Orūzgān Province
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Uruzgan (
Pashto Pashto ( , ; , ) is an eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyb ...
: ;
Dari Dari (; endonym: ), Dari Persian (, , or , ), or Eastern Persian is the variety of the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan. Dari is the Afghan government's official term for the Persian language;Lazard, G.Darī – The New Persian ...
: ), also spelled as Urozgan or Oruzgan, is one of the thirty-four
provinces of Afghanistan The provinces of Afghanistan ( ''Wilayah, wilāyat'') are the primary administrative divisions. Afghanistan is divided into 34 provinces. Each province encompasses a number of Districts of Afghanistan, districts or usually over 1,000 villages. ...
. Uruzgan is located in the center of the country. The population is 436,079, and the province is mostly a tribal society. Tarinkot serves as the capital of the province. Uruzgan borders the provinces of Kandahar, Daykundi,
Ghazni Ghazni (, ), historically known as Ghaznayn () or Ghazna (), also transliterated as Ghuznee, and anciently known as Alexandria in Opiana (), is a city in southeastern Afghanistan with a population of around 190,000 people. The city is strategica ...
, Zabul, and Helmand.


Geography

Uruzgan province is located in southern Afghanistan, bordering Zabul and Kandahar to the south, Helmand to the southwest, Daykundi to the north, and
Ghazni Ghazni (, ), historically known as Ghaznayn () or Ghazna (), also transliterated as Ghuznee, and anciently known as Alexandria in Opiana (), is a city in southeastern Afghanistan with a population of around 190,000 people. The city is strategica ...
to the east. Uruzgan covers an area of . Much of the province is mountainous or semi-mountainous terrain, while the rest of the area is made up of flat land.


History

The
Arabs Arabs (,  , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of yea ...
were first to arrive in Uruzgan in the 7th century when they brought
Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
to the region followed by the Saffarids who conquered the place in the 9th century. The region was part of ancient Arachosia, and was ruled by the
Medes The Medes were an Iron Age Iranian peoples, Iranian people who spoke the Median language and who inhabited an area known as Media (region), Media between western Iran, western and northern Iran. Around the 11th century BC, they occupied the m ...
before it fell to the
Achaemenids The Achaemenid dynasty ( ; ; ; ) was a royal house that ruled the Achaemenid Empire, which eventually stretched from Egypt and Thrace in the west to Central Asia and the Indus Valley in the east. Origins The history of the Achaemenid dy ...
. In 330 BC,
Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...
occupied the area but left it to the Seleucids to rule. It was later attained and ruled by the Mauryas under
Ashoka Ashoka, also known as Asoka or Aśoka ( ; , ; – 232 BCE), and popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was List of Mauryan emperors, Emperor of Magadha from until #Death, his death in 232 BCE, and the third ruler from the Mauryan dynast ...
. By the 7th century, when the Arabs first arrived, it was under the control of the Zunbils before being conquered in the name of
Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
by the Saffarids in the 9th century. It fell to the Ghaznavids followed by the Ghurids before the
Mongol Mongols are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, China (Inner Mongolia and other 11 autonomous territories), as well as the republics of Buryatia and Kalmykia in Russia. The Mongols are the principal member of the large family of M ...
invasion in the 13th century. The area was ruled by Arghun Khan of
Ilkhanate The Ilkhanate or Il-khanate was a Mongol khanate founded in the southwestern territories of the Mongol Empire. It was ruled by the Il-Khans or Ilkhanids (), and known to the Mongols as ''Hülegü Ulus'' (). The Ilkhanid realm was officially known ...
, later by the Timurids,
Mughals The Mughal Empire was an early modern empire in South Asia. At its peak, the empire stretched from the outer fringes of the Indus River Basin in the west, northern Afghanistan in the northwest, and Kashmir in the north, to the highlands of pre ...
and
Safavids The Guarded Domains of Iran, commonly called Safavid Iran, Safavid Persia or the Safavid Empire, was one of the largest and longest-lasting Iranian empires. It was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often considered the begi ...
. During the 1980's Soviet war in Afghanistan, Uruzgan witnessed fighting between pro-Soviet forces and the
Mujahideen ''Mujahideen'', or ''Mujahidin'' (), is the plural form of ''mujahid'' (), an Arabic term that broadly refers to people who engage in ''jihad'' (), interpreted in a jurisprudence of Islam as the fight on behalf of God, religion or the commun ...
. One of the most prominent local Mujahideen leaders was Jan Mohammad Khan. In late 1994, Uruzgan was captured by the
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) ...
. They were toppled by US-led forces in late 2001. Hamid Karzai and his followers arrived in Uruzgan between October and November 2001 to take over control of the area.


