Orūzgān or
Urōzgān also spelled
Uruzgan or
Rōzgān , is one of the thirty-four
provinces of AfghanistanThe provinces of Afghanistan are the primary administrative divisions of Afghanistan. As of 2004, there are thirty-four provinces in the country. Each province is further divided into smaller districts....
. It is in the center of the country, though the area is culturally and tribally linked to
KandaharKandahar is the second largest city in Afghanistan, with a population of about 512,200 as of 2011. It is the capital of Kandahar Province, located in the south of the country at about 1,005 m above sea level...
in the south. Its capital is
Tarin KowtTarinkot or Tarin Kowt is the capital of Orūzgān province in southern Afghanistan in Tarin Kowt District. It is a town of about 10,000 people, with some 200 small shops in the city's bazaar...
. On March 28, 2004, the new Daykundi province was carved out of an area in the north leaving Oruzgan with a majority
PashtunPashtuns or Pathans , also known as ethnic Afghans , are an Eastern Iranic ethnic group with populations primarily between the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan and the Indus River in Pakistan...
population and Daykundi with a majority of Hazaras. The map at right shows the provincial boundaries that resulted. But in May 2006,
Gizab District'Gizab is a district in Orūzgān Province, Afghanistan. The district lies along the inexact line dividing Afghanistan's Pashtun tribes in the south from the Hazaras in the country's center—Gizab has a mix of Pashtun and Hazara villages. Gizab was transferred in 2004 from Oruzgan province to...
was taken back from Daykundi and re-annexed to Oruzgan, becoming Oruzgan's sixth district.
Geography
Oruzgan province is located in the southern region of the country having borders with Zabul and
KandaharKandahar is the second largest city in Afghanistan, with a population of about 512,200 as of 2011. It is the capital of Kandahar Province, located in the south of the country at about 1,005 m above sea level...
to the south, Helmand to the southwest, Daykundi to the north and
GhazniFor the Province of Ghazni see Ghazni ProvinceGhazni is a city in central-east Afghanistan with a population of about 141,000 people...
to the east. The province covers an area of 12640 km2. Nearly three quarters of the province (72%) is mountainous or
semi mountainous terrain while a little more than one-fifth (21%) of the area is made up of flat land.
Districts
align=center style="background:#BFD7FF"| Districts of Orūzgān Province
| District |
Capital |
Population |
Area |
Notes |
| Chora Chora District is a district of Oruzgan Province, Afghanistan. The district center is the town of Chora, with a population of about 3,000. It is a rural town with no industry beyond livestock, agriculture, and small merchants....
|
|
72,000 |
|
|
| Deh Rahwod Deh Rahwod is a district in Oruzgan Province, southern Afghanistan, and the name of the town that serves as district seat. Deh Rahwod lies along the Helmand River...
|
Deh Rawood Deh Rawood is a town in Deh Rahwod District in Uruzgan province, Afghanistan. It is located 400 kilometres southwest of Kabul. Since the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan the area has been noted as a remaining Taliban stronghold. The area is rural with mountainous, roadless terrain....
|
78,750 |
|
|
| Gizab 'Gizab is a district in Orūzgān Province, Afghanistan. The district lies along the inexact line dividing Afghanistan's Pashtun tribes in the south from the Hazaras in the country's center—Gizab has a mix of Pashtun and Hazara villages. Gizab was transferred in 2004 from Oruzgan province to...
|
|
59,000 |
|
|
| Khas Uruzgan Khas Uruzgan District is a district of Oruzgan Province, Afghanistan....
|
|
80,000 |
|
|
| Shahidi Hassas Shahidi Hassas District is a district of Oruzgan Province, Afghanistan....
(Cahar Chineh) |
|
84,000 |
|
|
| Tarin Kowt Tarin Kowt District is a district of Oruzgan Province, Afghanistan. The capital of the district and the province is the town called Tarin Kowt....
|
Tarin Kowt Tarinkot or Tarin Kowt is the capital of Orūzgān province in southern Afghanistan in Tarin Kowt District. It is a town of about 10,000 people, with some 200 small shops in the city's bazaar...
|
100,000 |
|
|
Population figures are from the Liaison Office study 2009. In addition to the above districts, it also lists Chenartu (a region in Chora district) as a separate district with a population of 30,000.
Another, separate population estimate for the entire province was an estimated population of 320,000. There are an estimated 45,000 households in the province, and households on average have 6 members.
A large portion of Oruzgan's settled population is from ethnic Pashtun tribes such as the Tarin/
TareenThe Tareen are a prominent Sarbanri Pashtun tribe residing in Afghanistan and in Pakistan. They are one of the largest Pashtun tribes.-History:...
and it also has a population of
KuchisKuchis , are Afghan Pashtun nomads, primarily from the Ghilzai, Kakar, Lodi, Ahmadzai as well as some Durrani tribes, but occasionally there may also be some Baloch people among them that live a nomadic life travelling between pastoral lands in Afghanistan and in Pakistan...
, or nomads, whose numbers vary with the seasons.
Post-2001
In June, 2002, a wedding party in Orūzgān was bombed by the
United States Air ForceThe United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
, with 30 or more killed.
