The Qizilbash population of
Charikar in Afghanistan
Elevation
4,920 feet. A town at the mouth of the Ghorband valley, 40 miles north of
Kabul, the residence of the Governor of Kohistan.
It
is said (1882) to contain 3,000 houses inhabited by Tajiks (900 houses),
Uzbaks, Kizilbashes, Hazaras, and Hindus (150 houses). The latter, some of whom
are Sikhs, are all traders and shopkeepers. Iron-ore is brought here in great
quantities from the Ghorband mines, and is worked up for the Kabul market.
Transit
dues are, or were, charged at the rate of Rs. 5 per camel or pony-lead, Rs. 3
per donkey-load, Rs. 5 per horse or camel, Rs. 3 pony-lead, Rs. 3 per head of
cattle, Rs. 1 per 6 head of sheep coming from Turkistan
The
dues on goods are the same going upwards as downwards, but unladen animals
returning are not charged for.
There
are several mud forts in the town and more in the immediate neighbourhood.
Within the walls the largest fort is Kala-i-Kazi; outside the place the
principal one is Kala-i-Khwaja Abdul Khalik. There are a number of orchards at
Charikar which extend for some distance north and south along the road.
The
position of Charikar is of great strategic importance, as the roads over the
Hindu Kush proper unite in its neighbourhood. There is a road from Charikar
which goes over the hill by Opian to Tawakal in the Ghorband valley. (See
“Chetak.”)
In
1839 Charikar was the seat of a British Political Agent, and the station of
Shah Shuja’s Gurkha regiment. When the insurrection broke out, the position was
attacked by the warlike Kohistanis, and after some days’ severe fighting, and
the supply of water being cut off, a retreat was made n Kabul, which ended in
the destruction of the greater part of the garrison, Major Eldred Pottinger,
Lieutenant Haughton, and one Gurkha only escaping, although 165 men, survivors,
were afterwards collected by the latter officer on the advance of General
Pollock’s army.
The
valley of Charikar, says Pottinger, offers every advantage for the cantonment
of troops; it abounds in supplies of all kinds; labour is cheap, and the forage
for horses and camels excellent and the climate is milder than that of Kabul.
(A.B.C., I.B.C.)
Ludwig W. Adamec — Historical and political gazetteer
of Afghanistan. Volume [06] (1985)
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