Talk:Hindu Kush

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Page scope

Hindu Kush is a Growing Region: a named cultivation region above Growing Areas. It covers the Hindu Kush range of north-eastern Afghanistan and Chitral in Pakistan, drawn on the districts of the range. Chitral is its growing area, and the Yarkhun Valley is an appellation within Chitral. The ICIMOD region of eight countries is treated at Hindu Kush Himalaya.

Data verification

Check the main page for the sources behind each statement. Discuss the boundary, the places the region takes in, and the accessions and news items that belong to it here.

Discussion

Why the region is on the map

• Allan (1991), Encyclopaedia Iranica, "Chitral i. Geography": the making of hashish from cannabis, with opium, among the sources of rural income in Chitral.
• The Real Seed Company's Chitrali listings: seed "personally collected at source in Yarkhun Valley, Chitral, Hindu Kush" (2015 and 2018 stock), and later stock from the Yarkhun Valley harvests of 2019 and 2021.
• Ullah and Badshah (2024): the plant, called bong in Lotkuh, a valley of Chitral in the eastern Hindu Kush, is dried and fed to polo horses.
• The UNODC/MCN cannabis surveys (2010, Table 1; 2011, Table 1): commercial cultivation in Badakhshan, Takhar and Baghlan in 2009–2011 and in Kapisa in 2011. These are province figures; the surveys say nothing about the mountain districts of those provinces in particular, and the article says so.
• Grötzbach (2003), Encyclopaedia Iranica, "Hindu Kush", gives the extent of the range. It does not mention cannabis.

Growing status

The status is Active. The Yarkhun Valley seed collections run from 2015 to 2021, and the surveys found cultivation in Badakhshan, Takhar and Baghlan every year from 2009 to 2011. No source read says that growing in the range has ended.

How the border is drawn

• The border is a proxy drawn on administrative units, following Grötzbach's limits for the range:
  • the Baroghil Pass and the Yarkhun, Mastuj and Chitral valleys on the east;
  • the Kokcha and Panj valleys on the north;
  • the Shibar Pass and the Darra-ye Shekari on the west.
• Grötzbach gives no southern line. He places Nuristan and south Chitral on the southern side, with Nuristanis and Pashais living there, and the Kabul basin, Koh Daman and Kohistan to the south of the western range. The border therefore takes in the Pashai districts of Kapisa (Nijrab, Alasay, Tagab) and Laghman (Alingar, Alishing, Dawlat Shah, Mihtarlam), and leaves out the Kabul basin, the Kohistan districts of Kapisa, Qarghayi and all of Nangarhar.
• Units (OpenStreetMap, fetched 19 October 2026):
  • Upper and Lower Chitral districts (relations 13925246 and 13925247).
  • The provinces of Nuristan, Panjshir and Kunar.
  • Badakhshan: Wakhan, Ishkashim, Zebak, Kuran wa Munjan, Yamgan, Jurm, Wurduj, Baharak, Tagab and Tishkan.
  • Takhar: Warsaj and Farkhar.
  • Baghlan: Andarab, Khinjan, Dih Salah, Puli Hisar, Khost wa Fereng and Farang wa Gharu.
  • Parwan: Salang, Shinwari, Sheikh Ali, Surkhi Parsa and Ghorband.
  • Bamyan: Shibar.
  • Kapisa: Nijrab, Alasay and Tagab.
  • Laghman: Alingar, Alishing, Dawlat Shah and Mihtarlam.
• Wakhan is cut at the meridian of the Baroghil Pass (73.33° E), Grötzbach's eastern end of the range. The Pamir end of the district lies east of that line and is outside.
• Chitral is taken whole, both districts. Allan describes the Chitral river as draining the eastern Hindu Kush in the north and a spur of the Hindu Raj on the south and east, so the south-east of Chitral is Hindu Raj rather than Hindu Kush. The border keeps the existing border of the Chitral growing area unchanged.
• The union of the units is about 71,500 km² before the October 2026 mask; the infobox gives the area left (see below). That is larger than Grötzbach's 55,000 km² for the range, because whole valley districts are taken.
• The border is not drawn from accession or news points.
• Since October 2026 the map line leaves out ground above 4,000 m (SRTM elevation) and land that ESA WorldCover 2021 maps as bare or sparse vegetation, permanent snow and ice, or open water at its outer edge only: land of those kinds that the kept ground encloses is inside, pieces less than 5 km apart are joined, and pieces under 25 km² with no accession in them are left out. About 51,010 km² of the 71,540 km² inside the districts and provinces it is drawn on are inside the line. The line runs out along the lowest ground to take in the map point, which stands outside the kept land.

Edges with the neighbouring regions

• Karakoram begins at the Ishkoman and Karambar rivers. Between those rivers and the Yarkhun–Mastuj line lies the Hindu Raj (Gupis-Yasin, Punial, and the part of Ghizer west of the Ishkoman), which belongs to neither range and is in neither growing region. The two borders touch only at the head of the Karambar.
• North-eastern Afghanistan, Northern Afghanistan, Central Afghanistan and Eastern Afghanistan are drawn on the provinces of the UNODC surveys' regions less this growing region, so their borders meet this one without gap or overlap.

Accessions inside the border

• Four seed accessions are filed under the region, with Chitral as their area and the Yarkhun Valley as their appellation: RSC-PAK-KHY-0120150001, RSC-PAK-KHY-0120180001, RSC-PAK-KHY-0120190001 and RSC-PAK-KHY-0120210001. All four carry the point 36.30, 72.50, at Mastuj where the Yarkhun valley opens. The seller names only the valley, so the point marks the valley and not a field, and their place in the hierarchy rests on that name.
• Several herbarium sheets lie inside the border. None is filed under the region, because none of their labels says the plant was cultivated:
  • Vavilov s.n., Kafiristan (1924) and Vavilov s.n., Chekhosarai (1924): plants raised in Russia from seed Vavilov collected.
  • Scheibe 82 (1935), at Ischaghan-Serai (Asadabad): no habitat on the label.
  • Anders 11036 (1973), Chalas in the Deagal valley: no habitat on the label.
  • Anders 4869 (1970), Dab in the Kunar valley: a spring-fed slope.
  • Rechinger 32428 (1965), between Chigha Sarai and Kandai: no habitat on the label.
  • Hewer 1411 (1969), Kamdesh: "one of the commonest 'weeds'".
  • Podlech 12731 (1965), Baharak: frequent on roadsides and in fields.
• The eradication report of 5 October 2026 from Badakhshan covers the whole province, part of which lies outside the border. It is not filed under the region.

Sources

• Grötzbach (2003) and Allan (1991), Encyclopaedia Iranica, online.
• Ullah and Badshah (2024): the passage on Lotkuh and the plant's use, as cited on Chitral.
• The UNODC/MCN surveys of 2010 and 2011: the provincial tables (Table 1 of each) and the note on the provinces outside the area the surveys covered (2010, p. 14).
• Herbarium sheets: the specimen pages and catalogue records cited on each accession.