Badghis (Pashto[a] andDari:[b]بادغیس;lit.'Mount') is one of the 34provinces of Afghanistan, located in the northwestern part of the country. It shares an international border withTurkmenistan. It is considered to be one of the country's most underdeveloped provinces, with the highest poverty rate.[5] The capital isQala e Naw, while the most populous city and the district areBala Murghab. The ruins of the medieval city ofMarw al-Rudh, the historical capital of the medieval region ofGharjistan, are located in the province near the modern city of Bala Murghab.
Badghis Province is located in the isolated hills of northwesternAfghanistan and shares its borders withHerat,Ghor, andFaryab provinces as well asTurkmenistan. The province has a total area of 20,591 km2.[6] Hydrologically, the province is dominated by theMurghab River which is used for irrigation.[7] It contains some mountains but is predominantly characterized by rolling hills divided by ravines.[8]
The province is very windy; the name "Badghis" is a corruption of thePersian compound "bâd-khiz", meaning "wind source", referring to the steppe winds that blow into the province from the north and northwest. Its northern border extends to the edge of the part of theKarakum Desert known as the Sarakhs desert. Northern Badghis includes theloess and otheraeolian formations, known locally as the "chul",[9] through which theTurkmen-Afghan boundary runs.[10] Across the border in Turkmenistan is theBadhyz State Nature Reserve in the Badkhiz-Karabil semi-desert.[11]
Before the Arab conquest, the province was the center of the Kingdom of Badghis, whose king Tarkhan Tirek resisted an Umayyad invasion in 709 AD. After the Arab conquest, the province was rebellious and it served as a haven for religious dissenters until about 1000 AD.[8] The poetHanzala Badghisi flourished there in the mid-9th century. Badghis' excellent grasslands were used as summer pastures by theTimurid dynasty in the fifteenth century. By the late 19th century, the province was devastated by Turkmen raids.[8] In 1964, the province was carved out of portions ofHerat Province andMeymaneh Province.
The province was one of the last captured by theTaliban in their military offensive before the American invasion in 2001. The province was quickly retaken byNorthern Alliance forces as the United States initiated hostilities.[citation needed] Badghis Province came under complete control of theTaliban in 2021.
In January 2022, the province was struck by a5.3 earthquake, killing dozens.[12]
Like in the rest of Afghanistan, no exact population numbers are available. The Afghan Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation & Development (MRRD) along with UNHCR and the National Statistics and Information Authority (NSIA) of Afghanistan estimated the population of the province to be around 559,297 in 2021.[3][13] In 2013 – the single year for which the data is available at the moment – Badghis male population was 241,200, and the female was 230,700.[14]Tajiks make up the majority of the province's population with smaller numbers ofHazaras,Uzbeks,Turkmens,Pashtuns, andBalochs.[4]
Badghis is counted as one of the most underdeveloped of the country's thirty-four provinces.[17] Not only does it have the little infrastructure, and poor roads, it has a chronic shortage of water.[17][18]Agriculture is the main source of people's income and the existence of theMurghab River makes the available land suitable for cultivation. The province has suffered from severe drought beginning in the late 1990s and continuing. It has caused tens of thousands of residents to flee to refugee camps outside Herat.[19] The drought has been exacerbated by the excessive cutting of forests since 2001.[18] Badghis is the leading province in Afghanistan inpistachio production. It is also one of the carpet-making areas of the country. The province producedKarakul sheep until the late 1970s.[8]
Badghis Province suffers from a lack of adequate transportation. A single airport exists at the provincial seat--Qala i Naw Airport (OAQN), which is capable of handling light aircraft.[20] Work on a 233 km section of the Afghan ring road started up again in 2012.[21] This section would connect Bala Murghab withHerat in the southwest, andMaymana andMazar-i Sharif in the northeast.
The percentage of households with clean drinking water fell from 11.6% in 2005 to 1% in 2011.[22] The percentage of births attended to by a skilled birth attendant increased from 15% in 2005 to 17% in 2011.[22] Official government figures for 2007 indicated that 17% of the Badghis population had access to safe drinking water, while only 1% of births were attended by a skilled person.[23]
According to information from the education department, there are 457 schools with 75 high and the rests are primary and secondary schools. There are as many as 120,000 students, with 35% of them being female students. There is one vocational high school of agriculture and one midwife training Institute in the province as well. However, as of 2007, the overall literacy rate was only 9.5%.[23]
^Shroder, John F. (2016). "Hari Rud – Murghab River Basin".Transboundary Water Resources in Afghanistan: Climate Change and Land-Use Implications. Saint Louis: Elsevier. pp. 410–412.ISBN978-0-12-801861-3.
^ab"Badghis Province In A Glance"(PDF).Afghanistan Provincial Health Profile: Situational Analysis of Provincial Health Services. MoPH HMIS Department. p. 3.Archived(PDF) from the original on 12 July 2018.
