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Kunduz

Kunduz, also known as Qunduz, is a city in northern Afghanistan and the capital of Kunduz Province. The city has an estimated population of about 268,893 as of 2015, making it about the seventh largest city of Afghanistan, and the largest city in northeastern Afghanistan. Kunduz is in the historical Tokharistan region of Bactria, near the confluence of the Kunduz River with the Khanabad River. Kunduz is linked by highways with Kabul to the south, Mazar-i-Sharif to the west, and Badakhshan to the east. Kunduz is also linked with Dushanbe in Tajikistan to the north, via the Afghan dry port of Sherkhan Bandar. This city is famous in Afghanistan for its watermelon production.

As of 2015, the land use of the city (within the municipal boundary) is largely agricultural (65.8% of total area). Residential land comprises nearly half of the 'built-up' land area (48.3%) with 29,877 dwellings. Institutional land comprises 17.9% of built-up land use, given that the airport is within the municipal boundary.

Kunduz is also sometimes spelled (romanized) as Kundûz, Qonduz, Qondûz, Konduz, Kondûz, Kondoz, or Qhunduz. The name of the city is derived from the Persian compound, kohan dež, "old/ancient fort".

Kunduz is the site of the ancient city of Drapsaka. It was a great centre of Buddhist learning and very prosperous during the 3rd century AD.

The city used to be called Aornos (Bactrian: οαρνο, romanized: warn) and later Walwalij or Varvaliz, a compound of the old name Warn and Bactrian: λιζο, romanized: lizo, lit.'fortress'. The name Kuhandiz began to be used from the Timurid time.

In the 18th and 19th centuries it was the capital of an Uzbek khanate which reached its largest extent, from Balkh to the Pamir Mountains, during the reign of Murad Beg (1815–1842). Murad Beg faced the decline of his state after being defeated by Dost Mohammad Khan. After Murad's death, the khanate declined and was eventually subjugated by Afghanistan in 1859.

In the early 20th century, between 100 and 200,000 Tajiks and Uzbeks fled the conquest of their homeland by the Russian Red Army and settled in northern Afghanistan.

In the early 20th century, under the governance of Sher Khan Nashir, Kunduz became one of the wealthiest Afghan provinces. This was mainly due to Nasher's founding of the Spinzar Cotton Company, which continues to exist in post-war Afghanistan. At its peak, the Spinzar Cotton Company employed 5,000 people full time. Kunduz is the most important agricultural province which produces wheat, rice, millet, and other products and obtained the nickname of "the hive of the country."

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