Delārām (

Pashto Pashto ( , ; , ) is an eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyb ...

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

: دلارام) is a city in the northern part of

Nimruz Province Nimruz or Nimroz (Balochi language, Balochi: ; Dari, Pashto language, Pashto: ) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the southwestern part of the country. It lies to the east of the Sistan and Baluchestan province of Iran and nor ...

, in southern

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

. It is a major transportation center, with several major road converging on the area, including Kandahar–Herat Highway (part of the

Ring Road A ring road (also known as circular road, beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city or country. The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist in reducin ...

), Route 515 to Farah, Route 522 to

Gulistan Gulistan, Golestan or Golastan () means "flower land" in Persian language (''gol'' meaning "flower", and ''-stan'' meaning "land"). It may refer to: Places Iran "Golestan" most often refers to: *Golestan province in northeast Iran. * Goles ...

and Route 606 to

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 ...

. The district center contains a large bazaar.

History

Delaram was initially a city in

Khash Rod District Khash Rod District or Khashrowd ( Balochi: , Dari: ) is a district of Nimruz Province in Afghanistan. It had a population of 35,381 in 2004, which was 55% ethnic Pashtun, 20% Baloch, 15% Brahui and 10% Tajik. The district capital is Ghorghori ...

, but was administratively transferred to

Farah Province Farah (Pashto :فرَاه /) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the southwestern part of the country on the border with Iran. It is a spacious and sparsely populated province, divided into eleven Districts of Afghanistan, dist ...

in 2007 for a short time as a separate district. Delaram transitioned to Farah Province following a period of violence between

ISAF The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was a multinational military mission in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014. It was established by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1386 according to the Bonn Agreement, which outlined t ...

and the

Taliban , leader1_title = Supreme Leader of Afghanistan, Supreme leaders , leader1_name = {{indented plainlist, * Mullah Omar{{Natural Causes{{nbsp(1994–2013) * Akhtar Mansour{{Assassinated (2015–2016) * Hibatullah Akhundzada (2016–present) ...

, in which the

Afghan Border Police The Afghan Border Force (ABF) was a paramilitary police responsible for counterinsurgency and security of Afghanistan's border area with neighboring countries extending up to into the interior and formed part of the Afghan National Army. In ...

were brought in to restore order. Delaram was then transferred back to

and remained a separate district of Nimruz.

Climate

Delaram has a

hot desert climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk'') is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''BWh''), characterised by little precipitation and high variation between summer and winter temperatures. The average temperature in Delaram is 18.9 °C, while the annual precipitation averages 106 mm. July is the hottest month of the year with an average temperature of 31.9 °C. The coldest month January has an average temperature of 6.1 °C.

Delaram US Military Base

Forward Operating Base Delaram, with elements of the ANA 215th Corps and U.S. Marines, was located near the town of Delaram. The base was transferred to the

Afghan National Army The Islamic National Army (, ), also referred to as the Islamic Emirate Army and the Afghan Army, is the army, land force branch of the Afghan Armed Forces. The roots of an army in Afghanistan can be traced back to the early 18th century when th ...

in April 2014 and later became the headquarters of 4th Brigade, 215th Corps, which was formed in 2012, prior to the Taliban takeover in 2021.

Route 606: Delaram-Zaranj Highway

The Delaram–Zaranj Highway, also known as Route 606, is a 217-km or 135-mile-long two-lane road built by

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, connecting Delaram in

with

Zaranj Zaranj ( Persian/Pashto/) is a city in southwestern Afghanistan, which has a population of 160,902 people as of 2015. It is the capital of Nimruz Province and is linked by highways with Lashkargah and Kandahar to the east, Farah to the north an ...

in neighbouring

near the

ian border. It connects the Afghan–Iranian border with the Kandahar–Herat Highway in Delaram, which provides connectivity to other major Afghan cities via A01, including to India's planned mining operation in

Hajigak mining concession Hajigak Mine is the best known and largest iron oxide deposit in Afghanistan, located near the Hajigak Pass The Hajigak Pass ( ''hajji gak'' 'little pilgrim') is a mountain pass of Afghanistan. It is situated at a height of above sea-level in ...

. Route 606 reduces travel time between Delaram and Zaranj from the earlier 12–14 hours to just 2 hours.

signed an agreement in May 2016 to connect it to

Port of Chabahar Chabahar Port () is a seaport located in Chabahar in southeastern Iran, on the Gulf of Oman. It serves as Iran's only oceanic port, and consists of two separate ports named ''Shahid Kalantari'' and ''Shahid Beheshti'', each of which has five ber ...

with rail and road links.

References

Farah Province Populated places in Nimruz Province {{nimruz-geo-stub