Balkh

Balkh is a city in northern Afghanistan, with an estimated population of 148,972 people. It is within the jurisdiction of Balkh District and its current mayor is Maulvi Mohammad Qasim Fazal Subhan. Located approximately 24 km (15 mi) to the northwest of Mazar-i-Sharif and approximately 74 km (46 mi) to the south of the Amu Darya or the Afghanistan–Uzbekistan border, it is the second largest city of Balkh Province.

Historically, the site of present-day Balkh was held in considerably high regard due to its religious and political significance in Ariana. A hub of Zoroastrianism and Buddhism, the ancient city was also known to the Persians as Zariaspa and to the Greeks as Bactra, giving its name to Bactria. As such, it was famously known as the capital of Bactria or Tokharistan. The Italian explorer and writer Marco Polo described Balkh as "a noble city and a great seat of learning" prior to the Mongol conquests. Most of the town now consists of ruined buildings, situated some 12 km (7.5 mi) from the right bank of the seasonally flowing Balkh River, at an elevation of about 365 m (1,198 ft).

While it is one of Afghanistan's ethnically diverse settlements, Tajiks account for the majority of Balkh's populace and have continuously inhabited the site for millennia. The main language of the town is Dari, which is spoken by a significant majority. Balkh's surrounding region is particularly known for its archeological sites, which attest the presence of many different civilizations that influenced the town's society in various eras. The Belgian-French explorer and spiritualist Alexandra David-Néel associated Balkh with Shambhala, a mythical kingdom that features prominently in ancient Tibetan Buddhism, and also offered the Persian Sham-i-Bala (lit. 'elevated candle') as an etymology of its name. In a similar vein, the British author John G. Bennett, whose academic focus was on the teachings of the Armenian-Greek mystic George Gurdjieff, speculated in his works that Shambhala may have been a Bactrian Sun temple called Shams-i-Balkh, taking note of the Afghan author and mystic Idries Shah as the source of this suggestion.