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Safed Koh

(Encyclopedia)Safed Koh säfādˈ kō [key], mountain range on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, SE of Kabul; rises to 15,620 ft (4,761 m) at Mt. Sikaram. It parallels the Kabul River. A spur of the range is crossed...

Hari Rud

(Encyclopedia)Hari Rud häˈrē ro͞od [key], river, c.700 mi (1,130 km) long, rising in the Kuh-e Baba range, central Afghanistan, and flowing west and then north into the steppes S of the Kara Kum desert in Turkm...

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...

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