Afghanistan to-day is divided into five major provinces—Kabul, Herat, Kandahar, Afghan Turkestan and Badakshan; and two territories—Kafiristan and Wakhan. Kandahar includes Seistan and the basin of the Helmund; Herat the basin of the Hari-Rud and north-western Afghanistan; Afghan Turkestan the former khanates Andkhui, Maimana, Balkh and Khulm; the province of Badakshan administers the territory of Wakhan and the regions of the Upper Oxus. Kabul, Herat and Kandahar are the centres of their respective provinces; Tashkurgan and Mazar-i-Sharif of Afghan Turkestan and Faizabad of Badakshan.
The province of Kabul is bounded on the north-west by the Koh-i-Baba, north by the Hindu Kush, north-east by the Panjsher river and on the east by Jagdalik. In the south its limits are defined by the Sufed Koh and Ghazni; to the west by the hill country of the Hazaras, while its area of administration includes Bamian and Haibak. The province is very mountainous, but it contains also a large portion of arable lands which, lying along the base of the hills, derive much of their richness from the off-scourings of the mountain faces.
Wheat and barley are the chief products, these grains constituting the staple food of the poorest classes. Nonetheless, the crops are not sufficient for the needs of the province and the demands of an inter-provincial export trade, which exists in a flourishing condition. Cereals are imported from Ghazni and rice from Upper Bangash, Jelalabad, Lughman and even Kunar. In bad years, when prices rule high, corn is obtained from Bamian, which is also the chief centre for supplies of ghee. The Hazara country and the Ghilzai region are active competitors with Bamian in this trade. Agriculture and pastoral pursuits in the main attract the sole energies of the countryside; the most important pasturage existing in Logar. Grass is plentiful in the Kabul valley and also towards Ghorband, while agricultural development is greatest in the Butkhak district. Water is abundant and every landowner devotes considerable attention to fruit-culture. A large proportion of the population in the Kabul province live in tents during the summer months. The villages are of various sizes and usually number 150 families. As a rule the villages are not fortified; but each contains a small guard-tower from where a watch is kept over the villages, fields and flocks. Sheep are maintained for purposes of breeding, but bullocks, camels, mules and horses are employed in transport—trading between Turkestan, India and Khorassan. Bullocks are made use of within the precincts of the Kabul valley; camels between Kabul province, Khorassan and Turkestan; mules and ponies between the province and the Hazara country.
The province of Badakshan lies in the extreme east of Afghanistan. It is bounded on the north and the east by the course of the Oxus, south by the crests of the Hindu Kush as far as the junction of the Hindu Kush with the Mustagh and Sarikol ranges, west by a line which crosses the Turkestan plain southwards from the junction of the Kunduz river with the Oxus, from which point it proceeds ultimately to strike the Hindu Kush. The principal sub-divisions of Badakshan are: on the west, Rustak, Kataghan, Ghori, Narin and Anderab; on the north, Darwaz, Ragh and Shiwa; on the east, Gharan, Ishkashim, Zebak and Wakhan; elsewhere, Faizabad, Farkhar, Minjan and Kishm. Numerous lofty mountain ranges and deep rugged valleys, wherein there is no little agricultural development, define its physiography, while ethnographically the bulk of the people of the province are Tajik.
In winter the climate is severe, the mountain passes being blocked by snow and the rivers frozen. In general it appears somewhat diversified and in the loftier parts of the province the agricultural seasons are frequently ruined by early frost. The chief industrial centres of the region are situated in the more temperate zones where the valleys are sheltered by the orological development. The rain-fall, by reason of the stimulating influence of the forests, is abundant, especially in March and April. With the end of April a period of drought, continuing throughout May, June, July and in a lesser degree in the months of August, September and October, begins. Snow makes its appearance in November, but the heavier falls do not begin until the middle of December.
The principal industry of Badakshan is agricultural; but there is also considerable mineral wealth, while salt deposits and sulphur mines are known to exist and in some measure have been exploited. Salt and sulphur are found in the valley of the Kokcha; iron exists near Faizabad, while the ruby mines, for which the province has been celebrated, and the lapis-lazuli mines, are found respectively on the right bank of the Oxus close to Ishkashim, in Gharan and near the sources of the Kokcha. The ruby mines lie some 1200 feet above the Oxus river; but the deposits are not worked regularly, although from time to time in the reign of Abdur Rahman projects for developing them were initiated.
WOMAN POUNDING GRAIN
The alpine territory of Wakhan lies in the extreme north-east. It consists of two upland valleys which are traversed by the Panja. These are hemmed in on either side by lofty mountains; those to the south form the northern section of the Hindu Kush here crossed by very difficult passes, the easiest of which is the Baroghil (12,000 feet) leading to Chitral and Gilgit. The chief resources of the people are derived from their flocks of sheep and droves of Tibetan yak. Wakhan is too elevated and sterile for tillage, but it yields a pasturage like that of the Pamir region. In this alpine district the lowest hamlet is 8000 feet; Sarhad, the highest, is no less than 11,000 feet above the sea. Nevertheless, pulse and barley crops are grown in the more sheltered glens.