Nawzad (; also Now Zad) is a small town, the centre of

Nawzad District Nawzad is a district in the north of Helmand Province, Afghanistan. Its population, which is 100% Pashtun, was estimated at 49,500 in 2012. The district centre is the village of Nawzad; there are 14 other large villages and over 100 smaller vill ...

Helmand Province Helmand (Pashto language, Pashto/Dari language, Dari: ; ), also known as Hillmand, in ancient times, as Hermand and Hethumand, is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, in the south of the country. It is the largest province by area, covering ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

. It is located at at an altitude of 1221 metres

ASL American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States and most of Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual language that is expressed by employ ...

. It was the site of the Battle of Nawzad. Surrounded to the southwest and east by mountains, the town consists of a

bazaar A bazaar or souk is a marketplace consisting of multiple small Market stall, stalls or shops, especially in the Middle East, the Balkans, Central Asia, North Africa and South Asia. They are traditionally located in vaulted or covered streets th ...

, one road, and a maze of mud-brick houses and compounds, interspersed with narrow alleys. The local economy traditionally revolves around

opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum'', commonly known as the opium poppy or breadseed poppy, is a species of flowering plant in the family Papaveraceae. It is the species of plant from which both opium and poppy seeds are derived and is also a valuable orname ...

farming. Like much of Afghanistan, Nawzad and the surrounding area were largely peaceful after the 2001 invasion. The animal rescue charity Nowzad Dogs, founded by

Pen Farthing Paul "Pen" Farthing (born May 1969) is a British former Royal Marines commando and founder of the Nowzad Dogs charity. Personal life Paul Farthing was born in Essex, England. He became a sergeant in the Royal Marines. Founding of the Nowza ...

, is named after the town.

Climate

With an influence from the local steppe climate, Nawzad features a

cold semi-arid climate Cold is the presence of low temperature, especially in the atmosphere. In common usage, cold is often a subjective perception. A lower bound to temperature is absolute zero, defined as 0.00K on the Kelvin scale, an absolute thermodynamic ...

(''BSk'') under the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

. The average temperature in Nawzad is 16.0 °C, while the annual precipitation averages 162 mm. July is the warmest month of the year with an average temperature of 28.8 °C. The coldest month January has an average temperature of 2.9 °C.

Conflict

During the early post-Taliban years, the town thrived, helped by irrigation from 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,

.(pdf) The Helmand Valley Project in Afghanistan: A.I.D. Evaluation Special Study No. 18
C Clapp-Wicek & E Baldwin, U.S. Agency for International Development, published December 1983 People came for miles to its bazaar; the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

even began building a school. But by early 2007, the estimated 10,000 civilian population, including Nawzad's police force, had fled, driven out by violence from returning

Taliban , leader1_title = Supreme Leader of Afghanistan, Supreme leaders , leader1_name = {{indented plainlist, * Mullah Omar{{Natural Causes{{nbsp(1994–2013) * Akhtar Mansour{{Assassinated (2015–2016) * Hibatullah Akhundzada (2016–present) ...

insurgents. In the years following, Nawzad became a ghost town and

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

Gurkha The Gurkhas or Gorkhas (), with the endonym Gorkhali ( Nepali: गोर्खाली ), are soldiers native to the Indian subcontinent, chiefly residing within Nepal and some parts of North India. The Gurkha units consist of Nepali and ...

, and

Estonian Estonian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe * Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent * Estonian language * Estonian cuisine * Estonian culture See also

...

forces only managed to maintain a stalemate in the region. Now Zad became one of the most bitterly contested districts since British forces first moved into Helmand in 2006. In December 2007 a small force of a British Army OMLT (

Operational Mentoring and Liaison Team Operational Mentoring and Liaison Teams (OMLTs) were the NATO equivalent of the United States' Embedded Training Teams and were active in Afghanistan. Countries Teams from several countries provided training and operational support to the A ...

) with 7 soldiers drawn from 26 Regiment, Royal Artillery & 151 (London) Transport Regiment, Royal Logistic Corps who were mentoring a company of approximately 70 ANA soldiers supported by 14 soldiers from US Special Forces Task Force 232 deployed from Camp Shorabak. The task was to provide a diversion for the upcoming Operation Mar Karadad (the re-taking of Musa Qualeh). This was done by mounting a deliberate attack on Nipple Compound, a Taliban compound to the south of Now Zad. In 2008,

U.S. Marines The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionary ...

arrived to replace the British and Estonian contingents. However, as of June 2009, the Marines seemed to have come to a similar standstill with the Taliban insurgents. Much of this battle is highlighted in the boo
15 Years of War
In December 2009, U.S. Marines launched a new assault with 1,000 troops and several 70-ton assault breacher vehicles. They reported to have pressed into a remote Taliban stronghold during the joint American-British Operation "Cobra's Anger". In 2016 Nawzad was under Taliban control.Mujib Masha

"Four districts, including Musa Qala and Nawzad, that were the focus of thousands of American and coalition troops during the 2010 surge are under Taliban control." NYT, Aug. 14, 2016

References

{{Helmand Province Populated places in Helmand Province