Shiberghan
SHIBERGHAN
City in northern Afghanistan.
The capital of the Afghan province of Jowzjan, Shiberghan is located approximately 80 miles west of Mazar-e Sharif. The city has about 30,000 inhabitants, but the number is only a rough approximation. The official 1979 census showed a population of 19,000, but by 2003 estimates held that it might be as high as 40,000. Most of Shiberghan's population is Uzbek, although the city also has a sizable Turkmen and Tajik population. After natural gas was discovered in 1931, Shiberghan was developed with Soviet aid into a modern city. The city became a focal point in the battle between the Taliban and Afghanistan's Northern Alliance. Shiberghan is the location of a prison used by the Northern Alliance, and it has been alleged that several hundred Taliban and al-Qaʿida prisoners were killed at the prison.
Bibliography
Adamec, Ludwig. Historical Dictionary of Afghanistan, 2d edition. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 1997.
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