HELMAND CITY
Helmand, in ancient times, as Hermand and Hethumand, is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, in the south of the country. Lashkargah serves as the provincial capital.
Bost Castle
Qala-e-Bost/ Bost Castle is a fortress in Bost, Helmand Province, Afghanistan, built 3000 years ago near the convergence of the Helmand and Arghandab Rivers, a half-hour’s drive south of Lashkargah. Qala-e-Bost is famous for its 11th century decorative arch, which appears on the 100 Afghani note (Afghan currency).
Kajaki Dam and spillway in Helmand Province
The Helmand River flows through the mainly desert region of the province, providing water used for irrigation. Helmand was the center of the USAID program in the 1960s to develop the Helmand and Arghandab Valley Authority (HAVA) – it became known locally as “little America”. The region produces tobacco, sugar beets, cotton, sesame, wheat, mung beans, maize, nuts, sunflowers, onions, potato, tomato, cauliflower, peanut, apricot, grape, and melon. The province has a domestic airport (Bost Airport), in the city of Lashkargah.
Helmand culture of western Afghanistan was a Bronze Age culture of the 3rd millennium BC. This civilization flourished between 2500 BC and 1900 BC and may have coincided with the great flourishing of the Indus Valley civilisation. Helmand was inhabited by ancient peoples and governed by the Medes before falling to the Achaemenids. Later, the area was part of the ancient Arachosia polity, and a frequent target for conquest because of its strategic location in Asia, which connects Southern, Central and Southwest Asia.
The Helmand river valley is mentioned by name in the Avesta as Haetumant, one of the early centers or origins of the Zoroastrian faith, in pre-Islamic Afghan history. It was invaded in 330 BC by Alexander the Great and became part of the Seleucid Empire. Later, it came under the rule of the Mauryan emperor Ashoka, who erected a pillar there with a bilingual inscription in Greek and Aramaic.
A view of the green zone along the Sangin river, from the high ground surrounding Kajaki Dam in the north of Helmand Province, Afghanistan
2023/A group of tourists visiting Lashkargah in Helmand province were awestruck by the 3,000 year old Qala-e-Bost/ Bost Castle is a fortress in Bost, Helmand Province, Afghanistan, which is famous for its 11th century arch.
