Farah Province

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Farah فراه

Capital • Coordinates	Farah • ~° N ~° E
Population (~) • Density	338,000 • /km²
Area	48,471 km²
Time zone	UTC+4:30
Main language(s)	Persian (Dari) Pashto

Farah (Pashto/Persian: فراه) is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. It is in the west of the country. Its capital is Farah. Farah is a spacious and sparsely populated province that lies on the Iranian border.

Geographically the province is approximately 18,000 square miles, making it (comparatively) more than twice the size of Maryland, or half the size of South Korea. The province is bounded on the north by Herat, on the northeast by Ghor, the southeast by Helmand, the south by Nimroz, and on the west by Iran. It is the fourth largest province in Afghanistan.

The province is home to a great many ruined castles including the "Castle of the Infidel" just south of Farah City.

The people of Farah have a reputation for being very courageous and hard working and being interested in land and money, the latter mainly due to the deprivation Farah has been historically subjected to.

Farah is associated with such diverse phenomena as dried meat, bigamy (among the less educated ones) and large families (families typically have a minimum of four children). Ethnically, Farah Province has a Pashtun majority. There is a Tajik belt around the capital city. There are also a couple of areas where Aimaks predominate.

The culture of Farah is patriarchal, where the tribal leaders, almost always men, are highly respected. Family pride is strongly valued and family members are taught to respect it and ensure that it is maintained at all times.

The tomb of Syed Mohammed Jaunpuri (who claimed to be the Mahdi) is in Farah and is visited every year by many people from all around the world, especially Pakistan and India.

Despite having a majority-Pashtun population, Farah has not seen much fighting since the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, and is peaceful, relative to many parts of the country. However, mountainous Eastern Farah has seen at least one US offensive against Taliban forces. In February, 2005, the Taliban killed an aid worker in northern Farah and there was a failed Taliban assassination attempt on the governor. Due to its proximity to the restive Helmand and Uruzgan provinces, Farah has experienced problems with roaming insurgent gangs moving through the province and occupying parts of the province for brief periods of time [1]. Incidents of this type have increased as Taliban fighters face heavy pressure from ISAF offensives in the south.

American and NATO troops jointly run a Provincial Reconstruction Team base out of Farah. The American soldiers at the base were, until October 2006 when ISAF Stage 4 started, the only ones in the country that were under ISAF authority.

Farah Province roads have seen massive improvement since May 2005 and are still being improved to date April 2006. The education system has been greatly improved and a great number of illegal weapons have been collected and destroyed in the province as testimony to the Provincial Reconstruction Team.