Samangan Province

Samangan (Persian: سمنگان‎) is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located north of the Hindu Kush mountains in the central part of the country. The province covers 11,218 square kilometres (4,331 sq mi) and is surrounded by Sar-e Pol Province in the west, Balkh in the north, Baghlan in the east, and Bamyan in the south.

Samangan province is divided into 7 districts and contains 674 villages. It has a population of about 368,800, which is multi-ethnic and mostly a rural society. Its capital is also by the same name, Samangan.

History

The earliest known history of the province is linked to the identification of the Samangan by Aoros Ptolemy as the place of the Varni or Uarni and the fortified city of Samangan on the banks of the Khulm River identical to the Bhaktria regi on the Dargydus river south east of Zariaspa. The ruins found here establishe the city’s founding by Eukratides, the King of Bactria. It was then known as Edrisi the size of the Khulm city. Historicity of the Samangan town dates to the time of the Kushan Empire during the 4th and 5th centuries when it was a famous Buddhist centre. Witness to this period is seen now in the form of ruins at a place called the Takht-e-Rostam, which is located 3 km from the town on a hilltop. Arabs and Mongols came to this place when it was already famous as a Buddhist religious centre. Aibak was the name given to this place when, during the medieval period, caravans used to stop here.

Afghanistan has various archaeological sites where caves were hewn out of rocks and inhabited by Buddhists. "One of the most spectacular sites is that of Takth i Raustam, near Samangan (Haybak), north of Hindu Kush passes. It includes a complex of stupa with monastery, hewn out of the rock. Other caves have been found near Jalalabad and at the site of Humay Qal'a southwest of Ghazni.

The Buddhist in Takth i Raustam here in the form of a mound, located on the hilltop, represents the earliest link to the evolution of Buddhist architecture in Afghanistan

The area was conquered by the Hephthalites followed by the Saffarids who brought Islam. The Samanids took it and controlled it until the Ghaznavids rose to power in the 10th century, they were replaced by the Ghorids. After the Mongol invasion the Timurids took possession.

Between the early 16th century and the mid-18th century, the territory was ruled by the Khanate of Bukhara. It was given to Ahmad Shah Durrani by Murad Beg of Bukhara after a treaty of friendship was reached in or about 1750, and became part of the Durrani Empire. It was ruled by the Durranis followed by the Barakzai dynasty, and was untouched by the British during the three Anglo-Afghan wars that were fought in the 19th and 20th centuries. It remained peaceful for about one hundred years until the 1980s Soviet war in Afghanistan.

Recent history

After the Afghan Civil War, the town of Darra Souf in Samangan Province was occupied by Ustad Mohammad Mohaqiq and the Taliban in late 1999. The Taliban forces gained control of the area from January to March 2000 including nearby Sar-e-Pol and Baghlan provinces, where they were reported to have massacred an unknown number of civilians.

On May 8, 2000, several men from Baghlan were driven up to the Robotak Pass in Samangan province, approximately 20 miles north of the city of Samangan (100 miles south of Mazar-i-Sharif) and were executed, later found by local farmers in shallow graves which the Taliban had dug for them.

After the removal of the Taliban government in late 2001, the Karzai administration took over control of Afghanistan. In the meantime, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) established a Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in the province. After getting training by ISAF, the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) are providing security for the population of the province.

The province has a fairly good security situation, with the United Nations Department for Safety and Security (UNDSS) reporting a calm and stable condition. However, on 15 February 2011 an ISAF peacekeeper from Finland was killed in a roadside bombing near Samangan City, and on 14 July 2012, Ahmed Khan Samangani, a member of the National Assembly of Afghanistan, was killed when a suicide bomber infiltrated his daughter's wedding party in the city of Samangan. The bomb also killed the provincial head of the National Directorate of Security (NDS), and 13 other guests, and 60 were injured, including senior police and army commanders. The deputy provincial governor, Ghulam Sarkhi, claimed that the death toll was likely to rise.

Geography

Samangan is located in northern central Afghanistan, delimited by Baghlan province in the east, Bamyan in the south, Sar-e-Pul in the south-west and Balkh province in the northwest. Samangan encompasses an area of 11218 km2 consisting 59% of mountainous terrain, 21% of semi mountainous terrain, 12% of flat land, 4.8% of semi-flat land and the balance 2.2% is unclassified land.

Some parts of the province are characterised by distinctive rolling hills and mountains and rich green valleys. The provincial jurisdiction is spread over seven administrative districts, with Samangan City as its capital. This town is located on the banks of the Khulm River, in the valley formed below the junction of Hindu Kush mountains and the Central Asian Steppe; the valley has very fertile agricultural land. The highest mountain ranges of the province thus lie to the southwest of the province, southwest of Samangan City. Only 12% of the provincial area consists of flat land. The city of Samangan lies in the Khulm River valley, with mountains to the west and east. It is located to the northwest of the city of Baghlan and about is 190 km (120 mi) north-west of the capital Kabul and the same distance south-east of Mazar-i-Sharif city.

