Kunduz Province

Kunduz کندز
Province
An aerial view from the window of a Blackhawk helicopter between Balkh Province and Kunduz Province
Map of Afghanistan with Kunduz highlighted
Coordinates (Capital):
Country	Afghanistan
Capital	Kunduz
Government
• Acting Governor	Hamidullah Danish
Area
• Total	8,040 km2 (3,100 sq mi)
Population (2012)
• Total	953,800
• Density	120/km2 (310/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+4:30
ISO 3166 code	AF-KDZ
Main languages	Persian Pashto Uzbek Turkmen

Kunduz (Pashto/Persian: کندز‎‎) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the northern part of the country next to Tajikistan. The population of the province is around 953,800, which is multi-ethnic and mostly a tribal society. The city of Kunduz serves as the capital of the province. The Kunduz Airport is located next to the provincial capital.

The Kunduz River valley dominates the Kunduz Province. The river flows irregularly from south to north into the Amu Darya river which forms the border between Afghanistan and Tajikistan. A newly constructed bridge crosses the Amu Darya at Sher Khan Bandar. The river, its tributaries, and derivative canals provide irrigation to the irrigated fields that dominate land usage in the agricultural province. There are also rain-fed fields and open range land that span several miles.

History

Further information: History of Afghanistan

The area has been part of many empires in the past. It became part of the Afghan Durrani Empire in the mid-18th century. It saw major migration from Russian Turkestan in the north during the early 1920s. During the governance of Sher Khan Nasher, Kunduz became one of the wealthiest of Afghanistan's provinces, mainly due to Nasher's founding of the Spinzar Cotton Company, which continues to exist in post-war Afghanistan in the early 20th century.

Before the Nashir (Nasher) as The Khan

Between one hundred and two-hundred thousand Tajiks and Uzbeks fled the conquest of their homeland by Russian Red Army and settled in northern Afghanistan.

During the war in Afghanistan Kunduz was captured by NATO forces. In November 2001, members of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, along with Pakistani military personnel and Afghan sympathizers were airlifted to Pakistan to evade NATO capture in the Kunduz Airlift.

Shir Khan Bandar, located in the Imam Sahib District of Kunduz province, is the border crossing between Afghanistan and neighboring Tajikistan.

In 2008, more details emerged in Descent into Chaos by Ahmed Rashid:

One senior (U.S.) intelligence analyst told me, "The request was made by Musharraf to Bush, but Cheney took charge—a token of who was handling Musharraf at the time. The approval was not shared with anyone at State, including Colin Powell, until well after the event. Musharraf said Pakistan needed to save its dignity and its valued people. Two planes were involved, which made several sorties a night over several nights. They took off from air bases in Chitral and Gilgit in Pakistan's northern areas, and landed in Kunduz, where the evacuees were waiting on the tarmac. Certainly hundreds and perhaps as many as one thousand people escaped. Hundreds of ISI officers, Taliban commanders, and foot soldiers belonging to the IMU and al Qaeda personnel boarded the planes. What was sold as a minor extraction turned into a major air bridge. The frustrated US SOF who watched it from the surrounding high ground dubbed it "Operation Evil Airlift."

Another senior U.S. diplomat told me afterward, "Musharraf fooled us because after we gave approval, the ISI may have run a much bigger operation and got out more people. We just don't know. At the time nobody wanted to hurt Musharraf, and his prestige with the army was at stake. The real question is why Musharraf did not get his men out before. Clearly the ISI was running its own war against the Americans and did not want to leave Afghanistan until the last moment."

Germany has 4000 soldiers stationed in the NATO-ISAF Kunduz province Provincial Reconstruction Team, along with Regional Command North. The province was largely peaceful until Taliban militants started infiltrating the area in 2009.

On 4 September 2009 the German commander called in an American jetfighter, which attacked two NATO fuel trucks, which had been captured by insurgents. More than 90 people died, among them at least 40 civilians, who had gathered to collect fuel.

Main articles: 2009 Kunduz airstrike and Kunduz Province Campaign

It was reported that on 21 November 2009 a bomb going off along the Takhar Kunduz highway killed a child and injured two others.

