Afghan Turkestan

Afghan Turkestan is a region in northern Afghanistan, on the border with the former Soviet republics of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. In the 19th century there was a province in Afghanistan named Turkestan Province until abolished by Abdur Rahman, and was centred on Mazari Sharif and included territory in the modern provinces of Balkh, Jowzjan, Faryab and Sar-e Pol. The whole territory, from the junction of the Kokcha river with the Amu Darya on the north-east to the province of Herat on the south-west, was some 500 miles (800 km) in length, with an average width from the Russian frontier to the Hindu Kush of 114 miles (183 km). It thus comprised about 57,000 square miles (150,000 km2) or roughly two-ninths of the former kingdom of Afghanistan.