Herat
alternative words: Herat city, Harat
keywords: town
related topics: Taliban , Ismail Khan
related web sites: http://www.geocities.com/afghanistan_ca/Herat.html
explanation: Capital of Herat province in western Afghanistan and its third largest city. It is on a fertile plain irrigated by Harirud river. Herat should be founded by Alexander the great in 4th century BC. It was the capital of Tamerlane in 14th century. Its ownership was disputed with Iran and definitively settled in 1863. Hundreds of civilians were massacred after an anticommunist uprising in 1979. Herat fell to the hand of Taliban in 1995. The population is 160,000.