Taloqan

Tāloqān طالوقان طالقان
City
market street in Taloqan
Tāloqān Location in Afghanistan
Coordinates: 36°43′N 69°31′E / 36.717°N 69.517°E / 36.717; 69.517Coordinates: 36°43′N 69°31′E / 36.717°N 69.517°E / 36.717; 69.517
Country	Afghanistan
Province	Takhār Province
District	Taluqan District
Elevation	876 m (2,874 ft)
Population (2006)
• Total	196,400
Time zone	Afghanistan Standard Time (UTC+4:30)

Tāloqān (Persian/Pashto: طالقان, also transcribed Tāleqān or Tāluqān) is the capital of Takhar Province, in northeastern Afghanistan. It is located in the Taluqan District. The population was estimated as 196,400 in 2006.

The old city to the west on the riverside was described by Marco Polo in 1275 CE as:

In 1603, Taloqan ("Talhan") was visited by another European explorer, Bento de Góis, who was traveling with a caravan from Kabul to Yarkand (then the capital of Kashgaria).

Taloqan was the last major city to fall to the Taliban, in January 2001, after a siege which claimed the lives of hundreds of civilians. Its capture by the Taliban also triggered a mass exodus in the population, with civilians fleeing towards Imam Sahib and the Panjshir Valley. Irregular Northern Alliance soldiers managed to stop the Taliban advance to the north and to the east of the city, but weren't able to retake it. Taloqan was besieged again in a bloody siege in November 2001 by Northern Alliance soldiers, a mass grave containing the bodies of 70 women and children was found, they had been brutally murdered for no reason other than possibly being the families of captured fighters and were ethnic Pashtuns.

The testament of the Islamic prophet, Mohammad, indicates that the first Mahdi is called “Ahmad”, and then we look into the narrations that refer to Al-Yamani, such as the narrations of the black standards, the treasures of Taloqan, the standards of Khurasan and the standards of the east, because there are no narrations that describe them as being disobedient or insubordinate to the standard of Al-Yamani, for he who revolts against him (Al-Yamani) will be cast into the Fire, and all the narrations confirm that those standards will fight to pave the way for the advent of Imam Al-Mahdi.