Zaranj

Zaranj is home to Nimruz University, which is located in the eastern part of the city. The new Zaranj Airport is about 20 km (12 mi) further to the east, next to the Delaram-Zaranj Highway. The city has a number of factories, bazaars, business centers, public parks, banks, hotels, restaurants, mosques, hospitals, universities, and places to play sports or just relax.

Zaranj is at an elevation of approximately 476 m (1,562 ft) above sea level and has a land area of 48 km² (19 sq mi). The city is connected by highways with Ghurghuri and Lashkargah to the east, Farah to the north, and the Afghanistan–Iran border to the west. The Pul-i-Abresham border crossing is located in the western part of Zaranj. It is one of three important trade-routes that connect Central Asia, East Asia and South Asia with the Middle East. It is also used by the Afghans in Iran to enter Afghanistan.

The history of Zaranj dates back over 2,500 years and Ya'qub ibn al-Layth al-Saffar, founder of the Saffarid dynasty, was born in this old civilization.

History

Modern Zaranj bears the name of an ancient city whose name is also attested in Old Persian as Zranka and Middle Persian as Zrang. In Greek, this word became Drangiana. Other historical names for Zaranj include Zirra, Zarangia, Zarani etc. Ultimately, the word Zaranj is derived from the ancient Old Persian word zaranka ("waterland").

Achaemenid Zranka, the capital of Drangiana, was almost certainly located at Dahan-e Gholaman, southeast of Zabol in Iran. After the abandonment of that city, its name, Zarang or Zaranj in later Perso-Arabic orthography, was transferred to the subsequent administrative centers of the region, which itself came to be known as Sakastān, then Sijistan and finally Sistān. Medieval Zaranj is located at Nād-i `Alī, 4.4 km north of the modern city of Zaranj. According to the Arab geographers, prior to medieval Zaranj, the capital of Sistan was located at Ram Shahristan (Abar shariyar). Ram Shahristan had been supplied with water by a canal from the Helmand River, but its dam broke, the area was deprived of water, and the populace moved three days' march to found Zaranj. This Zaranj appears on the Peutinger Map of late Antiquity.

The area came under Muslim rule in 652, when Zaranj surrendered to the governor of Khurāsān; it subsequently became a base for further caliphal expansion in the region. In 661, a small Arab garrison reestablished its authority in the region after having temporarily lost control due to skirmishes and revolts. A Nestorian Christian community is recorded in Zaranj in the sixth century, and by the end of the eighth century there was a Jacobite diocese of Zaranj. In the 9th century Zaranj was the capital of the Saffarid dynasty, whose founder was the local coppersmith turned warlord, Ya'qub ibn al-Layth al-Saffar. It became part of the Ghaznavids, Ghorids, Trimurids, Safavids and others. Defeated by the Samanids in 900, the Saffarids sank to a position of regional importance, until conquered by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1003. Subsequently, Zaranj served as the capital of the Nasrid (1029–1225) and Mihrabānid (1236–1537) maliks of Nīmrūz.

In the early 18th century, the city became part of the Afghan Hotak dynasty until they were removed from power in 1738 by Nader Shah of Khorasan. Zaranj came under Khanate of Kalat in the mid-18th century. Under the modern Afghan governments, the area was known as Farah-Chakansur Province until 1968, when it was separated to form the provinces of Nimruz and Farah. The city of Zaranj became the capital of Nimroz province.

Early 21st century

A new highway called Route 606 was built between Zaranj and Delaram in Farah province by the Indian Government's Border Roads Organization at a cost of about US$136 million to open up a link between the deep sea port at Chabahar in Iran to Afghanistan's main ring road highway system which connects Kabul, Kandahar, Herat, Mazar-i-Sharif and Kunduz. The 215 km-long (134 mi) highway, a symbol of India's developmental work, was handed over to Afghan authorities by then-Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee in January 2009 in the presence of then-Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta.

The province has been one of the 7 (Nimruz, Helmand, Kandahar, Uruzgan, Ghazni, Paktika and Zabul) where the Taliban have regrouped. On 14 August 2012 dozens of civilians were killed in Zaranj by several suicide-bombers in a major terrorist attack on the city.

Due to Zaranj's close proximity to Iran, the city has been using mostly on Iranian products. With the increase of trade the Afghan Border Police has been dealing with a rise in smuggling, particularly illegal drugs and weapons. The overall economic situation became better for the local population of the city. Hundreds of trucks containing merchandise from the Middle East enter the city on a daily basis.

In the last decade, the U.S. Marines and others of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) have been visiting Zaranj. The United States was involved in economic development projects. This included improvement made to the irrigation network of the city, building of Afghan military and Afghan National Police barracks as well as a hospital and a school. The US Marines assigned to 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing have been visiting Zaranj since the Forward Operating Base Delaram was built in Delaram. The 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing built two concrete helicopter landing zones on western side of the gravel runway of Zaranj Airport to ease the landing of USMC V-22 Osprey helicopters from 3rd Battalion 4th Marines.

Taliban capture

On 6 August 2021, Zaranj became the first provincial capital to be captured by the Taliban during their offensive. Afghan officials said the Taliban faced "little resistance" in capturing the city with the 215th Corps of the Afghan National Army focusing instead on the Battle of Lashkargah. Shortly after entering the city, the Taliban broke into the city's prison, releasing a large number of prisoners into Zaranj.

On March 8, 2022, The New York Times reported a boom in the business of smugglers helping - for payment - the escape of hundreds of thousands of Afghans seeking to cross into Iran, to escape the Taliban rule and/or the harsh economic conditions. According to the report, "nearly everyone in Zaranj is involved, in one way or another, in the smuggling business". Millions are now returning to Afghanistan.