Achin ( ps, اچين ولسوالۍ) is a

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivision ...

in southern Nangarhar Province,

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...

, on the border with

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. Its population is 100%

Pashtun Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically r ...

. Achin is home to the Shinwari tribe, one of the largest Pashtun tribes. It was a stronghold of the

Mujaheddin ''Mujahideen'', or ''Mujahidin'' ( ar, مُجَاهِدِين, mujāhidīn), is the plural form of ''mujahid'' ( ar, مجاهد, mujāhid, strugglers or strivers or justice, right conduct, Godly rule, etc. doers of jihād), an Arabic term t ...

during the

Soviet occupation of Afghanistan The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

in the 1980s. Since 2015 it has been the stronghold of the Afghan branch of ISIL. During the

April 2017 Nangarhar airstrike The 2017 Nangarhar airstrike refers to the American bombing of the Achin District located in the Nangarhar Province of eastern Afghanistan, near the border with Pakistan. On 13 April 2017, the United States conducted an airstrike and used the l ...

, the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Si ...

dropped a

MOAB Moab ''Mōáb''; Assyrian: 𒈬𒀪𒁀𒀀𒀀 ''Mu'abâ'', 𒈠𒀪𒁀𒀀𒀀 ''Ma'bâ'', 𒈠𒀪𒀊 ''Ma'ab''; Egyptian: 𓈗𓇋𓃀𓅱𓈉 ''Mū'ībū'', name=, group= () is the name of an ancient Levantine kingdom whose territ ...

in Achin district which targeted a tunnel complex of the ISIS-affiliate located in the area, and reportedly killed dozens of militants.

Economy

The primary licit crop in Achin is wheat. Collecting and selling firewood, and manual labor, are other income-generating activities. Tobacco is also grown in the district.

Opium poppy

In 2000,

UNDCP The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC; French: ''Office des Nations unies contre la drogue et le crime'') is a United Nations office that was established in 1997 as the Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention by combining the ...

recorded 130

poppy A poppy is a flowering plant in the subfamily Papaveroideae of the family Papaveraceae. Poppies are herbaceous plants, often grown for their colourful flowers. One species of poppy, '' Papaver somniferum'', is the source of the narcotic drug o ...

-growing villages in Achin, making it the greatest opium growing district in eastern Afghanistan that year.

References

External links

Map of Achin
(PDF)
UNODC 2003 Opium Survey
(extensive photographs of Achin poppy cultivation) Districts of Nangarhar Province Districts of Afghanistan {{Nangarhar-geo-stub