Taloqan (, also transcribed Taleqan or Taluqan) is the capital of

Takhar Province Takhar (Dari/Pashto: ) is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located in the northeast of the country next to Tajikistan. It is surrounded by Badakhshan in the east, Panjshir in the south, and Baghlan and Kunduz in the west. The ...

, in northeastern

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 located in the

Taluqan District Taluqan, (), is a district of Takhar Province, in northeastern Afghanistan. The city has a total population of 258,219 (2015) and has 6 Police districts (nahias). The total land area of the city is 10,744 Hectares while there are a total of 28,6 ...

. The population was estimated as 196,400 in 2006. In 2021, 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) ...

gained control of the province during the

2021 Taliban offensive The 2021 Taliban offensive was a Offensive (military), military offensive by the Taliban insurgent group and allied militants that led to the fall of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the end of the nearly 20-year War in Afghanistan (200 ...

History

The old city to the west on the riverside was described by

Marco Polo Marco Polo (; ; ; 8 January 1324) was a Republic of Venice, Venetian merchant, explorer and writer who travelled through Asia along the Silk Road between 1271 and 1295. His travels are recorded in ''The Travels of Marco Polo'' (also known a ...

in 1275 CE as: :"a castle called Taikhan, where there is a great corn-market, and the country round is fine and fruitful. The hills that lie to the south of it are large and lofty. They all consist of white salt, extremely hard, with which the people for a distance of thirty days' journey round, come to provide themselves, for it is esteemed the purest that is found in the world. It is so hard, that it can be broken only with great iron hammers. The quantity is so great that all the countries of the earth might be supplied from thence." Taloqan had earlier come under Mongol control during the campaigns of

Genghis Khan Genghis Khan (born Temüjin; August 1227), also known as Chinggis Khan, was the founder and first khan (title), khan of the Mongol Empire. After spending most of his life uniting the Mongols, Mongol tribes, he launched Mongol invasions and ...

in the early 13th century. Following the fall of Balkh and the destruction of other Khwarazmian cities, the Mongols besieged and captured Taloqan, reportedly massacring its inhabitants as part of their broader campaign to subdue Khwarazmian resistance. In 1603, Taloqan ("Talhan") was visited by another European explorer,

Bento de Góis Bento de Góis (1562 – 11 April 1607) was a Portuguese Jesuit missionary and explorer. His name is commonly given in English as Bento de Goes"Bento de Goes", in: or Bento de Goës;Gallagher (trans.) (1953), pp. 499–500. in the past, it has ...

, who was traveling with a caravan from

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 ...

Yarkand Yarkant County,, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency also Shache County,, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency also SASM/GNC ro ...

(then the capital of

Kashgar Kashgar () or Kashi ( zh, c=喀什) is a city in the Tarim Basin region of southern Xinjiang, China. It is one of the westernmost cities of China, located near the country's border with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. For over 2,000 years, Kashgar ...

ia).

Recent history

The

mujahideen ''Mujahideen'', or ''Mujahidin'' (), is the plural form of ''mujahid'' (), an Arabic term that broadly refers to people who engage in ''jihad'' (), interpreted in a jurisprudence of Islam as the fight on behalf of God, religion or the commun ...

headquarters of

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 ...

were located in Taloqan during his campaign against the

Soviet Army The Soviet Ground Forces () was the land warfare service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces from 1946 to 1992. It was preceded by the Red Army. After the Soviet Union ceased to exist in December 1991, the Ground Forces remained under th ...

and the

. Taloqan was the last major city to fall to the

, on 5 September 2000, after a siege which claimed the lives of hundreds of civilians. A bloody capture by the Taliban also triggered a mass exodus in the population, with civilians fleeing towards

Imam Sahib Imām Ṣāhib (Pashto/) is a town in the Kunduz Province of Afghanistan, center of the Imam Sahib District. It is sometimes called Khwaja or Hazrat.National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. Geonames database entry.search Accessed 2011-05-12. Bab ...

and the Panjshir Valley.

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 ...

soldiers managed to stop the Taliban advance to the north and to the east of the city, but weren't able to retake it. Taloqan was liberated in November 2001 by Northern Alliance soldiers following the

United States invasion of Afghanistan Shortly after the September 11 attacks in 2001, the United States declared the war on terror and subsequently led a multinational military operation against Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. The stated goal was to dismantle al-Qaeda, which had exe ...

. The city was attacked during the

(which coincided with the withdrawal of United States troops). On May 2, 2021, PiramQul Ziayi, the most influential anti-Taliban figure in Takhar, was assassinated in Rustaq distric

Following the fall of several districts of Takhar to the Taliban, on June 20, 2021, a group of Takhar elders including Mohibullah Noori, one of Takhar elders, and Ashraf Ani, a member of Parliament, announced at a press conference in Kabul that they will send a group to mobilize people resistant in support of security forces in Takhar. Mohibullah Noori led the group, which entered the Taloqan City on June 26, 2021 and united the Takhar commanders to resist against Taliba

The Taliban tried to take the city in July 2021, however the attack was repulsed. Later, during Taliban offensive Haji Agha Gol Qatghani was killed and Khair Mohammad Teymour injured and all forces, including provincial officials, retreated to the Versaj district. Taloqan was captured by the Taliban on 8 August 2021.

Taloqan in Islamic sources

The testament of the Islamic prophet

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

indicates that the city will play a major role regarding the

Mahdi The Mahdi () is a figure in Islamic eschatology who is believed to appear at the Eschatology, End of Times to rid the world of evil and injustice. He is said to be a descendant of Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad, and will appear shortly before Jesu ...

. A narration by chain,

Imam Baqir Muhammad ibn Ali al-Baqir (; ) was a descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the fifth of the twelve Shia imams, succeeding his father, Ali al-Sajjad, and succeeded by his son, Ja'far al-Sadiq. Muhammad's honorific title is short for , ...

states: "Allah Almighty has a treasure in Talaqan which is of neither gold nor silver, but consists of twelve thousand (people), having 'Ahmad, Ahmad' for their slogan. They will be led by a young Hashemite man riding a gray mule and wearing a red headband. It is as if I can see him crossing the Euphrates. Should you hear of his coming, rush to him even if you have to crawl over the snow Another narration states: "Talaqan is a place of treasures of Allah. These treasures are not of gold and silver, but consist of people who have recognised Allah as they should have."Al-Muttaqi al-Hindi, al-Burhan fee Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir az-Zaman, p. 59)

Climate

Taloqan has a

Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate ( ), also called a dry summer climate, described by Köppen and Trewartha as ''Cs'', is a temperate climate type that occurs in the lower mid-latitudes (normally 30 to 44 north and south latitude). Such climates typic ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

''Csa''). In winter there is more rainfall than in summer. The average annual temperature in Taloqan is . About of precipitation falls annually.

References

External links