The Qizilbash villages of the Chardeh valley (Ludwig W. Adamec, 1985)

The Qizilbash villages of the Chardeh valley

34-32 69-0. A valley, or rather a plain, lying to the west of Kabul, and forming a subdivision of the Kabul district. Its boundaries may be thus roughly defined: north the hills (an offshoot from the Paghman range) running from the Surkh Kotal to Aoshar; south the Korogh mountain; east the Asmai, Sher Darwaza, and Haft Kotal heights; west the hill known as the Koh-i-Chonghor, and a spur to the north of it, running down from the ridge east of the Surkh Kotal. The valley is, as nearly as possible, 6 miles square, and is very fertile. It is watered by the Kabul river and its tributary the Chamchamast, and also by numerous karez.

The whole of this plain is covered with small villages and forts, surrounded with orchards, willows and poplars, and is one mass of cultivated fields. It is traversed by a number of roads, the principal ones being that running westwards to Arghandeh (the main Kabul-Herat road), where another branches off to the southwest to Ghazni, over the Kotal-i-Takht; another runs southwards along the left bank of the river of Rishkor where it crosses the river by a stone bridge and eventually joins the main Ghazni road north of Kala Durani; yet another branches off to the north from Arghandeh and eunning between the Asmai and Aoshara hills eventually joins the main Kabul-Charikar road. These roads are all well made, and practicable for wheels, but owing to the cultivation and to the number of fortified villages, orchards, etc., the intervening country is difficult even for the passage of infantry. Chardeh has a population of some 12,000 families, and the production of wheat, barley, rice and maize, which are almost the only crops grown, must be very great. None of the land is allowed to lie fallow, a considerable amount of lucerne and shaftal (a species of clover) being grown as alternative crops to wheat and barley.

The name is said to have been originally Chahar-dar-Chahar, i.e., “the square,” and to have been corrupted to Chardeh. The following is a list of the Chardeh villages and forts:

Villages	Inhabitants
Aliabad	Barakzais and Tajiks
Allah-ud-din	Gadi Hazaras
Aoshar	Kizilbashes
Aoshar-i-Thiba	Kizilbashes
Bagwana	Tajiks
Deh-i-Bori	Tajiks
Deh-i-Kalandar	Tajiks
Deh-i-Mozang	Tajiks and Kizilbashes
Deh-i-Miskin	Tajiks
Deh-i-Murad Khan	Tajiks
Gaokhana	Hazaras and Tajiks
Guzargah	Tajiks and Kizilbashes
Inchu	Tajiks
Indaki	”
Jangalak	”
Kala-i-Abdul Aziz	”
Kala-i-Abdul Hashim	”
Kala-i-Abdulla Khan	”
Kala-i-Agha Asghar	Kizilbashes
Kala-i-Agha Jan	”
Kala-i-Agha Muhammad	”
Kala-i-Ali Mardan Kul	Barakzais
Kala-i-Amin-ud-daula Khan	”
Kala-i-Fatu	Hazaras
Kala-i-Fazil Beg	Tajiks
Kala-i-Ghaibi	”
Kala-i-Haji Yusuf	Kizilbashes
Kala-i-Jabar Khan	Barakzais
Kala-i-Jafir Jan	Kizilbashes
Kala-i-Iltifat	Tajiks
Kala-i-Karim Khan	Kizilbashes
Kala-i-Kazi	Tajiks
Kala-i-Muhammad Karim Khan	Barakzais
Kala-i-Muhammad Umar	Tajiks
Kala-i-Mir Akhor Agha Jan	Kizilbashes
Kala-i-Mir Akhor Ali Muhammad Khan	Hazaras
Kala-i-Mir Akhor Kasim	Tajiks and Barakzais
Kala-i-Mir Ghaza	Popalzais
Kala-i-Mirza Ahmad Khan	Baluchis
Kala-i-Mirza Ghulam Sidik	Tajiks and Baluchis
Kala-i-Mirza Jafir	Tajiks
Kala-i-Mirza Jawat	Kizilbashes
Kala-i-Mohib Ali Khan	”
Kala-i-Munal	Barakzais
Kala-i-Nazir Ali Muhammad	Tajiks
Kala-i-Safdar Ali Khan	Kizilbashes
Kala-i-Samandar Khan, or Chonghor	Tokhis
Kala-i-Sardar Muhammad Amin Khan	Tajiks
Kala-i-Sardar Wali Muhammad Khan	Gadi Hazaras
Kala-i-Shah Mardan Kul	Tajiks
Kala-i-Shams-ud-din Khan	”
Kala-i-Shukur Ulla Khan	Barakzais
Kala-i-Sultan Ali	Kizilbashes
Kala-i-Sultan Jan	Hazaras
Kala-i-Surkh	Tajiks
Kala-i-Wazir	Hazaras
Kala-i-Zaman Khan	”
Khingot	Ahmadzai Ghilzais
Murghigiran	Adramzai and Ahmadzai Ghilzais
Musai	Tajiks
Rishkor-i-Pain	”
Sarasia	”
Teba	”

The Revenue of Chardeh is said to amount to about two lakhs of rupee (Kabuli?).

For an account of the action on the Chardeh plain on 11^th December 1879, see the “Official History of the Second Afghan War” (Molloy, Wanliss, I.B.C.)

Ludwig W. Adamec — Historical and political gazetteer of Afghanistan. Volume [06] (1985)