Sheberghan

Sheberghān is located along the Sari Pul River banks, about {{convert|130|km|mi|abbr=on}} west of Mazar-i-Sharif on the national primary ring road that connects Kabul, Puli Khumri, Mazar-i-Sharif, Sheberghān, Maymana, Herat, Kandahar, Ghazni, and Maidan Shar. Sheberghān airport is situated between Sheberghān and Aqcha.

The city's name is a corruption of its classical Persian name, Shaporgân, meaning "[King] Shapur's town". 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 roadway between a few important cities. These include Nishapur and Bishapur in Iran, and Peshawar in Pakistan.

After Maymana, Sheberghan is the second most important Uzbek and Turkmen-dominated city in all of Afghanistan. Turkmen is the first language of a majority of its inhabitants. Large numbers of Tajiks, Hazaras, Pashtuns, and Arabs live in the city. In 1856, J. P. Ferrier wrote: "Sheberghān is a town containing 12,000 souls. Uzbeks being in the great majority." According to regional consensus of the Afghan government as of 2020 Turkmens made up majority of the inhabitants.

The Sheberghan "Arabs" are all Persian-speaking, even though they claim an Arab identity due to religious reasons. There are other such Persian and Pashto-speaking "Arabs" to the east, with pockets residing in Mazar-i Sharif, Kholm, Kunduz, and Jalalabad. Their self-identification as Arabs is largely based on their tribal identity, and may in fact point to the Arab migration of the 7th and 8th centuries migration to this and other Central Asian locales in the wake of the Islamic conquests of the region.Barfield (1982), p. ?

File:Budynek w parku - Szeberghan - 002500n.jpg

File:Yemshi Tepe Tillya Tepe map.jpg (to scale), and tumuli of Tillya Tepe, near Sheberghan.]]

Sheberghān was once a flourishing settlement along the Silk Road. In 1978, Soviet archaeologists discovered the famed Bactrian Gold in the village of Tillia Tepe outside Sheberghān. In the 13th century Marco Polo visited the city and later wrote about its honey-sweet melons. Sheberghān became the capital of an independent Uzbek khanate that was allotted to Afghanistan by the 1873 Anglo-Russian border agreement.

Sheberghān has for millennia been the focal point of power in the northeast corner of Bactria. It still sits astride the main route between Balkh and Herat, and controls the direct route north to the Amu Darya, about 90 km away, as well as the important branch route south to Sar-e Pol.

In 1856, J. P. Ferrier reported:

{{Quote|The town has a citadel, in which the governor Rustem Khan resides, but there are no other fortifications. It is surrounded by good gardens and excellent cultivation. The population of Shibberghan has a high character for bravery, and I may safely say it is one of the finest towns in Turkistan on this side of the Oxus, enjoying, besides its other advantages, an excellent climate. It is, however, subject to one very serious inconvenience: the supply of water, on which all this prosperity depends, comes from the mountains in the Khanat of Sirpool; and as there are frequent disputes between the tribes inhabiting it and those living in the town, a complete interruption of the supply is often threatened, and a war follows, to the very great injury of the place. Shibberghan maintains permanently a force of 2000 horse and 500-foot, but, in case of necessity, the town can arm 6000 men.Ferrier (1856), p. 202.}}

The heavily fortified town of Yemshi-tepe, just five kilometres to the northeast of modern Sheberghān, on the road to Akcha, is only about {{convert|500|m|yd|abbr=off}} from the famous necropolis of Tillia Tepe, where an immense treasure was excavated from the graves of the local royal family by a joint Soviet-Afghan archaeological effort from 1969 to 1979. In 1977, a Soviet-Afghan archaeological team began excavations 5 km north of the town for relics. They uncovered mud-brick columns and a cross-shaped altar of an ancient temple dating back to at least 1000 B.C. Six royal tombs were excavated at Tillia Tepe revealing a vast amount of gold and other treasures. Several coins dated to the early 1st century C.E., with none dated later.

Sheberghān has been proposed as the site of ancient Xidun, one of the five xihou, or divisions, of the early Kushan Empire.Hill (2009), pp. 29, 332-341.

Sheberghān was the stronghold of local Uzbek warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum while vying with his Tajik rival General Mohammed Atta for control of northern Afghanistan in the early years of the Karzai administration.

