Alingar District is located approximately 27 km from Mehtarlam, the provincial capital of

Laghman Province Laghman (Persian language, Persian/Pashto: ) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the eastern part of the country. It has a population of about 502,148, which is multi-ethnic and mostly a rural society. Laghman hosts a large numbe ...

and borders with Alishing and Dawlat Shah districts to the West,

Nuristan Province Nuristan, also spelled as Nurestan or Nooristan (Pashto: ; Katë: ), is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the eastern part of the country. It is divided into seven districts and is Afghanistan's least populous province, with a ...

to the North, Kunar and Nangarhar provinces to the East and Qarghayi and Mihtarlam districts to the South.It has about 60 villages located in four main valleys. The population is 85,600 (2006) - 70% of them

Pashtun Pashtuns (, , ; ;), also known as Pakhtuns, or Pathans, are an Iranic ethnic group primarily residing in southern and eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. They were historically also referred to as Afghans until 1964 after the ...

, 20% Pashai and 5% Tajik. The district center is the village of Shahi, located on at 915 m altitude, in the valley of the

Alingar River The Alingar River (also Alingâr) in Laghman Province of Afghanistan is one of the major tributaries of the Kabul River, and part of the Indus River The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayas, Himalayan river ...

, which crosses the district and is the main source of irrigation. The security situation is reported to be relatively stable, although there are some private disputes. The district is reported free of landmines. The main crops are

wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

corn Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout Poaceae, grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples of Mexico, indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago ...

, vegetables. There are also fields with

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 ...

. The district is mountainous and there is little

arable land Arable land (from the , "able to be ploughed") is any land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops.''Oxford English Dictionary'', "arable, ''adj''. and ''n.''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2013. Alternatively, for the purposes of a ...

. Some of the agricultural land has been destroyed by flooding. The main sources of income are farming, daily wage labour and remittances from abroad. It was reported that around 30% of the population work in agriculture, 20% work abroad in

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

and

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

, 2% are government employees, 2% traders, and around 45% are without work. During the wars 80% of the houses were destroyed and many residents fled to

and now they are returning slowly. The health care and education sectors are relatively well, but improvement is needed especially in the distant villages.

References

External links

AIMS District Map2003 AIMS District Profile
Districts of Laghman Province {{Laghman-geo-stub