Recent history

In June 2002, a wedding party in Uruzgan was bombed by the U.S. Air Force, which resulted in the death of 30 civilians. In 2004, the new Daykundi Province was carved out of an area of northern Uruzgan. In August 2006, the NATO-led
International Security Assistance Force The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was a multinational military mission in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014. It was established by United Nations Security Council United Nations Security Council Resolution 1386, Resolution 1386 ac ...
(ISAF) assumed authority for Uruzgan from the US-led coalition, as the
Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
took command of the
Provincial Reconstruction Team A Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) was a unit introduced by the United States government, consisting of military officers, diplomats, and reconstruction subject matter experts, working to support reconstruction efforts in unstable states. PRT ...
(PRT) from the US as Task Force Uruzgan. There is also an
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
n element under the Dutch command. Because of security concerns and the
Taliban insurgency {{Infobox military conflict , partof = the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021), the Afghan conflict, and the War on terror , image = 2021 Taliban Offensive.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Map of th ...
, only one international aid agency ( GIZ) has a permanent presence in Uruzgan. NATO's ISAF operates a PRT in Tarinkot. The 1,400 Dutch and 1,090 Australian troops in the area secured only the largest population centers in Uruzgan (Deh Rawood, Chora, and Tarinkot towns) under the Dutch " inkspot policy". However, the force's area of responsibility included the entire province. Gizab district, which was then the most dangerous of Uruzgan's district, had no ISAF presence before. In August 2010, the 1,950 Dutch forces withdrew their forces from Uruzgan province, after a political disagreement in the Dutch parliament, leaving the PRT to the US and Australia to continue the mission. Uruzgan's opium poppy crop reached record levels in 2006 and 2007, according to the
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC; French language, French: ''Office des Nations unies contre la drogue et le crime'') is a United Nations office that was established in 1997 as the Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention ...
(UNODC), as no significant eradication efforts were carried out by the Afghan administration or Dutch forces. Between 15 and 19 June 2007, Dutch, American, Australian and Afghan soldiers defended the town of Chora against an assault by Taliban combatants. Reports in the Dutch, Australian and US press indicated that the battle was one of the largest Taliban offensives of the year. The fighting resulted in the deaths of a Dutch soldier, 1 Australian soldier, 1 American soldier, 16 Afghan policemen, an unknown number of civilians and a large number of Taliban. In September 2008, Rozi Khan, the leader of Uruzgan's Pashtun Barakzai tribe, and a longtime rival of Popalzai leader Jan Mohammed Khan, was killed in a firefight in Chora District. Gizab District was temporarily cleared of the Taliban by ISAF forces in late April 2010 and this was attributed to the uprising of the townspeople who helped the ISAF forces. In February 2010, near Khod, over ten civilians in a three-vehicle convoy were killed by a combined force of a Lockheed AC-130, Bell OH-58 Kiowa helicopters and General Atomics MQ-1 Predator drones, who misidentified them as Taliban. The air forces were attempting to protect ground troops fighting several km away.


Transportation

As of May 2014, the province was served by Tarinkot Airport which had regularly scheduled direct passenger service to
Kabul Kabul 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. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...
.


Healthcare

The percentage of households with clean drinking water increased from 8% in 2005 to 27% in 2011. The percentage of births attended to by a skilled birth attendant increased from 6% in 2005 to 14% in 2011.


Education

The overall literacy rate (6+ years of age) increased from 5% in 2005 to 17% in 2011. The overall net enrollment rate (6–13 years of age) increased from 1% in 2005 to 49% in 2011.


Demographics

As of 2020, the total population of the province is about 436,079. The province has an estimated 45,000 households, each with about six members on average. A large portion of Uruzgan's population is ethnic Pashtun and ethnic Hazara. There is also a small population of the nomadic Kochis, whose numbers vary with the seasons. Population figures are from the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development, the Central Statistics Office Afghanistan, and the Liaison Office study 2009.The Liaison Office
Three Years Later: A Sociopolitical Study of Uruzgun Province from 2006 to 2009
/ref>


Districts


See also

*
Provinces of Afghanistan The provinces of Afghanistan ( ''Wilayah, wilāyat'') are the primary administrative divisions. Afghanistan is divided into 34 provinces. Each province encompasses a number of Districts of Afghanistan, districts or usually over 1,000 villages. ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Uruzgan Province Hazarajat Provinces of Afghanistan Provinces of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan