Mazar-e Sharif

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مزار شريف
Mazar-e Sharif
Mazar-e Sharif (Afghanistan)
Red pog.svg
Coordinates 36 ° 42 ′  N , 67 ° 7 ′  E Coordinates: 36 ° 42 ′  N , 67 ° 7 ′  E
Basic data
Country Afghanistan

province

Balch
District Mazar-e Sharif
height 360 m
Residents 427,600 (calculation 2017)
Culture
City festival 'Festival of Roses' (Mela-ye Gol-e Surch)
Blue Mosque in Mazar-e Sharif (June 2005)

Mazar-e Sharif ( Pashto and Persian مزار شريف, DMG Mazār-i Šarīf ) is the capital of the Afghan district of the same name and the province of Balkh . Mazar-e Sharif is the fourth largest city in Afghanistan. The population was 103,372 in 1979 (census), and 427,600 were calculated for 2017.

Translated, the name of the city means place of pilgrimage of the noble and refers to the u. a. here presumed burial place of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib , cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad , who is honored by both Sunnis , Shiites and Alevis . Mazar-e Sharif is therefore the most important place of pilgrimage in Afghanistan and the holy city of Islam.

In Mazar-e Sharif, the Nouruz festival is celebrated in spring as Mela-e Gul-e Sorch for 40 days according to the Zoroastrian solar calendar corrected by Omar Chajjam around 1070 .

geography

Situation within Afghanistan

The river Balkh flows 9 kilometers west of the city center and forms a mountain river oasis in its surroundings . Almost parallel to the geographic latitude , a few kilometers from the city in the south, the foothills of the Marmal Mountains , even a foothill of the Hindu Kush , extend . The Kunduz flows around 100 kilometers to the east . In the north of Mazar-e Sharif, about 56 kilometers away, is the state border with Tajikistan , which is marked by the course of the Amu Darya. The Uzbek city of Termiz is located on the north bank of the Amu Darya and can be reached via the Bridge of Friendship . The Afghan capital Kabul is around 300 kilometers to the southeast.

In Mazâr-e Sharîf the zone time is UTC + 4: 30 . Mazar-e Sharif is located in one of the most fertile regions of the country. Cotton, tobacco, grain, vegetables, melons and fruit trees are grown.

Climate table

Mazar-e Sharif
Climate diagram
J F. M. A. M. J J A. S. O N D.
 
 
29
 
8th
-2
 
 
35
 
11
0
 
 
44
 
16
5
 
 
28
 
24
11
 
 
11
 
31
17th
 
 
1
 
37
23
 
 
0
 
39
26th
 
 
0
 
37
24
 
 
1
 
32
17th
 
 
4th
 
25th
9
 
 
14th
 
16
3
 
 
22nd
 
11
0
Temperature in ° Cprecipitation in mm
Source: wetterkontor.de
Monthly average temperatures and rainfall for Mazar-e Sharif
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Max. Temperature ( ° C ) 8.0 10.7 16.3 24.3 31.2 37.0 38.9 36.9 31.9 24.7 16.4 10.8 O 24
Min. Temperature (° C) −2.1 0.0 5.1 11.3 16.6 22.5 25.9 23.8 17.1 9.4 3.2 0.0 O 11.1
Precipitation ( mm ) 29 35 44 28 11 1 0 0 1 4th 14th 22nd Σ 189
Hours of sunshine ( h / d ) 3.9 4.2 5.1 6.5 9.7 11.8 11.8 10.7 9.9 7.2 5.8 4.0 O 7.6
Rainy days ( d ) 5 6th 7th 7th 2 1 0 0 0 1 3 4th Σ 36
Humidity ( % ) 79 77 72 64 44 27 25th 24 28 41 62 75 O 51.4
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
8.0
−2.1
10.7
0.0
16.3
5.1
24.3
11.3
31.2
16.6
37.0
22.5
38.9
25.9
36.9
23.8
31.9
17.1
24.7
9.4
16.4
3.2
10.8
0.0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
N
i
e
d
e
r
s
c
h
l
a
g
29
35
44
28
11
1
0
0
1
4th
14th
22nd
  Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Source: wetterkontor.de

history

Mazar-e Sharif

In the area of Mazar-i-Sharif, the landscape was Bactria , even a part of the ancient region of Khorasan . At that time, Mazar-e Sharif was a suburb of the then important city of Baktra , today's Balkh (it has been the other way around since around 1700).