The governor, Mohammad Omar, was killed by a bomb on 8 October 2010.

On 10 February 2011, a suicide bomber killed a district governor and six other people in the district of Chardara in Kunduz Province, where the insurgency is well entrenched.

Ethnic groups

Ethnic Uzbeks make up the largest percent followed by Pashtun people, Turkmens, Tajik, Hazaras, Arabs and a few others.

Politics and governance

Further information: List of governors of Kunduz

The current governor of Kunduz province is Asadullah Omarkhel. The city of Kunduz is the capital of the province. All law enforcement activities throughout the province are controlled by the Afghan National Police (ANP). The Kunduz border with neighboring Tajikistan is monitored and protected by the Afghan Border Police (ABP), which is part of the ANP. A provincial police chief is assigned to lead both the ANP and ABP. The police chief represents the Ministry of the Interior in Kabul. The ANP is backed by other Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), including the NATO-led forces.

According to the News reports, on 28th September, 2015, Afghan Taliban has captured the Kunduz province.

Transportation

The province is served by Kunduz Airport which had regularly scheduled direct flights to Kabul as of May 2014. The Tajikistan–Afghanistan bridge at Panji Poyon connects the province to Tajikistan.

Economy

Agriculture and livestock husbandry are the primary occupations of the provinces residents. Fruit and vegetable are the most commonly farms items but there is also some cotton and sesame production. Farmers faced water shortages.

Men and women in Kunduz were employed in clothing production, metal working, carpentry and hide business.

The port of Shir Khan Bandar provides an international outlet for Kunduz's goods and has allowed for importing commercial goods from Asia, Middle East, and the Persian Gulf.

Healthcare

The percentage of households with clean drinking water fell from 25% in 2005 to 16% in 2011. The percentage of births attended to by a skilled birth attendant increased from 6% in 2005 to 22% in 2011.

Education

The overall literacy rate (6+ years of age) fell from 33% in 2005 to 20% in 2011. The overall net enrolment rate (6–13 years of age) fell from 62% in 2005 to 50% in 2011.

Demographics

Further information: Demography of Afghanistan

Ethnolinguistic groups of Afghanistan

Districts of Kunduz

The population of Kunduz province is around 953,800, which is multi-ethnic and mostly a tribal society. According to the Naval Postgraduate School, the ethnic groups of the province are as follows: Tajik 33%; Uzbek 27%; Pashtun 22%; Turkmen 11%; Hazara 6%; and Pashai 1%.

Another source gives the following: Tajik 34%; Pashtun 20%; Uzbek 27%; Turkmen 9.4%; Arab 4.6%; and Hazara 3.5%; plus small groups of Pashayi, Baloch and Nuristani.

About 94% of the population practice Sunni Islam and 6% are followers of Shia Islam. The major languages spoken in the area are Persian, Pashto, and Uzbeki.

Districts

Districts of Kunduz Province

District	Capital	Population	Area	Demographics
Ali Abad		45,851		73% Tajik,11% Pashtuns, 8% Hazara, 8% Uzbek
Archi		99,000		40% Pashtuns, 35% Uzbek, 15% Tajik, 10% Turkman
Chahar Dara		69,251		35% Pashtuns, 25% Turkmen 25% Tajik, 15% Uzbek,
Imam Sahib		250,000		35% Turkmens 30% Uzbeks, 20% Pashtuns, 15% Tajiks,
Khan Abad		110,000		40% Pashtuns, 25% Tajik, 20% Hazara, 10% Uzbek, 5% Pashai
Kunduz		259,497		65% Tajik, 15% Pashtuns,5% Turkmen,10% Uzbek, 10% Hazara
Qalay-I-Zal		120,000		95% Turkmens, 5% Pashtuns

Sport

The province is represented in Afghan domestic cricket by the Kunduz Province cricket team. National player Mirwais Ashraf is from Kunduz and currently represents Afghanistan in international cricket.

External links

• Naval Postgraduate School - Kunduz Province