan after heavy clashes with ANA forces. On 8 October 2021, a militant of ISKP detonated a suicide vest targeting shia worshippers at the Gozar-e-Sayed Abad Mosque, killing 50+ people and wounding over 100.

Geography

Kunduz is strategically situated on the main north–south highway linking

to Tajikistan, and east–west

Mazar-i-Sharif , official_name = , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = , pushpin_map = Afghanistan#Bactria#West Asia , pushpin_label = Mazar-i-Sharif , pushpin ...

to Taloqan and Fayzabad.

Climate

Kunduz has a

cold semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi ...

(

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 ...

''BSk'') with hot summers and cool winters. Precipitation is generally low except from January to April, with summers almost always rainless.

Demographics

US Army ethnolinguistic map of Afghanistan -- circa 2001-09

The city of Kunduz has an estimated population of about 268,893 as of 2015. Ethnic

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 ...

comprise the largest segment, followed by

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 ...

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 Taj ...

Arabs The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

and a few others. Kunduz is the capital of a highly diverse province that includes significant populations of Pashtuns, Tajiks, Uzbeks,

Hazaras The Hazaras ( fa, , Həzārə; haz, , Āzərə) are an ethnic group and the principal component of the population of Afghanistan, native to, and primarily residing in the Hazaristan (Hazarajat) region in central Afghanistan and generally scat ...

, Arabs,

Balochis The Baloch or Baluch ( bal, بلۏچ, Balòc) are an Iranian people who live mainly in the Balochistan region, located at the southeasternmost edge of the Iranian plateau, encompassing the countries of Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan. There ar ...

and

Turkmens Turkmens ( tk, , , , ; historically "the Turkmen"), sometimes referred to as Turkmen Turks ( tk, , ), are a Turkic ethnic group native to Central Asia, living mainly in Turkmenistan, northern and northeastern regions of Iran and north-weste ...

. Kunduz Arabs speak Persian and Pashto, Afghanistan's two official languages, rather than

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

. However, they claim a strong Arab identity, based on their tribal origins in

Arabia The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Pl ...

. This may in fact point to the seventh-century and eighth-century migration to this and other Central Asian locales of many Arab tribes from Arabia in the wake of the Islamic conquests of the region.

Administration

Kunduz city is divided into 8 Districts ('Nahias') with a total land area of 11,206 hectares. The most influential leader of Kunduz was Arif Khan, who was a governor of Kunduz Province and was shot dead in the city of Peshawar, Pakistan in the year 2000. Soon after the incident his brother Haji Omar Khan took his responsibility and was appointed as the Governor of Kunduz (2000–01).

Sports

;Professional sports teams from Kunduz Stadiums * Kunduz Cricket Ground * Kunduz Ground

Notable people

* Sher Khan Nasher, chief clan of (

Ghilji The Ghiljī ( ps, غلجي, ; fa, خیلجی, Xelji) also spelled Khilji, Khalji, or Ghilzai or Ghilzay (), are one of the largest Pashtun tribes. Their traditional homeland is Ghazni and Qalati Ghilji in Afghanistan but they have also sett ...

) Kharoti Nasher tribe * Gholam Nabi Nasher Khan (1926–2010), parliamentarian *

Sayed Noorullah Murad Sayed Noorullah Murad (born March 22, 1979) is an Afghan politician, military commander and member of the Afghan cabinet during the presidency of Hamid Karzai. He was born in Kunduz city in the north of Afghanistan. His father is Mawlawi Abdul Ja ...

(Afghan politician, member of federal cabinet, military commander and scholar) Imam Saheb district * Gulbudin Hekmatyar, Afghan political leader,

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 Pash ...

politician, former

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 ...

and drug trafficker *

Javed Ahmadi Javed Ahmadi (born 2 January 1992) is an Afghan cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman who bowls right-arm off break. He currently represents the Afghanistan national cricket team. He was one of the eleven cricketers to play in Afghanistan's ...

(1992–), player of the

Afghanistan national cricket team The Afghanistan men's national team ( ps, د افغانستان کرکټ ملي لوب‌‌‌‌‌‌ډله, fa, تیم ملی کریکت افغانستان) represents Afghanistan in international cricket. Cricket has been played in Afgha ...

Abdul Rauf Ibrahimi Abdul Rauf Ibrahimi is an Uzbek legislator and politician from Afghanistan. Biography Abdul Rauf Ibrahimi was born in the Imam Sahib district of northern Kunduz Province in 1962, and is a member of the Ibrahims Clan. He finished his primary e ...

, former Afghan National Parliament Speaker *

Farhad Darya Farhad Darya ( Pashto/ Dari: ; born 22 September 1962) is an Afghan singer, composer and music producer who has written and composed songs in various languages. Darya sings in various languages including mostly his native language of Persian ...

, Afghan singer

References

External links

Kunduz Province
by

Naval Postgraduate School The Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) is a public graduate school operated by the United States Navy and located in Monterey, California. It offers master’s and doctoral degrees in more than 70 fields of study to the U.S. Armed Forces, DOD c ...

Welcome to Kunduz, Allauddin
* {{Authority control Populated places in Kunduz Province Cities in Afghanistan Cities in Central Asia Kunduz Province Populated places along the Silk Road Provincial capitals in Afghanistan Populated places with period of establishment missing