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Omar, Mohammad

(Encyclopedia)Omar, Mohammad, 1960?–2013?, Afghan religious and political leader popularly known as Mullah Omar. From a rural Pashtun family, he became a Muslim cleric. In the 1980s he joined the mujahidin fighti...

Pathans

(Encyclopedia)Pathans pətänzˈ [key], group of seminomadic peoples consisting of more than 60 tribes, numbering more than 26 million in Pakistan and more than 11 million in Afghanistan, where they form the domina...

Baghlan

(Encyclopedia)Baghlan bägˈlän [key], city (1982 est. pop. 41,200), N Afghanistan, on the Kunduz River. It produces beet sugar, cotton, and fabrics. A recently constructed highway system links Baghlan with Kabul ...

Helmand

(Encyclopedia)Helmand or Helmund both: hĕlˈmənd [key], river, c.700 mi (1,130 km) long, rising in the Hindu Kush Mts., NE Afghanistan and flowing generally SW to the Sistan basin, SW Afghanistan, where it helps ...

Chagai

(Encyclopedia)Chagai chäˈgī [key], town, W Pakistan, near the border with Afghanistan, on the trade route to Afghanistan and Iran. Pastoral Baluchi and Brahui inhabit the region, which is noted for its Oriental ...

Pul-i-Khumri

(Encyclopedia)Pul-i-Khumri or Pol-e Khomri both: po͝ol-ĭ-kho͝omrēˈ [key], town, capital of Baghlan prov., central Afghanistan. It is a trading center and a stopping place for trucks and caravans traveling to N...

Charikar

(Encyclopedia)Charikar chäˈrĭkär [key], city, NE Afghanistan. It is noted for its pottery and high-quality grapes. During the 1960s Afghanistan's largest textile factory was built nearby. During the 1979–89 o...

Ghani, Ashraf

(Encyclopedia)Ghani, Ashraf (Mohammad Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai), 1949–, Afghan political leader, president of Afghanistan (2014–), Ph.D Columbia, 1983. Trained as an cultural anthropologist, he taught at Kabul Uni...

Termez

(Encyclopedia)Termez tyĭrmyĕsˈ [key], city (1991 pop. 99,000), capital of Surkhandaryo region, S Uzbekistan, a port on the Amu Darya River, near the Afghanistan border. It is the center of an agricultural region...

Kabul

(Encyclopedia)Kabul käˈbo͝ol, kəbo͞olˈ [key], city (1997 est. pop. 1,500,000), capital of Afghanistan and of Kabul prov. and its largest city and economic and cultural center, E Afghanistan, on the Kabul Rive...