Badghis is a land of rolling hills and open pasture in north-western Afghanistan, between the Paropamisus mountains and the Turkmenistan border. Medieval writers knew it for its woods and pistachios, and a traveller of the 1840s called its grazing grounds the best in all Asia. Its capital, Qala-e Naw, is the province’s main town.
Hills, rivers and pistachio woods
The Paropamisus range crosses the region from east to west. Its southern slopes drain towards the Harirud, while the gentler northern slopes send streams such as the Kushk into the basin of the Morghab, the main river, which flows north through the province into Turkmenistan. Badghis covers about 20,000 square kilometres and borders Turkmenistan, Herat, Ghor and Faryab.
Some of the old woodland survives, with wild pistachio, juniper and mulberry trees. The climate is semi-arid, with hot, dry summers and harsh winters. Farmers combine irrigated fields with rain-fed dry farming, and the pastures are rich enough for herds to graze for much of the year.
Hephthalites, poets and a Ghurid madrasa
A popular etymology recorded by the geographer Yaqut reads Badghis as ‘the place where the wind rises’, but the name goes back to the Avestan Vaitigaesa. In late antiquity the region was largely held by the Hephthalites, and by 588 it had a Nestorian Christian bishop. It came under Arab rule around 652–53. Hanzala of Badghis, one of the earliest poets in New Persian, came from here, and the Hudud al-Alam describes a rural land of some 300 villages.
In the Morghab valley near today’s Jawand stand the ruins of the Shah-i Mashhad madrasa, built in the second half of the 12th century. Its portal inscription calls it a madrasa, making it the earliest known Islamic building so named, and its patron was a noblewoman, perhaps of the Ghurid royal house. Its rich brickwork links it to the Minaret of Jam.
Aymaq herders and weavers
The people of Badghis include Aymaq groups, Persian-speaking peoples who have long combined farming with seasonal herding. The best known here are the Jamshidi, who trace their name to the legendary king Jamshid, and the Hazaras of Qala-e Naw; Pashtuns, Tajiks, Uzbeks and Turkmen also live in the province. Dari and Pashto are the main languages.
Herding, farming and carpet weaving have long produced a surplus for the markets of Herat and Qala-e Naw, and some of the finest ‘Herat Baluch’ carpets are woven by Timuri Aymaq in Badghis. The NSIA estimated the population at about 559,000 in 2021–22.