Helmand Province

Helmand (Pashto/Dari: هلمند) is ane o the 34 provinces o Afghanistan. It is in the soothwast o the kintra. Its caipital is Lashkar Gah. The Helmand River flows throu the mainly desert region, providin watter for irrigation.

Helmand is the warld's lairgest opium-producin region, responsible for 75% o the warld's tot production. This is mair nor the whole o Burma, which is the seicont lairgest producin naition efter Afghanistan. Afghan opium accounts for mair nor 90% o the global supply.

The Helmand valley region is mentioned bi name in the Avesta (Fargard 1:13) as Haetumant, ane o the early centers o the Zoroastrian faith, in pre-Islamic Afghan history. Housomeivver, awin tae the preponderance o non-Zoroastrians (Hindus an Buddhists), the Helmand an Kabul regions wur kent as "White Indie" in those days an aw.Vendidad 1, at Avesta.org Some Vedic scholars (eg. Kochhar 1999) believe the Helmand valley corresponds tae the Sarasvati aurie mentioned in the Rig Veda as the hameland for the Indo-Aryan migrations intae Indie, ca. 1500 BC an aw.Kochhar, Rajesh, 'On the identity and chronology of the Ṛgvedic river Sarasvatī' in Archaeology and Language III; Artefacts, languages and texts, Routledge (1999), ISBN 0-415-10054-2.

References

Freemit airtins

USAID information 
Provincial Govrenment steid 
Op/Ed by Holly Barnes Higgins who spent a year in Helmand wi USAID

Category:Provinces o Afghanistan

Category:Buddhism in Afghanistan
Category:Hinduism in Afghanistan