After the beginning of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan , Mazar-e Sharif came under the influence of Abdul Raschid Dostum from the mid-1980s , who secured the supply and supply route to the Soviet Union for the Soviet troops . After their departure he founded the Junbisch-i Mill , which fought on different sides in the following Afghan civil war and further consolidated its position of power in the city.

In the city, Dostum founded the National Islamic United Front for the Rescue of Afghanistan , also known as the Northern Alliance, on March 21, 1992 with Ahmad Shah Massoud and others .

After the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan , Mazar-e Sharif remained under Dostum's control until 1998. Between May and July 1997 the Taliban tried several times to bring the city under their control, but initially failed. There are reports of massacres by the Taliban after the city was captured on August 8, 1998.

On November 9, 2001, the city was recaptured by the Northern Alliance with the help of US troops under the leadership of Dostum. Since September 2005 the Bundeswehr has been operating Camp Marmal here, together with Norwegians and other nations , their largest field camp in northern Afghanistan in terms of area.

On the evening of November 10, 2016, the Taliban carried out an explosives attack on the German consulate with a truck bomb . At least six people died as a result of the attack; more than 120 were injured.

The PRT MeS, located in the city of Mazar-e Sharif, is run by Sweden (→  ISAF ).

Demographics and population

It is home to around three hundred thousand inhabitants, the majority of whom are Tajiks (as of 2006).

In addition to the majority of the Tajiks, Mazar-e Sharif is inhabited by Hasara , Pashtuns , Turkmen and Uzbeks .

Politics and public administration

Districts of the province of Balch (here 'Balkh')

The Mazar-e Sharif district mainly comprises the urban area of ​​Mazar-e Sharif, the administrative status is comparable to that of an independent city .

Mazar-e Sharif is the seat of the governor of Balkh , since 2004 Atta Mohammad Noor . The city is also home to the center of a provincial directorate of the Afghan Ministry of Drug Control. The 'Afghan National Unity Party' (Hib-e-Paiwand-e-Mehanee Afghanistan) has its headquarters in Mazar -e Sharif.

In the presidential election in Afghanistan in 2009 , according to the announced Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan 96,461 eligible voters in the district of Mazar-i-Sharif total valid vote from. The three most popular candidates were:

Infrastructure

Main traffic axis with the Blue Mosque at the end
Modern building in the city center
Building of the University of Balch

traffic

Scheberghan is located on the bank of the Darya-ye Safid river, about 130 km west of Mazar-e Sharif on the central national road ring Herat - Kandahar - Kabul -Masar-e Sharif-Scheberghan- Maimana -Herat.

Rail transport

A single-track railway line between Hairatan and Mazâr-e Scharîf has been under construction since May 2010 to extend the existing railway line between Hairatan and Termiz to Mazar-e Sharif airport . Once completed, it would be the first intact railway line since 1929 that does not end at an Afghan train station near the border. The contracted company for the construction is the Uzbek state railway company.

air traffic

Mazar-e Sharif Airport is located eight kilometers east of the city . This has a military part, which is used as part of the Resolute Support mission , and a non-military part, which, among other things, is used. a. Has significance as a stopover for pilgrimages to Mecca .

The Bundeswehr explains:

“But around 12,000 civil and military flight movements in addition to the wing's own flight movements were checked professionally and, above all, accident-free. The number of flight movements here in Mazar-e Sharif now roughly corresponds to that of the airport in Nuremberg. "

Electrical power

There is a thermal power plant in Mazar-e Sharif that runs on natural gas from Scheberghan and Turkmenistan .

