(فراه ) Farah Afghanistan

(فراه )

Farah Province Afghanistan

Farah (فراه ) is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. It is in the south west of the country. Its capital is Farah with approximate population of 438,800 in an area of 48,471 km2. The main language is Pashto and in some areas Farsi speaking. Farah is a spacious and sparsely populated province. The main business is agriculture and livestock. It is situated at 650 m altitude and Time zone UTC+4:30.

Geographically the province is approx. 48,471 km2, making it comparatively half the size of South Korea. The province is bounded on the north by Herat, on the northeast by Ghor, the southeast by Helmand, the south by Nimroz provinces, and on the west by Iran. It is the fourth largest province in Afghanistan.

Lying more than 482 kilometres (300 miles) from the sea, Farah is a barren, mostly mountainous province and got plain large deserts. The mountains that comprise the other two-thirds of the province and are progressively lower mountains are generally rounded or flat-topped. The only major river systems runs through it originate in the Hindu Kush flowing Farah Rod River reaches Iran. The rest are fordable for the greater part of the year throughout their courses. Farah Rod River is used only for irrigation. Supplementing the stream irrigation is the Karez, a system of underground channels (with vertical access and maintenance shafts) carrying water from the base of the mountain slopes to oases on valley floors. The signature of Karez, particularly noticeable from the air, is the row of evenly spaced openings (shafts) surrounded by mounds of earth that define the course of the underground channels. These Karezes are mostly drayed up due to drilling of too many unauthorized wells.

The province is home to a great many ruined castles including the "Castle of the Infidel" just south of Farah City.