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The Shomali Plain, also called the Shomali Valley or Kohistan, is a plateau just north of
Kabul Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...
,
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 approximately 30 km wide and 80 km long. ''Shomali'' means 'windy' or 'northern' (i.e. north of Kabul). Most of the population is Tajik and some
Pashtuns Pashtuns (, , ; ;), also known as Pakhtuns, or Pathans, are an Iranian peoples, Iranic ethnic group primarily residing in southern and eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. They were historically also referred to as Afghan (ethnon ...
. Charikar, Qarabagh, Istalif, and
Bagram Bagram (; Pashto/) is a town and seat in Bagram District in Parwan Province of Afghanistan, about 60 kilometers north of the capital Kabul. It is the site of an ancient city located at the junction of the Ghorband and Panjshir Valley, near t ...
are just some of the villages located within the Shomali Plan. It's a fertile area, where fruits and vegetables are cultivated and Kabul's residents picnic on weekends. The area is known for agriculture including grapes, walnuts, apricots, mulberries, pomegranates, and sour cherries. The village of Istalif is especially famous for its deep turquoise and green pottery. Throughout history, because of its geographic location and proximity to Kabul, the Shomali Plain has experienced numerous periods of fighting and violence.
Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...
built forts in today's
Bagram Bagram (; Pashto/) is a town and seat in Bagram District in Parwan Province of Afghanistan, about 60 kilometers north of the capital Kabul. It is the site of an ancient city located at the junction of the Ghorband and Panjshir Valley, near t ...
, then called Alexandria in the Caucasus. The region played an important role or was often battleground during the
First Anglo-Afghan War The First Anglo-Afghan War () was fought between the British Empire and the Emirate of Kabul from 1838 to 1842. The British initially successfully invaded the country taking sides in a succession dispute between emir Dost Mohammad Khan ( Bara ...
, civil wars, the Soviet Union, and the United States. Today, the area is still affected by wars in Afghanistan since 1978. The UN Mine Action Center once identified the Shomali Plain as one of the areas in the world most contaminated by land mines. In the 1920s, the Shomali Plain became a focal point of tension following Habibullāh Kalakāni overthrowing
Amanullah Khan Ghazi (warrior), Ghazi Amanullah Khan (Pashto/Dari: ; 1 June 1892 – 26 April 1960) was the head of state, sovereign of Afghanistan from 1919, first as Emirate of Afghanistan, Emir and after 1926 as Kingdom of Afghanistan, King, until his abdic ...
, the King of Afghanistan. Most of the people of Shomali supported Habibullah, who hailed from the village of
Kalakan Kalakan , is a village located in the center of Kalakan District, Kabul Province, Afghanistan. Notable People of Kalakan * Habibullāh Kalakāni, Afghan revolutionary leader who deposed the Barakzai Dynasty and captured vast swathes of Afgha ...
. Civil war followed Habibullah's uprising and fighting ensued in Istalif in 1929. Eventually, Mohammad Nadir Shah, a General under Amanullah Khan, became king. In retribution and because he was beholden to the Pashtun tribes who supported him, Mohammad Nadir Shah gave them permission to raid and loot the Shomali Plain.


Taliban rule (1996-2001)

During the rule of the Taliban (1996-2001), fighting in the Shomali Plain was relatively sparse, but the plateau was maintained as fighting frontier by
Ahmad Shah Massoud Ahmad Shāh Massoud (2 September 19539 September 2001) was an Afghan militant leader and politician. He was a guerrilla commander during the resistance against the Soviet occupation during the Soviet–Afghan War from 1979 to 1989. In the 19 ...
and his
Northern Alliance The Northern Alliance ( ''Da Šumāl E'tilāf'' or ''Ettehād Šumāl''), officially known as the United National Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan ( ''Jabha-ye Muttahid-e barāye Afğānistān''), was a military alliance of groups that op ...
who challenged 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) ...
's control over much of Afghanistan. When the Taliban retreated from the Plain in 1997, they poisoned wells, cut down trees, and destroyed the irrigation system of what was a largely Tajik area that supported
Ahmad Shah Massoud Ahmad Shāh Massoud (2 September 19539 September 2001) was an Afghan militant leader and politician. He was a guerrilla commander during the resistance against the Soviet occupation during the Soviet–Afghan War from 1979 to 1989. In the 19 ...
., p. 62 In 1999, the Taliban considered the region, especially towns such as Istalif with 45,000 residents, a liability and they razed such towns, destroyed farms, and forced hundreds of thousands of people from the region. The Taliban's goal was not only to demolish the region's farming and livelihood, but also to depopulate it.