The city also has a substation with a connected load of max. 16 mega volt amperes . This work is part of the North East Power System and supports, among other things, a. the energy supply of Kabul .

Educational institutions

In Mazar-e Sharif is the دانشگاه بلخ(' University of Balch ') with faculties of engineering , history and literature, agricultural science , medicine , law and politics, administrative sciences and education .

Medical institutions

Including the airport area, there are four larger hospitals and seven medical centers with different capacities available (2005), including one of the few psychiatric clinics in the country.

Ordnance disposal

Several mine clearance agencies ( " mine clearance organizations") have in Mazar-i-Sharif a branch to defuse and disposal of landmines , mainly from the period of the Soviet-Afghan war comes coordinate. The Bundeswehr's Mazar-e Sharif squadron, which is stationed near the city, uses an ordnance disposal unit to render landmines and duds harmless.

Military infrastructure

About ten kilometers east of the city center is the Marmal camp of the international training support Resolute Support and at the same time the largest military camp outside Germany.

The area responsible for property protection is at least 30 kilometers. A Provincial Reconstruction Team ("regional reconstruction group") is also located here. It supports both governmental and non-governmental projects in the areas of education, transport infrastructure, medical care and training of police forces.

economy

Mazar-e Sharif lies in one of the regions of the country in which the production of opium poppies for processing into opium and heroin was stopped (2009).

Culture and sport

Buzkashi is a popular sport in Mazar-e Sharif. Several riders compete against each other in order to get to the body of a dead goat and to be the first to bring it to a predetermined point. At the end there is a race called paiga . A single batch of buzkashi can span several days.

Every year on March 21, the spring and new year festival نو روز ( Nouruz , new day ') is celebrated, which in Mazar-e Sharif is called Mela-ye Gol-e Surch (' festival of red flowers', meaning poppies ) and is the largest of its kind in Afghanistan. The song especially celebrated here for the festival is called Molla Mammad Jaan .

Famous pepole

Drawing by Mohammed Akbar (before 1913)
sons and daughters of the town
  • Zalmay Khalilzad (* 1951), special advisor to the US State Department for Afghanistan, later US ambassador to the UN
  • Morsal Obeidi (1991–2008), so-called “honor killing victim”, died in Hamburg
More people
  • Mohammed Akbar (1813–1845), military leader in the First Anglo-Afghan War, is buried here

See also

Web links

In addition to the individual records , the following websites can provide further information:

