Adraskan (

Pashto Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani (). Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official langua ...

: ادرسکن) is a historical town in western

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 bordere ...

near the

Harut River The Harut River or Adraskan River is a river of Afghanistan. It is a river which belongs to the Sistan Basin. The source of the river lies in the mountains to the southeast of Herat Herāt (; Persian: ) is an oasis city and the third-larges ...

. It was mentioned in 13th and 14th century geographies as one of four prominent towns in the district of Sabzwar, the Green Place, which, now called Shindand (Pashto equivalent of Sabzwar). Now the town is the center of Adraskan District in

Herat Province Herat ( Persian: ) is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located in the north-western part of the country. Together with Badghis, Farah, and Ghor provinces, it makes up the north-western region of Afghanistan. Its primary city a ...

. It is located on at 1343 m altitude. The main

Kandahar–Herat Highway The Kandahar–Herat Highway is section of road that links the cities of Kandahar and Herat in Afghanistan. This highway is part of a larger road network, the "Ring Road", and was first constructed by the Soviets in the 1960s. The Kandahar-H ...

passes through the town. During the

Soviet–Afghan War The Soviet–Afghan War was a protracted armed conflict fought in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989. It saw extensive fighting between the Soviet Union and the Afghan mujahideen (alongside smaller groups of anti-Sovie ...

, the 68th Guards Separate Engineer Battalion,

5th Guards Motor Rifle Division The 5th Guards ''Zimovnikovskaya'' order Kutuzov II degree Motor Rifle Division, (Military Unit Number (V/Ch) 51852 from 1979) named on the 60th anniversary of the USSR, was a military formation of the Soviet Ground Forces. It was formed from t ...

, 40th Army, appears to have been located here.

Climate

With an influence from the local steppe climate, Adraskan features a

cold semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi-ar ...

(''BSk'') under the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

. The average temperature in Adraskan is 14.2 °C, while the annual precipitation averages 216 mm. July is the hottest month of the year with an average temperature of 26.6 °C. The coldest month January has an average temperature of 1.7 °C.

References

Populated places in Herat Province {{Herat-geo-stub

Climate

See also

References