Zabul (

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 ...

Dari Dari (; endonym: ), Dari Persian (, , or , ), or Eastern Persian is the variety of the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan. Dari is the Afghan government's official term for the Persian language;Lazard, G.Darī – The New Persian ...

: ) is one of the 34

provinces of Afghanistan The provinces of Afghanistan ( ''Wilayah, wilāyat'') are the primary administrative divisions. Afghanistan is divided into 34 provinces. Each province encompasses a number of Districts of Afghanistan, districts or usually over 1,000 villages. ...

, located in the south of the country. It has a population of 249,000. Zabul became an independent province from neighbouring

Kandahar Kandahar is a city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city, after Kabul, with a population of about 614,118 in 2015. It is the capital of Kandahar Pro ...

in 1963. Historically, it was part of the Zabulistan region. Qalat serves as the capital of the province. The major ethnic group are

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 ...

. Primary occupations within Zabul are agriculture and animal husbandry.

Geography

Zabul borders

Uruzgan Uruzgan (Pashto: ; Dari: ), also spelled as Urozgan or Oruzgan, is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. Uruzgan is located in the center of the country. The population is 436,079, and the province is mostly a tribal society. Tarinkot ...

in the north,

in the west and in the south,

Ghazni Ghazni (, ), historically known as Ghaznayn () or Ghazna (), also transliterated as Ghuznee, and anciently known as Alexandria in Opiana (), is a city in southeastern Afghanistan with a population of around 190,000 people. The city is strategica ...

and Paktika in the east. It borders

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# ...

in the east. The province covers an area of 17293 km2. Two-fifths of the province is mountainous or semi mountainous terrain (41%) while more than one quarter of the area is made up of flat land (28%). The primary ecoregion of the province is the central Afghan mountains xeric woodlands. Common vegetation is listed as dry shrub-land and

pistachio The pistachio (, ; ''Pistacia vera'') is a small to medium-sized tree of the Anacardiaceae, cashew family, originating in Iran. The tree produces nut (fruit)#Culinary definition and uses, seeds that are widely consumed as food. In 2022, world ...

. The high mountains of the northern portion of the province are in the

Ghor Ghōr, also spelled Ghowr or Ghur (), is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. It is located in the western Hindu Kush in central Afghanistan, towards the northwest. The province contains eleven districts, encompassing hundreds of vil ...

Hazarajat Hazarajat (), also known as Hazaristan () is a mostly mountainous region in the central Afghan highlands, central highlands of Afghanistan, among the Kuh-e Baba mountains in the western extremities of the Hindu Kush. It is the homeland of the H ...

alpine meadow ecoregion, which is characterized by meadows, willows, and sea buckthorn.

Transportation

In 2006, the province's first airstrip was opened near Qalat, to be operated by 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 ...

, but also for use by commercial aviation. Twice weekly service was scheduled by PRT Air between Qalat and

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 ...

. The airstrip is not paved. The ANA Chief in Zabul is Major General Jamaluddin Sayed Zabul Province is bisected by Highway 1 and travelers going between Kandahar and Kabul via road typically pass through the province. On 4 September 2016, at least 38 people were killed and 28 were injured during the September 2016 Afghanistan road crash.

Healthcare

The percentage of households with clean drinking water increased from 0% in 2005 to 32% in 2011. The percentage of births attended to by a skilled birth attendant increased from 1% in 2005 to 5% in 2011.

Education

The overall literacy rate (6+ years of age) increased from 1% in 2005 to 19% in 2011. The overall net enrollment rate (6–13 years of age) fell from 31.3% in 2005 to 5% in 2011.

Demographics

US Army ethnolinguistic map of Afghanistan -- circa 2001-09

As of 2021, the total population of the province is about 391,150, which is mostly a rural tribal society. According to the

Naval Postgraduate School Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) is a Naval command with a graduate university mission, operated by the United States Navy and located in Monterey, California. The NPS mission is to provide "defense-focused graduate education, including clas ...

, the population is primarily

, sprinkled throughout around 2,500 remote villages. Major tribal groups include the Tokhi, Hotak, Nasar, Kharoti, Taraki,

Ghilji The Ghiljī (, ; ) also spelled Khilji, Khalji, or Ghilzai and Ghilzay (), are one of the largest Pashtuns, Pashtun tribes. Their traditional homeland is Ghazni and Qalati Ghilji in Afghanistan but they have also settled in other regions throu ...

and the Noorzai and Panjpai

Durrani The Durrānī (, ), formerly known as Abdālī (), are one of the largest Pashtun tribes, tribal confederation of Pashtuns. Their traditional homeland is in southern Afghanistan (Loy Kandahar region), straddling into Toba Achakzai in Balochistan, ...

is the dominant language in the area. The people of Zabul are overwhelmingly

Sunni Muslim Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Musli ...

. Primary occupations within Zabul are agriculture and animal husbandry. 60.8% of the population lived below the national

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, one of the highest figures of all of Afghanistan's provinces. Zabul is by many indications one of Afghanistan's most religious conservative provinces.

Districts

Sports

The province is represented in Afghan domestic cricket by the Zabul Province cricket team.

Gallery

File:PRT Zabul Assists ANP in Securing Arghandab District DVIDS309340.jpg, Children in Arghandab File:Sgt. Johnny Hoyos of Provincial Reconstruction Team Zabul patrols the area around a bridge.jpg, A bridge on the Kabul–Kandahar Highway

Notable people

Alauddin Khalji Alauddin Khalji (; ), born Ali Gurshasp, was a ruler from the Khalji dynasty that ruled the Delhi Sultanate in the Indian subcontinent. Alauddin instituted a number of significant administrative changes in the Delhi Sultanate, related to revenue ...

Mullah Omar Muhammad Umar Mujahid (196023 April 2013), commonly known as Mullah Omar or Muhammad Omar, was an Afghan militant leader and founder and the first leader of the Taliban from 1994 until his death in 2013. During the Third Afghan Civil War, the T ...

* Mullah Yaqoob Akhund * Rustam-I-Pahlavan * Jalauddin Khilji * Sohrab *

Sām Sām (), also transliterated Saam, is a mythical hero of ancient Persia, and an important character in the Shahnameh The ''Shahnameh'' (, ), also transliterated ''Shahnama'', is a long epic poem written by the Persian literature, Persian p ...

* Zal * Tegin Shah

References

External links

{{Authority control Provinces of Afghanistan Wars involving the Taliban States and territories established in 1963 Provinces of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan