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Clarification: Qalat is a new city in Zabul Province of Afghanistan, which has around 50,000 people. Qalati Ghilji should be about historical the fortress on top of the hill in Qalat. Tags: Removed redirect Reverted |
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{{Infobox settlement
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|official_name = Qalat
|other_name =
|native_name = {{lang-prs|قلات}}<br>{{lang-ps|قلات}}
|nickname =
|settlement_type = City<!--For Town or Village (Leave blank for the default City)-->
|motto =
<!-- images and maps ----------->
|image_skyline = Environmental work decreases impact on Afghanistan's natural and cultural resources 100515-A-CE099-001.jpg
|imagesize = 280
|image_caption = The historical [[citadel]] in Qalat
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|pushpin_map = Afghanistan <!-- the name of a location map as per https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Location_map -->
|pushpin_label_position =bottom
|pushpin_map_caption =Location in Afghanistan
|pushpin_mapsize =280
<!-- Location ------------------>
|subdivision_type = Country
|subdivision_name = [[Afghanistan]]
|subdivision_type1 = [[Provinces of Afghanistan|Province]]
|subdivision_name1 = [[Zabul Province]]
|subdivision_type2 = [[Districts of Afghanistan|District]]
|subdivision_name2 = [[Qalat District|Qalat]]
<!-- Politics ----------------->
|government_footnotes =
|government_type = [[Municipality]]
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|established_title = <!-- Settled -->
|established_date =
|established_title2 = <!-- Incorporated (town) -->
|established_date2 =
|established_title3 = <!-- Incorporated (city) -->
|established_date3 =
<!-- Area --------------------->
|area_magnitude =
|unit_pref =Imperial <!--Enter: Imperial, if Imperial (metric) is desired-->
|area_footnotes =
|area_total_km2 = <!-- ALL fields dealing with a measurements are subject to automatic unit conversion-->
|area_land_km2 = <!--See table @ Template:Infobox Settlement for details on automatic unit conversion-->
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<!-- Population ----------------------->
|population_as_of = 2015
|population_footnotes = <ref name=auto>{{cite web|title=The State of Afghan Cities Report 2015|url=http://unhabitat.org/books/soac2015/|access-date=22 October 2015|ref=UN-Habitat|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151031111515/http://unhabitat.org/books/soac2015/|archive-date=31 October 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>
|population_note =
|population_total =
|population_density_km2 =
|population_density_sq_mi =
|population_metro = 9,900
|population_density_metro_km2 =
|population_density_metro_sq_mi =
|population_urban = 49,158
|population_density_urban_km2 =
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<!-- General information --------------->
|timezone = [[Time in Afghanistan|AFT]]
|utc_offset = +4:30
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|coordinates = {{coord|32|6|22|N|66|54|25|E|region:AF|display=inline,title}}
|elevation_footnotes = <!--for references: use <ref> </ref> tags-->
|elevation_m = 1550
|elevation_ft =
<!-- Area/postal codes & others -------->
|postal_code_type = <!-- enter ZIP code, Postcode, Post code, Postal code... -->
|postal_code =
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|blank_name =
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}}
'''Qalat''',<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/the-forgotten-afghan-province-that-became-taliban-country/29659327.html |title=The Forgotten Afghan Province That Is A Key Taliban Stronghold |website=RFE/RL |date=December 16, 2018}}</ref> sometimes spelled as '''Kalat''' ({{lang-prs|قلات}}; {{lang-ps|قلات}}), and historically referred to as '''Qalāti Khaljī''' or '''Qalat-i Ghilzai''',<ref name="nps.edu"/> is a [[List of cities in Afghanistan|city]] in southern [[Afghanistan]] that serves as the capital of [[Zabul Province]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://pajhwok.com/2022/07/09/security-ensured-residents-may-celebrate-eid-fearlessly-zabul-police/ |title=Security ensured, residents may celebrate Eid fearlessly: Zabul police |publisher=Pajhwok Afghan News |date=July 9, 2022 |access-date=2022-07-09}}</ref> It is linked by [[Highway 1 (Afghanistan)|Highway 1]] with [[Kandahar]] to the southwest and [[Ghazni]] to the northeast. The city had 5,462 dwellings in 2014,<ref name="auto1">{{cite web|title=The State of Afghan Cities Report 2015|url=https://unhabitat.org/sites/default/files/download-manager-files/State%20of%20Afghan%20Cities%202015%20Volume_1.pdf#page=118|p=100|publisher=United Nations Human Settlements Programme|access-date=2015-10-22}}</ref> with an estimated population of approximately 49,158 people.<ref name=auto/> Qalat is divided by at least 4 police districts (nahias) with land area of 4,820 hectares.<ref name=auto/>
Barren land is the dominant land use classification 59% of total land.<ref name=auto/> While built-up land use only accounts for 19% of total land use, within that classification there is a large proportion of institutional land (33%).<ref name=auto/> Qalat also has two distinct industrial areas in Districts 2 and 3.
The [[Qalat Airport]] is located a couple of miles to north of the city.<ref>[https://afghanistan.usaid.gov/en/Article.73.aspx USAID/Afghanistan: First Airstrip in Zabul Province] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070807003631/https://afghanistan.usaid.gov/en/Article.73.aspx |date=2007-08-07 }}</ref> Next to the airport is the former [[Provincial Reconstruction Team Zabul]], which was built by the United States. On 13 August 2021, the [[Taliban]] officially took control of Qalat, becoming the seventeenth provincial capital to be captured as part of the wider [[2021 Taliban offensive]].<ref>{{cite news|date=2021-08-13|title=Taliban sweep across Afghanistan's south, take 3 more cities|url=https://apnews.com/article/middle-east-taliban-c6c8d4a41c554f36031a8131538d1402|access-date=2021-08-13|website=AP NEWS|language=en|archive-date=13 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210813105628/https://apnews.com/article/middle-east-taliban-c6c8d4a41c554f36031a8131538d1402|url-status=live}}</ref>
== History ==
{{Further|History of Afghanistan}}
In medieval times, the area was within the heartland of the [[Khalaj people|Khalaj]] tribe. The [[Khalji dynasty]] of India originated from this city.<ref name="Ashirbadi">{{cite book |author=Ashirbadi Lal Srivastava |title=The History of India, 1000 A.D.-1707 A.D. |edition=Second |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bdw9AAAAMAAJ |year=1966 |publisher=Shiva Lal Agarwala |oclc=575452554|page=98|postscript=:"His ancestors, after having migrated from Turkistan, had lived for over 200 years in the [[Helmand Province|Helmand valley]] and [[Laghman Province|Lamghan]], parts of Afghanistan called [[Garmsir District|Garmasir]] or the hot region, and had adopted Afghan manners and customs. They were, therefore, wrongly looked upon as Afghans by the Turkish nobles in India as they had intermarried with local Afghans and adopted their customs and manners. They were looked down as non Turks by Turks."}}</ref><ref name="Eraly">{{cite book |author=Abraham Eraly |author-link=Abraham Eraly |title=The Age of Wrath: A History of the Delhi Sultanate |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vyEoAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT178 |year=2015 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-93-5118-658-8 |page=126|postscript=:"The prejudice of Turks was however misplaced in this case, for Khaljis were actually ethnic Turks. But they had settled in Afghanistan long before the Turkish rule was established there, and had over the centuries adopted Afghan customs and practices, intermarried with the local people, and were therefore looked down on as non-Turks by pure-bred Turks." }}</ref><ref name="Chaurasia">{{cite book |author=Radhey Shyam Chaurasia |title=History of medieval India: from 1000 A.D. to 1707 A.D. |year=2002|publisher=Atlantic |isbn=81-269-0123-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8XnaL7zPXPUC |page=28|postscript=:"The Khaljis were a Turkish tribe but having been long domiciled in Afghanistan, had adopted some Afghan habits and customs. They were treated as Afghans in Delhi Court. They were regarded as barbarians. The Turkish nobles had opposed the ascent of Jalal-ud-din to the throne of Delhi."}}</ref> transforming into the [[Ghilji]] tribe of [[Pashtuns]].<ref name="ms">[http://www.khyber.org/articles/2005/TheKhalajWestoftheOxus.shtml The Khalaj West of the Oxus, by V. Minorsky: Khyber.ORG.] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110613145756/http://www.khyber.org/articles/2005/TheKhalajWestoftheOxus.shtml |date=June 13, 2011 }}; excerpts from "The Turkish Dialect of the Khalaj", Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, University of London, Vol 10, No 2, pp 417-437 (retrieved 10 January 2007).</ref>
A political mission came through the city April 16, 1857, en route to [[Kandahar]] to broker a new treaty of friendship between the British government at [[Peshawar]] and the Amir of [[Kabul]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=Journal of a Political Mission to Afghanistan in 1857, Under Major Lumsden |last=Bellew |first=Henry Walter |publisher=Smith, Elder and Co. |year=1862}}</ref> The party was greeted by a group sent out by the heir-apparent to welcome them and check on the party's supplies. Two companies of infantry were formed so the British could inspect the troops. Afterwards, a [[shura]] was held.
[[Sher Ali Khan]] captured the city on January 22, 1867. In the battle, he lost a son, Mahmud Ali, killed in single combat by his uncle. His uncle was subsequently killed.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Our Punjab Frontier: Being a Concise Account of the Various Tribes by which the North West Frontier of British India is Inhabited. |publisher=Wyman Bros. Publishers |year=1868 |location=Calcutta, India |pages=26}}</ref>
===21st century===
[[File:USAF 1st Lt. Raymond Gobberg, Provincial Reconstruction Team Zabul with local Afghan children during a survey of a street drainage project in Qalat.jpg|left|thumb|American soldier walking with local children during a survey of a street drainage project in 2011]]
[[File:Bibi Khala School in Qalat, Afghanistan.jpg|thumb|Bibi Khala School]]
In an effort to bring economic development to the area, Zabul province's first airstrip was built just outside the city in 2006.<ref>{{Cite web|title = First Airstrip in Zabul Province {{!}} U.S. Agency for International Development|url = http://www.usaid.gov/results-data/success-stories/first-airstrip-zabul-province|website = www.usaid.gov|access-date = 2015-06-29|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151026081237/https://www.usaid.gov/results-data/success-stories/first-airstrip-zabul-province|archive-date = 2015-10-26|url-status = dead}}</ref> It is a dirt runway. The first flight brought in supplies for [[Provincial Reconstruction Team Zabul]] and other organizations trying to rebuild the area. Three years later, a girls school was built to attempt to improve education in the area.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Zabul PRT opens new girls' school in Qalat > U.S. Air Forces Central Command > Article Display|url = http://www.afcent.af.mil/News/ArticleDisplay/tabid/136/Article/220975/zabul-prt-opens-new-girls-school-in-qalat.aspx|website = www.afcent.af.mil|access-date = 2015-06-29}}{{Dead link|date=May 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> An initial school supply and prayer mat donation was made, and regular book drops and school supply donations were made until the PRT left in 2013.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Zabul Attack: Were They Walking in a Red Zone?|url = http://diplopundit.net/2013/04/09/zabul-attack-were-they-walking-in-a-red-zone-2/|website = Diplopundit|access-date = 2015-06-29|first = Domani|last = Spero}}</ref> Clean water programs around the city improved the availability of clean water sources.<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.afcent.af.mil/News/ArticleDisplay/tabid/136/Article/220265/prt-zabul-completes-projects-for-progress.aspx|title = Zabul Province completes projects for progress|date = June 3, 2010|last = tSgt Jefferson|first = Oshawn}}{{Dead link|date=May 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> In 2009, efforts were completed to improve the water system at the old Qalat City Hospital to bring clean drinking water to patients there.<ref>{{Cite web|title = G.I. Dough: Money as a Weapons System|url = https://projects.propublica.org/cerp/projects/EA63C8F0-1517-911C-C5CB14C305898AA9|access-date = 2015-06-29|first = Megan|last = Burrington}}</ref>
Not all the reconstruction efforts were successful, however. In 2006, construction began on a new economic district for the city. Meant to be an area of commerce and development, ten million dollars and three years later, most of the buildings are unoccupied, unusable either due to lack of the skills to maintain the buildings or due to a lack of need for the building.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=8134149 |title=The Army's $10M Afghanistan Flop |publisher=ABC News |date=2009-07-30 |access-date=2015-06-29}}</ref> The governor of Zabul refused to move into the new house, citing the lack of security.
[[Anne Smedinghoff]], a 25-year-old American diplomat, was killed by a suicide car inside the city in the spring of 2013.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/dad-of-slain-diplomat-it-was-a-great-adventure-for-her/ |title=Dad of slain diplomat: 'It was a great adventure for her' |publisher=CBS News |date=April 7, 2013 |access-date=2013-04-07}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/anne-smedinghoff-us-diplomat-killed-afghanistan-loved-work/story?id=18901447 |title=Anne Smedinghoff, U.S. Diplomat Killed in Afghanistan 'Loved the Work She Was Doing' |publisher=ABC News |date=April 7, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2013/04/07/us/diplomat-killed-profile/index.html |title= U.S. diplomat died ‘doing what she loved’ in Afghanistan |publisher=CNN |date=April 8, 2013}}</ref>
==Climate==
Qalat features a [[semi-arid climate]] (''BSk'') under the [[Köppen climate classification]]. The average temperature in Qalat is 13.6 °C, while the annual precipitation averages 283 mm.
July is the hottest month of the year with an average temperature of 27.5 °C. The coldest month January has an average temperature of -2.9 °C.
{{Weather box
| width = auto
| location = Qalat
| metric first = Yes
| single line = Yes
| Jan high C = 7.7
| Feb high C = 8.8
| Mar high C = 15.9
| Apr high C = 23.3
| May high C = 30.0
| Jun high C = 33.7
| Jul high C = 35.1
| Aug high C = 33.6
| Sep high C = 29.6
| Oct high C = 23.4
| Nov high C = 15.7
| Dec high C = 10.6
| Jan mean C = 2.3
| Feb mean C = 3.3
| Mar mean C = 9.9
| Apr mean C = 16.9
| May mean C = 23.5
| Jun mean C = 27.2
| Jul mean C = 28.8
| Aug mean C = 27.3
| Sep mean C = 23.1
| Oct mean C = 17.1
| Nov mean C = 9.7
| Dec mean C = 4.6
| year mean C =
| Jan low C = -3.3
| Feb low C = -2.5
| Mar low C = 2.9
| Apr low C = 8.8
| May low C = 14.8
| Jun low C = 18.4
| Jul low C = 20.9
| Aug low C = 19.8
| Sep low C = 15.9
| Oct low C = 10.3
| Nov low C = 3.4
| Dec low C = -1.3
| precipitation colour = green
| Jan precipitation mm = 60
| Feb precipitation mm = 81
| Mar precipitation mm = 68
| Apr precipitation mm = 30
| May precipitation mm = 3
| Jun precipitation mm = 2
| Jul precipitation mm = 5
| Aug precipitation mm = 2
| Sep precipitation mm = 1
| Oct precipitation mm = 2
| Nov precipitation mm = 14
| Dec precipitation mm = 33
| Jan humidity =58
| Feb humidity =64
| Mar humidity =50
| Apr humidity =32
| May humidity =17
| Jun humidity =14
| Jul humidity =17
| Aug humidity =16
| Sep humidity =15
| Oct humidity =20
| Nov humidity =39
| Dec humidity =49
| year humidity =
| Jand sun =7.5
| Febd sun =7.6
| Mard sun =9.7
| Aprd sun =11.3
| Mayd sun =12.4
| Jund sun =12.7
| Juld sun =12.6
| Augd sun =11.9
| Sepd sun =11.1
| Octd sun =10.2
| Novd sun =8.9
| Decd sun =8.3
| yeard sun =
| source 1 = Climate-Data.org<ref>{{cite web
| url = https://en.climate-data.org/asia/afghanistan/zabul/qalat-768515/
| title = Climate: Qalat - Climate-Data.org
| access-date = 9 September 2016}}</ref>
}}
==Demography==
{{Further|Demography of Afghanistan}}
The population of Qalat is around 49,158 people,<ref name=auto /> while the province has somewhere around 700,000 people.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://pajhwok.com/2011/07/30/re-enumeration-zabul-population-urged/ |title=Re-enumeration of Zabul population urged |publisher=Pajhwok Afghan News |date=July 30, 2011 |access-date=2022-07-09}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://pajhwok.com/2021/06/08/nsia-estimates-afghanistan-population-at-33-6m-people/ |title=NSIA estimates Afghanistan population at 33.6m people |publisher=Pajhwok Afghan News |date=July 8, 2021 |access-date=2022-07-09}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=The State of Afghan Cities Report 2015|url=https://unhabitat.org/sites/default/files/download-manager-files/State%20of%20Afghan%20Cities%202015%20Volume_1.pdf#page=30|p=12|publisher=United Nations Human Settlements Programme|access-date=2015-10-22}}</ref><ref name="nps.edu">{{Cite web |url=https://nps.edu/web/ccs/zabul |title=Zabul Provincial Overview |publisher=Naval Postgraduate School |date=March 2017 |access-date=2022-07-09}}</ref>
== Economy ==
{{Further|Economy of Afghanistan}}
The main source of income of Qalat residents is agriculture, trade, and transport. After the [[Tori Dam (Afghanistan)|Tori Dam]] is located on the [[Tarnak River]] next to the city.
== Sport ==
{{Further|Sport in Afghanistan}}
[[Cricket in Afghanistan|Cricket]] and [[association football]] are the most popular [[sport in Afghanistan|sports]] in the area. The [[Afghanistan Cricket Board]] is building a [[List of cricket grounds in Afghanistan|cricket stadium]] in the city.
==Notable sites==
*The local skyline is dominated by a fortress constructed by the forces of Alexander the Great (see: [[Qalat (fortress)]]).<ref>''The Economist'', v. 376 - 2005</ref>
*''Ghar Bolan Baba'', a 730m deep cave historically used for religious purposes<ref>''Atlas of the great caves of the world''. Paul Courbon, Claude Chabert, Peter Bosted, Karen Lindsley. Cave Books, 1989. p. 21.</ref>
== References ==
{{reflist}}
== External links ==
*{{YouTube|wIa7a9bboNM|Price of foodstuff, fuel rising in Zabul, Qalat city}} (Ariana News, Jan. 28, 2023)
{{Commons}}
{{Zabul Province}}
{{authority control}}
[[Category:Forts in Afghanistan]]
[[Category:Populated places in Zabul Province]]
[[Category:Provincial capitals in Afghanistan]]
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