Mehtarlam مهترلام | |
|---|---|
 .jpg)  Clockwise from top: An alley in Mehtarlam (2005); a highway checkpoint (2005); Mehtarlam RTC (2011) | |
  Mehtarlam Location in Afghanistan | |
| Coordinates:34°40′06″N70°12′32″E / 34.66833°N 70.20889°E /34.66833; 70.20889 | |
| Country |  Afghanistan |
| Province | Laghman |
| District | Mehtarlam |
| Named after | Lamech |
| Government | |
| • Type | Municipality |
| • Mayor | Maulvi Obaidullah Saqib |
| Elevation | 779 m (2,556 ft) |
| Population (2025)[1] | |
| 160,123 | |
| • Urban | 6,638 |
| Time zone | UTC+04:30 (Afghanistan Time) |
| Climate | BSk |
Mehtarlam, also spelled asMihtarlam (Pashto[a],Dari[b]:مهترلام), is acity in easternAfghanistan, serving as the capital ofLaghman Province.[2][3] It is within the jurisdiction ofMehtarlam District and has an estimated population of 160,123 people.[1]
The city is situated in the valley formed by theAlishang andAlingar rivers, 47 km (29 mi) northwest ofJalalabad. There is a road between the cities that takes about an hour to travel by car. TheLaghman University is in the northern part of the city, on university road.
According to local legend, the surroundingLaghman Province (also known as Lamghan) is said to have been named afterLamech, father of Noah.
In thePersian language,mihtar means "headman", "lord" or "chief", and "Lam" is an abbreviation for Lamech.[4]
AmirHabibullah Khan builtQala-e-Serajc. 1912–13 in Mehtarlam.[5]
On 6 February 2006, two people were killed by police in riots in Mihtarlam in events of theJyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy.[6]
On 26 February 2017, two students were killed and seven others wounded when a rocket landed in Shaheed Mawlawi Abdul Rahman School inBasram.[7] On 14 April 2019, at least seven children were killed whenunexploded ordnance detonated in Basram on the outskirts of Mihtarlam.[8][9]
Local officials spent 22 millionAfs to rebuild Qala-e-Seraj in 2020.[10][11]
On2 May 2020, a motorbike bomb exploded outside the provincial prison in Mehtarlam, killing three civilians and injuring four members of theAfghan security forces. Noor Mohammad, director of Laghman's provincial prison directorate, was among the injured.[12] On 5 October 2020, Provincial Governor of Laghman,Rahmatullah Yarmal, was slightly wounded after his convoy was targeted by a suicide car bomber.[13]
On 24 May 2021, Afghan government forces clashed with Taliban militants in Mihtarlam.[14] On 13 August 2021, Mehtarlam was seized byTaliban fighters, becoming the twenty-third provincial capital to be captured as part of the wider 2021 Taliban offensive.
Mihtarlam has acold semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classificationBSk).
In 2021, the first stadium in Laghman opened in Mehtarlam.[16]
Archaeologists and residents in the eastern province of #Laghman said on Monday that the restoration of the historically-significant Seraj Castle (Qala -e- Seraj), which started two years ago, has been completed. #Afghanistan
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