Shinḍanḍ District ( ps, شينډنډ) is located in the southern part of

Herat Province Herat ( Persian: ) is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located in the north-western part of the country. Together with Badghis, Farah, and Ghor provinces, it makes up the north-western region of Afghanistan. Its primary city a ...

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 ...

, bordering

Adraskan District Adraskan is a district in the central part of Herat Province in Afghanistan. It is bordered to the west by Iran, to the north by Ghoryan District, Zinda Jan District, Guzara District, Pashtun Zarghun District and Obe District, to the east by ...

to the north,

Ghor Province Ghōr (Dari: ), also spelled Ghowr or Ghur, is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. It is located in the western Hindu Kush in central Afghanistan, towards the northwest. The province contains eleven districts, encompassing hundred ...

to the east and Farah Province to the south and west. It is one of the 16 districts of Herat Province. The name Shindand is Pashto and relates to lush green farming area. In

Persian language Persian (), also known by its endonym Farsi (, ', ), is a Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian subdivision of the Indo-European languages. Persian is a pluricentric language predominantly spoken an ...

it translates to ''Sabzwār'' (). The population of Shindand District is around 49,024. The district center is the town of

Shindand Sabzwār ( fa, سبزوار) is a town and the center of the Sabzwar District, Herat Province, Afghanistan. It is located at at 1,066 m altitude on the Harut River. The Sabzwar Air Base is located about 15 miles northeast of the town. S ...

, which has an active market area. Shindand Air Base is located near the town. The Kandahar–Herat Highway passes through the district. The

Zerkoh Valley Zerkoh Valley (alternately ''Zirko'', ''Zer-e-koh'') runs for 30 miles through Shindand District, Herat Province, Afghanistan. Civilian deaths in Coalition airstrikes On 29 April 2007, a number of Afghan civilians in Zerkoh were killed in airstri ...

is in the district.

History

The ancient name of Shindand was

Esfezar Esfezar ( fa, اسفزار, also Romanized as Esfezār, Esfazār, and Asafzar; also known as Asfarār, Asferār, Esferār, and Isfizār) is a village in Mud Rural District, Mud District, Sarbisheh County, South Khorasan Province, Iran. At the 20 ...

as still an Iranian small city, more a village, close to the border of Afghanistan on the Iranian side. Notable historical sites in Shindand include Qala-Dokhtar and Qala Rustam-Zal.

Divisions

Shindand District is divided into five bigger districts, namely Zawol, Zerkoh, Poshteh-Koh, Kooh-Zoor and Qasaba. Shindand District is one of the most diverse and wide districts in Afghanistan, representing thirty different Afghan tribes which include both

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 r ...

and Tajik sub-tribes.

Ismail Khan Mohammad Ismail Khan (Dari/Pashto: محمد اسماعیل خان) (born 1946) is an Afghan former politician who served as Minister of Energy and Water from 2005 to 2013 and before that served as the governor of Herat Province. Originally a cap ...

, the country's former Minister of Energy and Water, had support in the district, specially among his fellow Tajiks.

Demography

The estimated population of Shindand District was 49,024 (as of April 2021).Estimated Population of Afghanistan
(p.132) April 2021 Another source has put at 173,800 (2011).STABILITY IN KEY AREAS (SIKA) – WEST - SHINDAND DISTRICT PROFILE, p. 1, http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PA00JG5G.pdf In terms of tribal and ethnic groups, Shindand is one of the most diverse districts in Herat Province. Around 60 percent of the population is Pashtun and 40 percent Tajik,

Aimaq Hazara The Aimaq Hazara (Hazara-e qala-e naw); ( prs, ایماق هزاره, Aimāq Hazāra) are the Aimaq's subtribe of Hazara origin, however, they are Sunni Muslims while most other Hazaras are Shia Muslims. The Aimaq Hazara consists of 38 subtrib ...

, Baloch and others. However, sixty percent of Tajiks live within the town of Shindand, which includes Qasaba and surrounding districts. The main languages spoken in the district are

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 ...

and

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 ...

Climate

Shindand is sunny and windy all year long. Though the winds pick up during the months of May through September, called Badayeh-Sado-Bist Roozeh (120 Day Winds). The rainy season is from November/December to March/April, though the rains are scattered.

References

External links

AIMS District MapShindand District in photos
{{Authority control Districts of Herat Province