Qala-i-Jangi (

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 ...

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 ...

: ) is a 19th-century fortress located near

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

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 known for being the site of a bloody 2001

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 ...

uprising named the Battle of Qala-i-Jangi, in which at least 470 people were killed, including CIA agent Johnny "Mike" Spann. It served as

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 ...

General

Abdul Rashid Dostum Abdul Rashid Dostum ( ; prs, عبدالرشید دوستم; Uzbek Latin: , Uzbek Cyrillic: , ; born 25 March 1954) is an Afghan exiled politician, former Marshal in the Afghan National Army, founder and leader of the political party Junbish- ...

's military garrison during the opening stages of the

War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) The War in Afghanistan was an armed conflict that began when an international military coalition led by the United States launched an invasion of Afghanistan, toppling the Taliban-ruled Islamic Emirate and establishing the internationally r ...

History

The fort was built in 1889 by

Abdur Rahman Abd al-Rahman ( ar, عبد الرحمن, translit=ʿAbd al-Raḥmān or occasionally ; DMG ''ʿAbd ar-Raḥman''; also Abdul Rahman) is a male Arabic Muslim given name, and in modern usage, surname. It is built from the Arabic words '' Abd'', '' ...

, the 19th-century “Iron Amir,” the first ruler to unite Afghanistan. Then known as Dehdadi after the village nearby, it was built with British funds and intended both to defend against Russian invasion and to suppress revolts by Uzbek tribes. Rahman described it as "the largest and strongest fort that had ever been built in Afghanistan." It took 18,000 workers 12 years to complete it. In 1929, about 300 Russian troops were besieged inside the fort by 20,000 Turkmens. The name Qala-i-Jangi was probably not given to the fort until the 1940s. The Russians, with Dostum’s support, occupied it again after their 1979 invasion. Mujahideen attacked Qala-i Jangi in 1981, removing 170 pro-Soviet Afghan soldiers. The Taliban occupied the fort for most of the time from 1994 to 2001.

, of the

held the fort briefly in 1997, with 20,000 militia.

Description

In 2001, the fort was long, wide. It was constructed out of wooden beams, mud and straw. At each corner a mud tower rose high and across. Rainfall of annually enabled the structure to avoid liquification. It was a walled city, divided evenly into northern and southern courtyards by an wall. It contained a gold-domed mosque, a square "Pink House," erected in the 1980s by the occupying

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

, as a medical facility. On November 26, 2001, the north-eastern tower was destroyed by an errant American JDAM missile.Harnden, "First Casualty," p. 247

References

Archaeological sites in Afghanistan Forts in Afghanistan Buildings and structures in Balkh Province History of Balkh Province {{Afghanistan-struct-stub

History

Description

See also

References