Sheberghān was the site of the Dasht-i-Leili massacre in December 2001 during the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in which 250 to 3,000 (depending on sources) Taliban prisoners were shot or suffocated to death in metal truck containers, while being transferred by American and Northern Alliance soldiers from Kunduz to a Sheberghān prison. {{cite web |title=Assessments and Documentation in Afghanistan {{!}} Assessments in Afghanistan: Dasht-e-Leili |url=https://phr.org/issues/investigating-deaths-and-mass-atrocities/assessments-and-documentation-of-mass-crimes/assessments-in-afghanistan/assessments-in-afghanistan-dasht-e-leili-photos/ |website=Physicians for Human Rights |publisher=Physicians for Human Rights}} {{cite news |title=Opinion - EDITORIAL - The Truth About Dasht-i-Leili |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/14/opinion/14tue2.html |work=New York Times |date=July 13, 2009}}

On 7 August 2021, Taliban forces captured Sheberghan as part of their nationwide military offensive.{{cite news |title=Sheberghan: Taliban captures second Afghan provincial capital |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/8/7/taliban-advance-on-second-afghan-provincial-capital-in-24-hours |access-date=7 August 2021 |work=Al Jazeera |publisher=Al Jazeera |date=7 August 2021}} {{cite news |title=Sheberghan: Taliban captures second Afghan provincial capita |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/8/7/taliban-advance-on-second-afghan-provincial-capital-in-24-hours |agency=Reuters |publisher=Al Jazeera |date=7 August 2021}}

Sheberghān is a trading and transit hub in northern Afghanistan. Agriculture accounts for 50% of the 7,335 hectares within the municipal boundaries. 23% of the land is residential, and largely clustered in the central area, but well distributed through the four districts.

Sheberghān has a cool, semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification BSk){{cite web|title=Climate: شبرغان - Climate graph, Temperature graph, Climate table|url=http://en.climate-data.org/location/31381/|publisher=Climate-Data.org|access-date=3 September 2013}} with hot summers and chilly, though variable, winters. There is moderate rainfall and some snowfall from January to March, but the rest of the year is dry, especially the summer.