2001

In 2001, a brief battle took place on Shomali Plain between the Taliban and the
Northern Alliance The Northern Alliance ( ''Da Šumāl E'tilāf'' or ''Ettehād Šumāl''), officially known as the United National Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan ( ''Jabha-ye Muttahid-e barāye Afğānistān''), was a military alliance of groups that op ...
. The Taliban forces, fearing encirclement, demoralized by the fall of the northern cities, and under constant American air attack, retreated to the Kabul, 45 kilometres to the north, and a day later they abandoned the city.


Rebuilding since 2002

In the 2001 Afghan War, the
Northern Alliance The Northern Alliance ( ''Da Šumāl E'tilāf'' or ''Ettehād Šumāl''), officially known as the United National Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan ( ''Jabha-ye Muttahid-e barāye Afğānistān''), was a military alliance of groups that op ...
was directed to take the Shomali Plain after it secured the supply routes from the north, and wait for an international peacekeeping force to move into
Kabul Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...
. They did not wait, however, because the Taliban retreated from Kabul without a fight, leaving a security vacuum, and consequently the
Northern Alliance The Northern Alliance ( ''Da Šumāl E'tilāf'' or ''Ettehād Šumāl''), officially known as the United National Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan ( ''Jabha-ye Muttahid-e barāye Afğānistān''), was a military alliance of groups that op ...
occupied Kabul without major problems. In the summer of 2002, the Taliban being driven from Afghanistan, villagers started to return to the Shomali Plain, starting to rebuild the agriculture and their houses. Late 2002, the Shomali Plain still looked mostly like a desert or destructed battleground, with hardly a bush or tree, but strewn with tank-wrecks, demolished cars, torn shipping containers, and mine fields along the main road, and was considered by the UN Mine Action Center as one of the world's most active
land mine A land mine, or landmine, is an explosive weapon often concealed under or camouflaged on the ground, and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets as they pass over or near it. Land mines are divided into two types: anti-tank mines, wh ...
areas. By 2004, the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, l ...
had put in 300 water points and resettled 14,000 families. By 2009, the Shomali Plain had become one of the relatively few prospering areas of Afghanistan. The A76 highway, running through the Shomali Plain, is militarily necessary, had been rebuilt by 2009 and was being secured, which urgency and security did not exist elsewhere in the country. That A76 runs from Kabul to
Bagram Bagram (; Pashto/) is a town and seat in Bagram District in Parwan Province of Afghanistan, about 60 kilometers north of the capital Kabul. It is the site of an ancient city located at the junction of the Ghorband and Panjshir Valley, near t ...
and Charikar in
Parwan Province Parwan also spelled Parvan () is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan. It is the largest province of the Greater Parwan region and has a population of about 751,000. The province is multi-ethnic and mostly rural society. The province is divid ...
, and then into the Hindu Kush mountains to the
Salang Tunnel The Salang Tunnel ( ''Tūnel-e Sālang'', ''Da Sālang Tūnel'') is a tunnel located at the Salang Pass in northern Parwan Province of Afghanistan, about north of the nation's capital, Kabul. At nearly above sea level, the tunnel work was ...
. The tunnel provides the only year-round, all-weather access to the north of Afghanistan.


References

{{Coord, 34, 51, 32, N, 69, 14, 2, E, display=title Landforms of Afghanistan Plateaus of Asia