Commons : مزار شریف  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Afghanistan: Provinces & Cities - Population Statistics, Maps, Charts, Weather, and Web Information. Retrieved February 6, 2018 .
  2. a b c ADRA Germany website : City portrait: Mazar-e-Sharif in the north of Afghanistan ( memento of the original from June 9, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (August 25, 2008) (last accessed October 6, 2010) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / afghanistan.adra.de
  3. ^ Wayne E. Begley (1990): The Shah Jahan Nama of Inayat Khan . Page 353 ff.
  4. Website of the Library of the United States Congress : The Fall of Kabul, April 1992 (1997, English) (last accessed October 6, 2010)
  5. FAZ.net November 11, 2016
  6. ^ Taliban profess to attack the German consulate. In: lohe./dpa/Reuters. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung GmbH, November 11, 2016, accessed on November 11, 2016 .
  7. UNODC website : AFG / I87- Strengthening Provincial Capacity for Drug Control (last accessed on October 6, 2010)
  8. Website of the Afghan Ministry of Justice: Licensed Political Parties ( Memento of the original from June 8, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English), No. 57 (last accessed on October 6, 2010) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.moj.gov.af
  9. Website of the Independent Electoral Commission of Afghanistan : Province: Balkh ( Memento of the original from July 7, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , List of the results of the individual election stations, the Mazar-e Sharif district corresponds to stations 1901001 to 1901048, cf. balkh.pdf ( Memento of the original from July 7, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on another IEC website   (last accessed on August 1, 2010) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.iec.org.af @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.iec.org.af
  10. ISAF website : Construction of Railway from Uzbekistan to Mazar-e-Sharif Begins ( Memento of the original dated August 10, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (May 28, 2010, English) (last accessed October 6, 2010) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.isaf.nato.int
  11. Asian Development Bank website : ADB-Funded Railway to Help Afghanistan Improve Regional Links, Boost Growth (September 30, 2009, English) (last accessed October 6, 2010)
  12. Website of the Afghan Ministry of Transport and State Aviation: Mazar I Sharif ( Memento of the original from November 19, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English), airport information (last accessed on August 1, 2010) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.motca.gov.af
  13. ^ Website of the German Air Force : The Order (August 13, 2009) (last accessed October 6, 2010)
  14. ^ Bundeswehr website : Einsatzgruppe Mazar-e Sharif: Interim balance sheet on the change in leadership (July 15, 2010) (last accessed on October 6, 2010) Archived copy ( memento of the original from January 8, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was used automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Archived copy ( Memento of the original from January 8, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.isaf.nato.int  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.isaf.nato.int
  15. UNDP website : Provincial Profile - Balkh - ( Memento of the original dated December 2, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English; PDF; 31 kB) (last accessed on August 1, 2010) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.undp.org.af
  16. Website of the Westhaus Group: commissioning & handing over Substation Mazar e Sharif ( memento of the original from December 22, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (last accessed on October 6, 2010) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.westhaus-group.com
  17. Website of the German Embassy in Kabul: Germany is a strong and reliable partner in establishing and improving the Afghan energy supply ( memento of the original from March 25, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.   (last accessed on October 6, 2010) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.kabul.diplo.de
  18. Website of the Afghan Ministry of Higher Education: Balkh University (last accessed October 6, 2010)
  19. a b Website of the Afghan Ministry for Rural Reconstruction and Development: BALKH ( Memento of the original from July 7, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English), p. 11, heading E. Health (a) and p. 4 below, table heading International and National NGO Operations (b) (last accessed on October 6, 2010) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.mrrd.gov.af
  20. UNODC website : Implementing Alternatives to Imprisonment, in line with International Standards and National Legislation (May 2008, English; PDF; 1.7 MB), page xiii (last accessed on October 6, 2010)
  21. ICBL website : Afghanistan , heading Survey and Assessment   (last accessed on October 6, 2010)
  22. ^ Website of the German Air Force : A normal day in Mazar-e Shari (April 12, 2010), heading Explosive Find   (last accessed on October 6, 2010)
  23. ^ Website of the Peace Research Working Group : Marc Thörner : "This is counterinsurgency like in the 19th century" (June 5, 2010) (last accessed on October 6, 2010)
  24. ^ Website of the German Foreign Office : German Engagement in Northern Afghanistan (Kunduz, Faisabad and Mazar-e-Sharif) (July 12, 2010) (last accessed October 6, 2010)
  25. UNODC website : AFG / F98 - Monitoring of Opium Production in Afghanistan (last accessed on October 6, 2010)
  26. ADRA Germany website : Buzkashi is Afghanistan's proudest popular sport ( memento of the original from June 11, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (October 29, 2008) (last accessed October 6, 2010) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / afghanistan.adra.de
  27. a b Website of the Afghan Foreign Ministry: About Afghanistan ( Memento of the original from May 16, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English), heading MAZAR-E SHARIF in the last third of the website (last accessed on October 6, 2010) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.mfa.gov.af
  28. Website of the Afghan Foreign Ministry: Story of the Week : Afghan people to prepare to celebrate Nawrouz ( Memento of the original from October 7, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (March 18, 2008, English) (last accessed October 6, 2010) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.mfa.gov.af
  29. UNESCO website : Nomination for inscription on the Representative List in 2009 ( Memento of November 12, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) (October 2, 2009, English), heading 2. Description of the element   (last accessed on October 6, 2010)