ii. The Modern Province
Badaḵšān is a province (welāyat) of northeastern Afghanistan which covers 47,393 km2. It is presently (1363 Š./1984) divided into eight districts (woloswālī) and three subdistricts (ʿalāqadārī). The main town and provincial center is Fayżābād and Jorm is the only other locality with urban status within the province.
Although first attempts to erect Afghan Badaḵšān into a province seem to date back to Amir ʿAbd-al-Raḥmān’s reign (H. K. Kakar, Government and Society in Afghanistan. The Reign of Amir ʿAbd al-Rahman Khan, Austin, 1979, p. 49), the area long remained merged with adjacent Qaṭaḡān (q.v.) to make up the province of Qaṭaḡān and Badaḵšān. Under King Amān-Allāh, Badaḵšān was a ḥokūmat-e kalān within that province and its subdivisions included four districts (ḥokūmatī) and six subdistricts (ʿalāqa) (Neẓām-nāma-ye taqsīmāt-e molkīya-ye Afḡānestān, Kabul, 1300 Š./1921, p. 21; a slightly different picture, which may suggest local administrative reorganization, is given by B. K. Koškakī, Rāhnamā-ye Qaṭaḡān wa Badaḵšān, Kabul, 1302 Š./1923, p. 21; French translation by M. Reut, Qataghan et Badakhshân, Paris, 1979, p. 14). In 1324 Š./1945 Badaḵšān was made a separate province of second rank (ḥokūmat-e aʿlā) and the general administrative reform of 1343 Š./1964 had it finally promoted to full provincial status.
See Table 5, Table 6, and Table 7 for compilation of the main available data about the present population and land use in the province, districts, and subdistricts.