{{Weather box

|width = auto

|location = Sheberghan

|metric first = Y

|single line = Y

|Jan record high C = 22.4

|Feb record high C = 24.2

|Mar record high C = 30.9

|Apr record high C = 35.4

|May record high C = 41.5

|Jun record high C = 46.0

|Jul record high C = 47.5

|Aug record high C = 44.3

|Sep record high C = 40.6

|Oct record high C = 36.4

|Nov record high C = 30.6

|Dec record high C = 25.6

|Jan high C = 6.8

|Feb high C = 9.3

|Mar high C = 15.8

|Apr high C = 23.7

|May high C = 31.1

|Jun high C = 36.9

|Jul high C = 38.9

|Aug high C = 37.2

|Sep high C = 32.0

|Oct high C = 24.0

|Nov high C = 16.7

|Dec high C = 10.6

|Jan mean C = 2.0

|Feb mean C = 4.9

|Mar mean C = 10.5

|Apr mean C = 17.3

|May mean C = 23.2

|Jun mean C = 28.8

|Jul mean C = 31.0

|Aug mean C = 28.6

|Sep mean C = 23.1

|Oct mean C = 16.4

|Nov mean C = 10.0

|Dec mean C = 5.4

|Jan low C = −1.3

|Feb low C = 1.3

|Mar low C = 5.7

|Apr low C = 11.5

|May low C = 15.1

|Jun low C = 19.4

|Jul low C = 22.2

|Aug low C = 20.0

|Sep low C = 15.1

|Oct low C = 9.8

|Nov low C = 4.6

|Dec low C = 1.5

|Jan record low C = −20.5

|Feb record low C = −25.7

|Mar record low C = −9.4

|Apr record low C = −7.5

|May record low C = 5.3

|Jun record low C = 8.5

|Jul record low C = 12.9

|Aug record low C = 11.6

|Sep record low C = 4.3

|Oct record low C = −2.4

|Nov record low C = −8.5

|Dec record low C = -15.0

|Jan precipitation mm = 42.3

|Feb precipitation mm = 44.3

|Mar precipitation mm = 56.4

|Apr precipitation mm = 25.9

|May precipitation mm = 11.2

|Jun precipitation mm = 0.2

|Jul precipitation mm = 0.0

|Aug precipitation mm = 0.0

|Sep precipitation mm = 0.2

|Oct precipitation mm = 6.6

|Nov precipitation mm = 13.6

|Dec precipitation mm = 29.8

|Jan sun = 115.3

|Feb sun = 124.1

|Mar sun = 162.3

|Apr sun = 198.2

|May sun = 297.9

|Jun sun = 364.3

|Jul sun = 365.9

|Aug sun = 346.1

|Sep sun = 304.6

|Oct sun = 242.9

|Nov sun = 175.8

|Dec sun = 125.7

|Jan rain days = 5

|Feb rain days = 6

|Mar rain days = 9

|Apr rain days = 6

|May rain days = 3

|Jun rain days = 0

|Jul rain days = 0

|Aug rain days = 0

|Sep rain days = 0

|Oct rain days = 2

|Nov rain days = 3

|Dec rain days = 4

|Jan snow days = 5

|Feb snow days = 3

|Mar snow days = 1

|Apr snow days = 0

|May snow days = 0

|Jun snow days = 0

|Jul snow days = 0

|Aug snow days = 0

|Sep snow days = 0

|Oct snow days = 0

|Nov snow days = 1

|Dec snow days = 2

|Jan humidity = 78

|Feb humidity = 76

|Mar humidity = 71

|Apr humidity = 65

|May humidity = 47

|Jun humidity = 34

|Jul humidity = 31

|Aug humidity = 32

|Sep humidity = 35

|Oct humidity = 46

|Nov humidity = 61

|Dec humidity = 74

|source 1 = NOAA (1964-1983) {{cite web

|url = https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/normals/WMO/1961-1990/RA-II/AH/40908.TXT

|title = Sheberghan Climate Normals 1964-1983

|publisher = National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

|access-date = December 25, 2012

|url-status = dead

|archive-url = http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20121225094442/ftp://ftp.atdd.noaa.gov/pub/GCOS/WMO-Normals/RA-II/AH/40908.TXT

|archive-date = December 25, 2012

}}

}}

Sheberghān 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 Sheberghān 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 Sheberghān.

To demonstrate how natural gas reserves could be used as an alternative to expensive petroleum imports, the United States Department of Defense spent $43 million on a natural gas filling station.{{cite web|title=Afghan fuel station cost $43m, US military report says|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-34703279|publisher=BBC News|access-date=3 November 2015}}

Sheberghān is important to the energy infrastructure of Afghanistan:

• The Zomrad Sai Oilfield is situated near Sheberghān.
• The Sheberghān Topping Plant processes crude oil for consumption in heating boilers in Kabul, Mazari Sharif, and Sheberghān.
• The Jorqaduk, Khowaja Gogerak, and Yatimtaq gas fields are all located within {{convert|20|mi|km}} of Sheberghān.

• Dasht-i-Leili massacre

{{Reflist|2}}

• Barfield, Thomas J. (1982). The Central Asian Arabs of Afghanistan: Pastoral Nomadism in Transition.
• Dupree, Nancy Hatch. (1977). An Historical Guide to Afghanistan. 1st Edition: 1970. 2nd Edition (1977). Revised and Enlarged. Afghan Tourist Organization, 1977. Chapter 21 "Maimana to Mazar-i-Sharif."
• Ferrier, J. P. (1856), Caravan Journeys and Wanderings in Persia, Afghanistan, Turkistan and Beloochistan. John Murray, London.
• Hill, John E. (2009). Through the Jade Gate to Rome: A Study of the Silk Routes during the Later Han Dynasty, 1st to 2nd Centuries CE. BookSurge, Charleston, South Carolina. {{ISBN|978-1-4392-2134-1}}.
• Leriche, Pierre. (2007). "Bactria: Land of a Thousand Cities." In: After Alexander: Central Asia before Islam. Eds. Georgina Hermann and Joe Cribb. (2007). Proceedings of the British Academy 133. Oxford University Press.
• Sarianidi, Victor. (1985). The Golden Hoard of Bactria: From the Tillya-tepe Excavations in Northern Afghanistan. Harry N. Abrams, New York.

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20051027133028/http://www.aims.org.af/maps/urban/shibirghan.pdf Map of Sheberghān]

{{Jowzjan Province}}

{{AfghanistanLargestCities}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Jowzjan Province

Category:Populated places along the Silk Road

Category:Cities in Afghanistan

Category:Provincial capitals in Afghanistan

Category:Populated places with period of establishment missing