Vahdat () is a city in western Tajikistan, on the bank of the

Kofarnihon River The Kofarnihon (, ) is one of the major tributaries of the Amu Darya (together with Vakhsh and Panj) in Tajikistan. The river is long and has a basin area of .

Dushanbe Dushanbe is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Tajikistan. , Dushanbe had a population of 1,564,700, with this population being largely Tajiks, Tajik. Until 1929, the city was known in Russian as Dyushambe, and from 1929 to 1961 as St ...

. It was previously called Yangi-Bozor (1927–1936), Orjonikidzeobod (1936–1993, after

Grigoriy Ordzhonikidze Sergo Konstantinovich Ordzhonikidze, ; (born Grigol Konstantines dze Orjonikidze; 18 February 1937) was an Old Bolshevik and a Soviet statesman. Born and raised in Georgia, in the Russian Empire, Ordzhonikidze joined the Bolsheviks at an e ...

) and Kofarnihon (1993–2006). Its population is estimated at 43,200 for the city proper and 342,700 for the city with the outlying communities (2020). Vahdat was the focus on international attention in 2019 when a riot occurred in the city's prison, believed to be instigated by members of

Islamic State The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadism, Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS ...

, which led to the deaths of three guards and 29 inmates.

Geography

The city is located in the upper basin of the river

Kofarnihon The Kofarnihon (, ) is one of the major tributaries of the Amu Darya (together with Vakhsh and Panj) in Tajikistan. The river is long and has a basin area of .

, and is near the

Gissar Range The Hisar Range, formerly the Gissar Range, is a mountain range in Central Asia, in the western part of the Pamir-Alay system, stretching over 200 km in the general east–west direction across the territory of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. G ...

(southern slopes) and the Karategin Range (northern slopes), to the west, the city is on the edge of the

Gissar Valley Hisar (also Gissar, Gisar, Hissar, or Hisor) Valley in Tajikistan runs east–west along the southern slopes of Hisar Range and on the northern border of Khatlon Province. It is about 100 km long and up to 20 km wide in the middle, stretching from ...

Subdivisions

Before ca. 2018, Vahdat was the seat of Vahdat District, which covered the rural part of the present city of Vahdat. The city of Hisor covers Hisor proper, the town Nu'mon Roziq and ten jamoats. These are as follows:Jamoat-level basic indicators
United Nations Development Programme in Tajikistan, accessed 8 October 2020

Demographics

The population is composed primarily of Tajiks and Uzbeks, with small numbers of Russians and Tatars. Numbers of

Afghan refugees Afghan refugees are citizens of Afghanistan who were forced to flee from their country as a result the continuous wars that the country has suffered since the Afghan-Soviet war, the Afghan civil war, the Afghanistan war (2001–2021) or either p ...

have also made Vahdat home.

Economy

The city's economy is mainly shaped by the surrounding district's agricultural activities: cotton, cattle, grains and vegetable production, and viticulture, with cotton-ginning being the city's dominant industrial activity.

Transportation

There are road and rail connections between Vahdat and Dushanbe. Vahdat's railway station was built in 1930. Highway connections are possible to

Jirgatol Vahdat (, , Kyrgyz: ''Jerge-Tal'') is a town and jamoat in Tajikistan. It is the seat of Lakhsh District (formerly ''Jirgatol District''), one of the Districts of Republican Subordination Districts under Tajikistan Central Government Jurisd ...

Khorog Khorog ( ), also Khorugh ( ) or Kharagh ( ), is the capital of Gorno-Badakhshan, Tajikistan. It is also the capital of the Shughnon District of Gorno-Badakhshan. It has a population of 30,500 (2020 ). Khorog is above sea level in the Pamir Mou ...

Kulob Kulob or Khatlon is a city in Khatlon Region in southern Tajikistan. Located southeast of the capital Dushanbe on the river Yakhsu (a right tributary of Panj), it is one of the largest cities in the country. Its population is estimated at 106 ...

, Nurak and

Yovon Yovon (Tajik language, Tajik: Ёвон) is a town in Tajikistan located in the Khatlon Region.Maplandia world gazetteer The population of the town is 36,700 (January 2020 estimate). It is approximately southeast of Dushanbe. History Geography ...

Education

The Vahdat Statistical College specializes in courses on finance, accounting and economics.

Infrastructure

Vahdat is the location of a prison which included those convicted of terrorist crimes, mainly associated with membership in Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) and the

Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan The Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan also known as the Islamic Revival Party of Tajikistan, is a banned Islamist political party in Tajikistan. Until 2015, when it was designated a terrorist organisation, it was the only legal Islamist ...

(IRPT). In 2019, a

prison riot A prison riot is an act of concerted defiance or disorder by a group of prisoners against the prison administrators, prison officers, or other groups of prisoners. Academic studies of prison riots emphasize a connection between prison conditions ...

saw three guards and 29 inmates killed, 24 of whom were said to be Islamic militants. One of those killed was Behruz Gulmurod, a son of Gulmurod Halimov, previously a commander of Tajik Interior Ministry special forces who joined ISIS/ISIL in 2015.

Climate

References

{{Districts of Republican Subordination Populated places in Districts of Republican Subordination