introductioncrudely refined and mainly provides fuel for water heaters, though small
quantities are exported. Formerly there was a cement factory and a large-
scale, state-run cotton-processing factory in Pul-i Khumri, but these are
now ruined and abandoned.
Mazar-i Sharif is the largest and most important town in the northern
provinces, but historically Balkh to the west was the capital of the region.
In pre-Islamic times this town was known as Bactra and in the fifth century
bce (see Table 1) it was the capital of the Achaemenid province of Bactria.
Bactra is mentioned in the Zoroastrian Avesta and local tradition claims
that it was here that Zoroaster was given refuge from persecution and
established his dualistic religion. Bactra was also renowned for the cult
centre of Zariaspa dedicated to the goddess of the Amu Darya, Ardvi Sura
Anahita. Recent French excavations at Chashma-yi Shafa, where the Balkh
Ab breaks through the Koh-i Alburz, have revealed a major pre-Islamic
site, including fire temples.
From the second century bce, if not earlier, Bactra was a major
Buddhist centre, and the remains of a reliquary, or stupa, and a monas-
tery can be seen at the side of the modern road. To the south of the main
road lies Noh Gunbad, Afghanistan’s most ancient mosque. When the Arab
Muslim armies conquered Bactra in the early eighth century, they renamed
it Balkh and referred to it as ‘Umm al-Bilad, the Mother of Cities. From
the early Islamic period, Balkh was renowned as a centre of Sufism and the
birthplace of many famous Sufis, including Jalal al-Din Rumi (1207–1273),
whose disciples founded the Mevlevi tariqa, better known in the Western
world as the Whirling Dervishes of Turkey. The walls, citadel and shrines
that can still be seen in Balkh are mostly medieval and date from the
Timurid and Tuqay-Timurid eras (see Table 3).
Mazar-i Sharif owes its rise to prominence to the founding of a major
shrine by the Timurid ruler Sultan Husain Baiqara (1470–1506) (see
Table 3), over what was claimed to be the last resting place of ‘Ali b. Abi
Talib, the cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad. In the latter half of the
nineteenth century the northern plains were conquered by the Durrani
kings and Mazar-i Sharif became the capital of what was known as Afghan
Turkistan. Following the fall of the Communist government of President
Najib Allah in 1992, many of his supporters fled to Mazar. After subse-
quent infighting between the mujahidin, thousands more people, especially
Kabulis, fled north and swelled the city’s burgeoning population.
Mazar-i Sharif is nowadays a multi-ethnic town but its ethos remains
predominantly Turkic and it has the reputation of being the most secular
urban centre in Afghanistan. It is the main transit point for the export