Samangan Province has a long history of earthquakes which has led to the loss of thousands of people and their homes. In 1998, two earthquakes struck measuring 5.9 and 6.6 on the Richter scale, claiming some 6,000 lives along the border with Tajikistan. A series of earthquakes struck nearby Baghlan province on March 3, 2002, killing roughly 1,000 people. In April 2010 at least 11 people were killed and more than 70 injured when a 5.7 magnitude quake at a depth of 10 km struck the province. It damaged some 300 houses and killed hundreds of cattle, causing landslides which blocks some of the main roads.

Politics and governance

The Governor of the province is Khairullah Anush, who came to office after Enayatullah Enayat was replaced in 2010. There is a provincial Police Chief who is responsible for all law enforcement activities within the province. The Police Chief represents the Ministry of the Interior in Kabull.

The Provincial Development Committee (PDC), under the directive of the Ministry of Economy of Afghanistan, was formed for the province in January 2006. It has the responsibility to implement the Provincial Development Plan, through the government departments. Stakeholder groups in the province are also involved in this process. Further, at the community and village level there are 424 Community Development Councils (CDC) in the province to implement the development plans at the district and village level. The PDC and CDC have the basic tasks of creating infrastructure facilities of water supply and sanitation, energy, transport and communications to further economic growth with involvement of the private sector.

Demographics

The total population of Samangan province is about 368,800, which is predominately rural with only 7% living in urban centres. The major ethnic group in the province is Tajik (70%) followed by Uzbek, Pashtun, Hazara, Arab and Tatar. Roughly 72.5% people of the province speak Dari and 22.1% people speak Uzbeki as their native language. Pashto is the mother toung of the Pashtuns. Many people throughout the country are bilingual or multi-lingual. All inhabitants follow Islam, with majority being Sunni while the Shi'as make up the minority.

Districts

Districts of Samangan Province

District	Capital	Population	Area	Number of villages and ethnic groups
Aybak	Samangan	85,427	1,553 km2	96 villages. 55% Uzbek, 35% Tajik, 5% Pashtun, 5% other.
Darah Sof Balla	Dari Suf Bala	52,473	2,911 km2	146 villages. 99% Hazara.
Darah Sof Payan	Dari Suf Payan	55,858	1,707.98 km2	209 villages. 70% Tajik and 30% Uzbek.
Feroz Nakhchir	Feroz Nakhchir	11,701	1,211 km2	22 villages. Uzbek, Pashtun, Tajik.
Hazrat Sultan	Hazrat Sultan	36,690	985 km2	66 villages. Tajik, Pashtun, Uzbek, Arab.
Khuram Wa Sarbagh	Khuram Wa Sarbagh	30,704	2,122 km2	52 villages. Tajiks.
Ruyi Du Ab	Ruyi	40,358	2,414.4 km2	83 villages. 65% Tatar, 20% Habash, 15% Hazara.

Towns and villages

According to Afghanistan's Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development, the province has 674 villages.

• Abdan-e Shebaqli
• Ab Khvorak-e Bala
• Ab Khvorak-e Pa'in
• Aq Gonbaz
• Asiabad
• Baba Qanbar
• Balahesar
• Band-e Sareq
• Besh Qol
• Chahar Cheshmeh
• Chahar Deh
• Chahar Owlia'
• Changiz
• Dagah
• Dahaneh-ye Shams od Din
• Dalkhaki
• Dehi
• Deh Mirdad
• Deh Now
• Do Ab
• Ghazni Gak
• Gozar
• Hasani
• Hazar Som
• Hazrat-e Soltan
• Heyratan
• Hezarmani
• Jan Bulaq
• Jeyretan
• Juy-ye Jadid
• Kaldar
• Katah Qeshlaq
• Kholm
• Khvajeh Hayat
• Khvajeh Zahed
• Kolowr va Dah Sil
• Kowkeh Bulaq
• Larghan
• Maschetak
• Na'ebabad
• Orlamesh
• Pir Nakhchir
• Qalacheh
• Qal`eh-ye Now
• Qal`eh-ye Sarkari
• Qareh Aghach
• Qashaqeh
• Qaynar-e Bala
• Qaynar-e Pa'in
• Ru'i
• Ru'i
• Sad Mardeh
• Samangan
• Sar-e Asia
• Sar-e Bum
• Sayyad
• Seyghanchi
• Shabashak
• Shahidan
• Sharik Yar
• Sorkh Abi
• Taghan Gozar
• Taqchi
• Towz Bulaq
• Werdaqamal
• Yangi Aregh

Health and education

Health services provided by the Ministry of Health are fairly basic with 6 health centres and 3 hospitals with 60 beds. They are reasonably well staffed with 21 doctors and 33 nurses. To cater to the pharmaceutical needs of the patients, there are 24 pharmacies, two are run by the government and the rest are privately owned. In 2006, two dozen women completed a midwifery course.

Owing to its relative isolation, Samangan province is underdeveloped with no energy infrastructure and has a high rate of illiteracy, although some students have access to education in neighbouring Mazari Sharif. Educational facilities in the province is at a low level with literacy rate recorded at only 19% for the province as a whole, with 28% literacy rate among men and a low of 10% among women. The Kuchi people are the least literate, recording a literacy rate of only 3%, that too among men only. The province has 159 primary and secondary schools with attendance of 59,915 students; 83% of schools are boys’ schools with 68% students. While the village schools are within easy reach, the high schools are generally about 10 km away from the villages.

