Baghlan Province

Baghlan بغلان
Province
Afghan National Army in Baghlan province
Map of Afghanistan with Baghlan highlighted
Coordinates (Capital): 36°N 69°E / 36°N 69°E / 36; 69Coordinates: 36°N 69°E / 36°N 69°E / 36; 69
Country	Afghanistan
Capital	Puli Khumri
Government
• Governor	Abdul Sattar Bariz
Area
• Total	21,118 km2 (8,154 sq mi)
Population (2013)
• Total	863,700
• Density	41/km2 (110/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+4:30
ISO 3166 code	AF-BGL
Main languages	Dari (Afghan Persian) Pashto

Baghlan (Pashto/Persian: بغلان‎‎ Baġlān) is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. It is in the north of the country. As of 2013, the province has a population of about 910,700.

Its capital is Puli Khumri (Persian:پل خمری), but its name comes from the other major town in the province, Baghlan. The ruins of a Zoroastrian fire temple, the Surkh Kotal, are located in Baghlan. The lead nation of the local Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) was Hungary, which operated from 2006 to 2015.

The name Baghlan is derived from Bagolango or "image-temple", inscribed on the temple of Surkh Kotal during the reign of the Kushan emperor, Kanishka in the early 2nd century CE. The Chinese Buddhist monk Xuanzang traveled through Baghlan in the mid-7th Century CE, and referred to it as the "kingdom of Fo-kia-lang".

In the 13th Century CE, a permanent garrison of Mongol troops was quartered in the Kunduz-Baghlan area, and in 1253 fell under the jurisdiction of Sali Noyan Tatar, appointed there by Möngke Khan. Sali Noyan's position was later inherited by his son Uladu, and grandson Baktut. These Turco-Mongol garrison troops (tamma) formed the Qara'unas faction, and by the 14th Century had allied with the Chaghataite Khanate. Under the rule of Temür the Qara'unas were given to Chekü Barlas, and then to his son Jahānshāh. Forbes Manz notes that these Kunduz-Baghlan forces appear to have remained cohesive and influential throughout the Timurid period, though under different leaders and different names, up until the Uzbek invasion. By the Islamic year 900 (1494-1495 CE), the area was noted in the Baburnama as ruled by a Qipchaq emir.