Sheberghan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Sheberghan شبرغان |
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  Sheberghan |
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| Province | Jowzjan |
| Coordinates | |
| Population (2007) | 59,576 |
| Area - Elevation |
335 m (1,099 ft) |
| Time zone | UTC+4:30 Kabul |
Sheberghān or Shaburghān (Persian: شبرغان) ,also spelled Shebirghan and Shibarghan, is the capital city of the Jowzjan Province in northern Afghanistan.
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[edit] Location
Sheberghan is located along the Safid River banks, about 130 km (80 miles) west of Mazari Sharif on the national primary ring road Herat-Kandahar-Kabul-Mazari Sharif-Sheberghan-Mehmana-Herat. Sheberghan airport is situated between Sheberghan and Aqchah.
[edit] History
Sheberghan was once a flourishing settlement along the Silk Road. In 1978, Soviet archaeologists discovered the famed Bactrian Hoard in the village of Tila Tepa outside Sheberghan. In the 13th century Marco Polo visited the city and later wrote about its honey sweet melons. Sheberghan became the capital of an independent Uzbek khanate that was allotted to Afghanistan by the 1873 Anglo-Russian border agreement.
In 1977 a Soviet-Afghan archaeological team began serious excavations three miles (5 km) north of the town for relics. They had uncovered mud-brick columns and a cross-shaped altar of an ancient temple dating back to at least 1000 B.C.
Sheberghan was the site of the Dasht-i-Leili massacre in December 2001 during the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan where between 250 and 3,000 (depending on sources) Taliban prisoners were shot and/or suffocated to death in metal truck containers, while being transferred by U.S. and Northern Alliance soldiers from Kunduz to Sheberghan prison.
Sheberghan was the stronghold of Uzbek warlord General Abdul Rashid Dostum, who had been vying with his Tajik rival General Mohammed Atta for control of northern Afghanistan.
The name of the city might be a derivative of Shaporgan--"City of Shapor." Shapor or Shapur, was the name of two Sasanian kings, both of whom built a great number of cities. However, Shapur I was the governor of the eastern provinces of the empire, and it is more likely that he is the builder of a great many cities in this general area that bear his name. These include, in possible addition to Sheberghan, Nishapor/Neishabour ("Good deed of Shapor") and Pishapor/Bishapour in Iran and Peshawar in Pakistan
[edit] Economy
Sheberghan is surrounded by irrigated agricultural land.
With Soviet assistance, exploitation of Afghanistan's natural gas reserves began in 1967 at the Khowaja Gogerak field, 15 kilometers east of Sheberghan in Jowzjan Province. The field's reserves were thought to be 67 billion cubic meters. In 1967, the Soviets also completed a 100-kilometer gas pipeline linking Keleft in the Soviet Union with Sheberghan.
Sheberghan is important in the energy infrastructure of Afghanistan:
- The Zomrad Sai Oilfield is situated near Sheberghan
- The Sheberghan Topping Plant processes crude oil for consumption in heating boilers in Kabul, Mazari Sharif and Sheberghan
- The Jorqaduk, Khowaja Gogerak, and Yatimtaq gas fields are all located within 20 miles (32 km) of Sheberghan
[edit] External links
- Map of Shibirghan
- Article on Dostum's massacre in Sheberghan on Islamic Republic Of Afghanistan (.com)
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