In the wake of the fall of the Taliban—from January 2002 through March 2006—the province was governed by
Jan MohammedJan Mohammad Khan was a politician in Afghanistan, who served as Governor of Oruzgan Province from January 2002 to March 2006 and as member of the National Assembly as well as a special adviser to President Hamid Karzai. He was an elder of the Popolzai Pashtun tribe in Oruzgan and a close ally of...
Khan, a warlord ally of President
KarzaiHamid Karzai, GCMG is the 12th and current President of Afghanistan, taking office on 7 December 2004. He became a dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001...
, and a member of the same
PopalzaiPopalzai or Popalzay are Durrani Pashtuns.-Origin:According to Hyat Khan's history of Afghanistan, from their progenitor Bor Tareen, otherwise known as Abdal, are descended two main divisions: the Zirak and the Panjpai...
Pashtun tribe. On March 18, 2006, Karzai appointed
Maulavi Abdul Hakim MunibMaulavi Abdul Hakim Munib is an Afghan politician, born about 1971. He was Governor of Oruzgan province from March 18, 2006 through August 2007, when he was replaced.- Background :...
, a former Taliban official who had reconciled with the Government of Afghanistan, to replace Khan. Munib was a Pashtun from
Paktia ProvincePaktia , is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, in the east of the country. Its capital is Gardez. The population is predominantly Pashtun.- History:...
.
In August 2006, NATO assumed authority for Oruzgan from the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
-led coalition, as the Netherlands took command of the PRT from the US as
Task Force UruzganThe Netherlands Army Task Force Uruzgan was part of NATO's Regional Command South, International Security Assistance Force, in Afghanistan. The Dutch lead one of the four Provincial Reconstruction Teams in the southern region of the country...
. There is also an Australian element under the Dutch command.
In the summer of 2006, insurgents in Oruzgan were targeted by a NATO-Afghan military offensive called
Operation Mountain ThrustOperation Mountain Thrust was a Canadian and Afghan-led operation in the war in Afghanistan, with more than 2,300 U.S., 3,300 British troops, 2,200 Canadian troops, about 3,500 Afghan soldiers and large air support...
.
In September 2007, President Karzai removed Munib, who had become increasingly ineffective.
Because of security concerns and the Taliban insurgency, no international aid agencies or NGOs have a permanent presence in Oruzgan. NATO's
International Security Assistance ForceThe International Security Assistance Force is a NATO-led security mission in Afghanistan established by the United Nations Security Council on 20 December 2001 by Resolution 1386 as envisaged by the Bonn Agreement...
(ISAF) operates a
Provincial Reconstruction TeamA Provincial Reconstruction Team is a unit introduced by the United States government, consisting of military officers, diplomats, and reconstruction subject matter experts, working to support reconstruction efforts in unstable states. PRTs were first established in Afghanistan in late 2001 or...
(PRT), in Tarin Kowt, which transferred from U.S. to
DutchThe Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
authority in August 2006. The 1,400 Dutch and 1,090 Australian troops in the area secured only the largest population centres in Oruzgan (Dihrawud, Chora, and Tarin Kowt towns) under the Dutch "
inkspot policyThe inkblot strategy is a military strategy for subduing a large hostile region with a relatively small military force. The occupying force starts by establishing a number of small safe areas dispersed over the region...
". However, the force's Area of Responsibility included the entire province, which was not been secured. For example Gizab district, Oruzgan's most dangerous, had no ISAF presence. In August 2010, the 1,950 Dutch forces withdrew their forces from Oruzgan province, after a political disagreement in the Dutch parliament, leaving the PRT to the U.S. and Australia to continue the mission.
Oruzgan's opium poppy crop reached record levels in 2006 and 2007, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), as no significant eradication efforts were carried out by the Afghan administration or Dutch forces.
From June 15 to June 19, 2007 Dutch and Afghan soldiers
defended the town of ChoraThe Battle of Chora took place in and around the town of Chora , in Afghanistan's Orūzgān Province, during June 15–19, 2007. The fighting was between ISAF and Afghan forces on one side and Taliban forces on the other for the control of the Chora District center, regarded by the Taliban as a...
against an assault by Taliban combatants. Reports in the Dutch, Australian and US press indicated that the battle was one of the largest Taliban offensives of the year. The fighting resulted in the deaths of a Dutch soldier, 16 Afghan policemen, an unknown number of civilians and a large number of Taliban.
In September 2008,
Rozi KhanRozi Khan was a Pashtun Barakzai tribal leader in the Afghanistan province of Orūzgān. In the 1980s he was a Mujahideen commander fighting against the Soviets. In 2001 he was appointed police chief of Orūzgān province by President Karzai, a position he held until 2006...
, the leader of Oruzgan's Pashtun
Barakzai- History :Barakzai is a common ethnic name among the Pashtuns of Afghanistan/Pakistan and it means . Barakzai is also a Pashtun tribe in Pakistan, and more predominantly, in Afghanistan...
tribe, and a longtime rival of Populzai leader Jan Mohammed Khan, was killed in a firefight in
Chora DistrictChora District is a district of Oruzgan Province, Afghanistan. The district center is the town of Chora, with a population of about 3,000. It is a rural town with no industry beyond livestock, agriculture, and small merchants....
.
Gīzāb province was temporarily cleared of the Taliban by ISAF forces in late April 2010 and attributed to help from the uprising of the townspeople.