Economy

Agriculture and some small scale mining are the main industries of the province. Economic condition of the people is very hard with nearly 12% households finding it difficult to meet the food requirements to sustain. This has resulted in allocations of food aid to the province.

In October 2010, the first dish-making factory run by women began operations. The women were trained for several months and now work in two shifts. During the last few years, thousands of other women have worked on a variety of different projects such as tailoring and carpet knitting.

Status of infrastructure

As of 2005, safe drinking water access is available to 7% of households (falls to a low of 4% in rural areas). However, some drinking water facility is available in some form to about 71% of households. Still many households have to travel for long hours to the nearest source of water.

Electricity supply is minimal, limited to only about 5% of the population with 80% supplied from government sources. The transport sector is still underdeveloped. Only 28% of roads are good for use by motorized traffic throughout the year with this percentage rising to 41% in some seasons. However roads are non-existent in 28% of the province.

Education is still in a nascent state of development with only 19% being literate, as of 2005, with literacy among men limited to 28% and literacy among women limited to a mere 10%; literacy among the Kuchis population is the least at about 3% of men only. There are 59 primary and secondary schools in the province with enrolment of 59,915 students. However, travelling distance to the schools varies, with primary schools being most accessible while High Schools involve about 10 km of travel.

As of 2005, basic health services maintained by the Ministry of Health were fairly developed with 6 health centres and 3 hospitals with a total of 60 beds. The health centres were well staffed with 21 doctors and 33 nurses.

Food security is a major issue since nearly 12% of the population receive less than the minimum daily caloric intake to sustain good health. Food consumption is poor in both rural and urban areas and as a result food aid has become essential.

From the security angle, the United Nations Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS) has reported security situation in the province calm and stable.

Mineral resource

Marble export sustains Afghan economy. The marble is extracted and processed in 21 factories in the country, including the famous brown marble from Samangan province. This adds to the economy of the province.

Agriculture

The economy revolves around agriculture, with farmers in Samangan province cultivating grains, fruits, and nuts on the region’s fertile river plains. The province of Samangan is second only to the northwestern Afghan province of Badghis in terms of pistachio production. As of 2005, 10 Agricultural cooperatives were functioning in the province with 665 enrolled members controlling an area of 5532 ha which brought prosperity to its members. The staple food crops grown in the province are wheat, barley and potato and flax. The horticultural or garden crops grown are grapes, pomegranates and other fruit and nut trees. Cash crops grown in a few villages were sesame, cotton and tobacco; and they are mostly in Dara-i-Soofi-Payin and Aybek districts; cotton was major crop in Hazrat-i-Sultan district while tobacco was produced on a large scale in the Roi-Do-Ab district. Use of fertilizers is also common among 60% of the on both field and garden crops Industries are almost non existent in the province, except for minor leather industry producing the karakul skin and a few small scale handicrafts producing rugs, shawls, jewellery and carpets.

Horse breeding also sustains the economy of the province as it caters particularly for the popular sport of buzkashi in Afghanistan. Buzkashi is a traditional Central Asian team sport played on horseback in Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, northern Pakistan and Kazakhstan.

Irrigation

The agricultural economy of the province is further enhanced with irrigation facility provided to 21,242 ha. The irrigated areas deciphered from the land-cover maps, under a collaborative project of FAO, the United Nations Development Programme and the Afghan Geodesy and Cartography Head Office, Kabul are in Aybak, Samangan - 5 426ha, Dara-I-Suf, Samangan - 4 149ha, Hazrati Sult, Samangan -6 884 ha, Khuram Wa Sa, Samangan - 1 733 ha and Ruyi Du Ab, Samangan -3,049 ha.

Cultural heritage

The historical cultural heritage in the province which is mainly at Samangan City, the provincial headquarters of Samangan are the Takt-e Rostam and the adjacent Buddhist caves and stupas on a top of hill.

Takht-i Rustam

Takht-i Rustam (Haibak), literal meaning the throne of Rustam, named after Rustam, a king in Persian mythology, is a hilltop settlement. It is dated to the 4th and 5th centuries of the Kushano-Sassanian period, which is corroborated by archaeological, architectural and numismatic evidence. It is located 3 km to the southwest of Samangan town. It is the location of a stupa-monastery complex which is fully carved into the mountain rock. The monastery of major Buddhist tradition of Therravada Buddhism, has five chambers, two are sanctuaries and one is a domed ceiling with an intricate lotus leaf beautification. In the adjacent hill is the stupa, which has a harmika, with several caves at its base. Above one of the caves, there is square building in which there are two conference halls; one is 22 metres square and the other is circular. In one of these caves, Archaeological excavations have revealed a cache of Ghaznavid coins. The Buddhist temples near the Takht are 10 numbers known locally as Kie Tehe.

Hazar Sum

Hazar Sum is another ancient Buddhist centre in north central Afghanistan where several caves have been found and in one of these caves a Buddhist stupa has been carved.

Source

Wikipedia:Samangan Province