Grishk District () (population 114,200), also called Nahri Saraj District (), is a district in

Helmand Province Helmand (Pashto language, Pashto/Dari language, Dari: ; ), also known as Hillmand, in ancient times, as Hermand and Hethumand, is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, in the south of the country. It is the largest province by area, covering ...

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 ...

. Its principal municipality is

Grishk Grishk (; ), also spelled Gereshk, is the new name of Zamindawar which is named after the invasion of the region by Nader Afshar army and given to Ghilji tribe in 18th century. Grishk a town in Grishk District of Helmand province, geograph ...

(population 48,546).

Grishk Dam The Grishk Dam is located on a canal next to the city of Grishk in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan. It is a gravity dam with a hydroelectric power plant. About to the northeast is the Canal Intake Structure, which provides water from the Helm ...

is located in the district.

History

On 3 May 2020, seven Afghan security forces were killed and at least 12 others wounded in a suicide

truck bomb A car bomb, bus bomb, van bomb, lorry bomb, or truck bomb, also known as a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED), is an improvised explosive device designed to be detonated in an automobile or other vehicles. Car bombs can be roug ...

attack on a military and intelligence base in Grishk District. A Mazda mini truck was exploded in front of the gate by the suicide attacker, partially damaging the base. 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) ...

claimed responsibility for the attack. On 17 March 2024, at least 21 people were killed and 38 others were injured in a traffic accident in the district.

Demography

The ethnic composition is predominantly

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 ...

,MRRD
District Profile and the main tribe is

Noorzai Noorzai () is the name of a Pashtun tribe, part of the Panjpai section of Durrani Pashtuns. Their name means "son of light" whereas Nur is an Arabic word that means "light", and "zai" means "son of" in the Pashto language. Tribally speaking, they ...

Location

Gerishk District sits at the intersection of Highway 1 (the 'Afghan ring-road', based on the old

Silk Road The Silk Road was a network of Asian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over , it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and religious interactions between the ...

and refurbished in the 1960s with US investment) and the

Helmand River The Helmand river (Pashto/Dari: ; Ancient Greek: Ἐτύμανδρος, ''Etýmandros''; Latin: '), also spelled Helmend, or Helmund, Hirmand, is the longest river in Afghanistan and the primary watershed for the endorheic Sistan Basin. It o ...

. A major stopping-point on the trade routes from

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 ...

, Grishk enjoys the prospect of returning to its historical prosperity, although this is under threat of Taliban resurgence in the region. Route 611 passes through Gerishk District.

Income

The main source of income is agriculture. The soil is rich and the irrigation systems are in relatively good condition. The irrigation is from the Helamand River, karezes and tube-wells.

Hospitals and Schools

There is a hospital with both male and female doctors. There are 20 schools in the district, attended by 80% of the children.

Operation Enduring Freedom

Bismullah appointed to be the transportation director for Ghereskh by the

Hamid Karzai Hamid Karzai (born 24 December 1957) is an Afghan politician who served as the fourth president of Afghanistan from 2002 to 2014, including as the first president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan from 2004 to 2014. He previously served a ...

administration was sent to

Guantanamo Bay detention camp The Guantanamo Bay detention camp, also known as GTMO ( ), GITMO ( ), or simply Guantanamo Bay, is a United States military prison within Naval Station Guantanamo Bay (NSGB), on the coast of Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. It was established in 2002 by p ...

, where he was held in

extrajudicial detention Administrative detention is arrest and detention of individuals by the state without trial. A number of jurisdictions claim that it is done for security reasons. Many countries claim to use administrative detention as a means to combat terrorism ...

for seven years. On January 17, 2009, the US Government acknowledged that he had never been an "enemy combatant".

References

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20090206161913/http://aims.org.af/maps/district/hilmand/nahri_sarraj.pdf District Map * https://web.archive.org/web/20061211123952/http://jemb.org/eng/electoral_system/reg.centers.pdf Actual census data since 2005 year Districts of Helmand Province {{Helmand-geo-stub