Andkhoy ( prs, اندخوی; ps, اندخوی ولسوالۍ) is a

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

in the northern part of Afghanistan, which has a population of about 47,857 people. They include all the major ethnic groups of the country. The city serves as the capital of Andkhoy District in the Faryab Province. It is around of driving distance southwest from the Aqina– Imamnazar border crossing between Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. There is also a

rail station A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track and a station building providing such ...

in the city, which was recently opened for import and export purposes with neighboring Turkmenistan. The Sheberghan Airfield in neighboring Jowzjan Province is the closest airport to Andkhoy.

Ruwe Arjans

The town founded by "The Ruwe Arjans", stands between the northern spurs of the Paropamise and the Oxus; it is 100 km. due west of

Balkh ), named for its green-tiled ''Gonbad'' ( prs, گُنبَد, dome), in July 2001 , pushpin_map=Afghanistan#Bactria#West Asia , pushpin_relief=yes , pushpin_label_position=bottom , pushpin_mapsize=300 , pushpin_map_caption=Location in Afghanistan ...

, on the edge of the

Turkmen Turkmen, Türkmen, Turkoman, or Turkman may refer to: Peoples Historical ethnonym * Turkoman (ethnonym), ethnonym used for the Oghuz Turks during the Middle Ages Ethnic groups * Turkmen in Anatolia and the Levant (Seljuk and Ottoman-Turkish desc ...

desert. The area was an independent Khanate, ruled by members of the

Afshar tribe Afshar ( az, Əfşar افشار; tr, Avşar, ''Afşar''; tk, Owşar; fa, اَفشار, Āfshār) is a tribe of Oghuz Turkic origin, that split into several groups in Iran, Turkey and Afghanistan. During the Seljuk conquests of the 11th century ...

from 1747 to 1880. In 1847, the city was sacked by Yar Mohammad Khan, the ruler of Herat, from which it never recovered. The tract in which Andkhoy stands is fertile, but proverbially unhealthy; the Persians accounted it as "a Hell upon Earth" due to its scorching sands, brackish water, flies and scorpions. Renovation of Andkhoy started in 1959, mainly at the eastern parts of the old town. The original plan of the infrastructure was reconditioned and reduced to half its volume of the developments to take place. The property owners refused to sell their land for further developments and the plan consequently failed. The infrastructure remained poor; for example, in 1973 only 13% of the houses had access to electricity, in particular for nights. Lack of sanitary drinking water remained a major problem. The 15 meter deep wells had salty and awfully bad tasting water and the trenches had only twenty days running water in a month. To counteract this, there were water pools to preserve water for bad days to come every month.

References

External links

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VUSAF - Afghanistan-Schulen Union of Assistance For Schools in Afghanistan
Rahmanqul 1956 - 2007, Regional Director in Andkhoi
{{Authority control Populated places in Faryab Province