Marjah

{{Infobox settlement   |official_name =Marjah |other_name = |native_name ={{nq|مارجه}} |nickname = |settlement_type =  |motto =  |image_skyline = File:Marines in poppy fields.jpg |imagesize = 250px |image_caption = U.S. Marines on a patrol next to a poppy field in 2010 |image_map = |mapsize = |map_caption = |image_map1 = |mapsize1 = |map_caption1 = |image_dot_map = |dot_mapsize = |dot_map_caption = |dot_x = |dot_y = |pushpin_map = Afghanistan  |pushpin_label_position =bottom |pushpin_map_caption =Location in Afghanistan |pushpin_mapsize =250  |subdivision_type = Country |subdivision_name = {{flag|Afghanistan}} |subdivision_type1 = Province |subdivision_name1 = Helmand Province |subdivision_type2 = District |subdivision_name2 = Nad Ali |subdivision_type3 = |subdivision_name3 = |subdivision_type4 = |subdivision_name4 =  |population_as_of = |population_footnotes = <ref name=pop1>{{cite magazine |first=Mark |last=Thompson |title=U.S. Troops Prepare to Test Obama's Afghan War Plan |url=http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1962126,00.html?xid=rss-topstories |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100214143952/http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1962126,00.html?xid=rss-topstories |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 14, 2010 |magazine=TIME |date=2010-02-09 |access-date=2010-02-09 |quote=A town of 80,000, Marja...}}</ref><ref name=pop2>{{cite news |first=Tony |last=Perry |title=In Afghanistan, Marines ready attack on Taliban redoubt |url=http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-afghanistan-assault4-2010feb04,0,6261652.story |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=2010-02-03 |access-date=2010-02-03 |quote=Marja, with a population estimated at 85,000...}}</ref><ref name=pop3>{{cite news |first=Miguel |last=Marquez |title=Afghanistan: Marines Gear Up for Biggest Fight Yet |url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/afghanistan-us-marines-face-biggest-fight/story?id=9734858 |publisher=ABC News |date=2010-02-03 |access-date=2010-02-03 |quote=Marja and the surrounding area, with an estimated population of 125,000...}}</ref> |population_note = |population_total =80-85,000 (disputed)<br>125,000 (with surrounding area - also disputed)  |timezone = UTC+4:30 |utc_offset = |timezone_DST = |utc_offset_DST = |coordinates = {{coord|31|31|N|64|07|E|region:AF|display=inline}} |elevation_footnotes =  |elevation_m = |elevation_ft = }} '''Marjah''' (also spelled '''Marjeh'''; Pashto/{{langx|fa|{{nq|مارجه}}}}) is an agricultural town in southern Afghanistan. It has been reported to have a population between 80,000 and 125,000, but some sources argue that its population is much smaller and is spread across 80 to 125 km<sup>2</sup>, an area larger than Cleveland or Washington, D.C.<ref>{{cite news|title=POLITICS: Fiction of Marja as City Was U.S. Information War|url=http://www.ipsnews.net/2010/03/politics-fiction-of-marja-as-city-was-us-information-war/|first=Gareth|last=Porter|agency=Inter Press Service|date=8 March 2010|access-date=9 August 2017}}</ref> Another source described Marjah as "a cluster of villages" and "a community of 60,000 persons".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Suhrke|first1=Astri|title=When More is Less: The International Project in Afghanistan|date=2011|publisher=C. Hurst|location=London|isbn=978-1-84904-164-5|pages=63, 64}}</ref> The town sits in Nad Ali District of Helmand Province, southwest of the provincial capital Lashkar Gah.

Operation Moshtarak (or the Battle of Marjah) took place in the area.

==Population and economy== Marjah is geographically situated in one of Afghanistan's major belts of poppy fields,<ref name=NYT20100203>{{cite news |first=Rod |last=Nordland |title=Military Officials Say Afghan Fight Is Coming |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/04/world/asia/04taliban.html?hp |newspaper=The New York Times |date=2010-02-03 |access-date=2010-02-03}}</ref> which are a source of funds for the Taliban.<ref name=LATimes20100131>{{cite news |first=Tony |last=Perry |title=Marine assault vehicles key to Afghan strategy |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-jan-31-la-fg-afghan-marines31-2010jan31-story.html |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=2010-01-31 |access-date=2010-02-04}}</ref> According to one figure, 10% of global illicit opium production in the year 2000 originated from the Marjah/Nad-i-Ali area.<ref>{{cite book |first=Joel |last=Hafvenstein |title=Opium Season: A Year on the Afghan Frontier |publisher=Globe Pequot |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-59921-131-2 |page=157 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QflBCoDVn30C&q=marja+afghanistan&pg=PA157}}</ref> During the 1950s and 1960s the United States funded a scheme, run by the Helmand and Arghandab Valley Authority, to irrigate the fields around Marjah (Lashkar Gah/Helmand was nicknamed "Little America"), with many canals remaining to this day.<ref name=pop1/><ref name=LATimes20100131/>

In conjunction with this American-led development, which included building and staffing a number of local schools, the Afghan government jump-started a program in 1959 to resettle Pashtun nomads to the area, providing them each with "almost 15 acres of land, two oxen and free seeds", with a focus on growing wheat.<ref name=WaPo20100210>{{cite news |first=Rajiv |last=Chandrasekaran |title=Marines plan joint mission to eject insurgents from last Helmand stronghold |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/09/AR2010020903511_pf.html |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=2010-02-10 |access-date=2010-02-10}}</ref>

==Climate== Data collected in the 1950s in the Marjah/Chah-i-Anjirs area showed an average rainfall of over one inch per month from December through March, peaking in January at 2.46 inches. The rest of the year experienced little or no precipitation, and besides January, there was actually a consistent net loss of water through evaporation. June, July, and August experienced average high temperatures of over {{convert|100|°F|°C}}, while the average lows in winter bottomed out at just above freezing in December and January.<ref>{{cite book |first=Aloys Arthur |last=Michel |title=The Kabul, Kunduz, and Helmand Valleys and the national economy of Afghanistan: a study of regional resources and the comparative advantages of development |publisher=National Academies |year=1959 |pages=142–145 |isbn=9780598753779 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yk0rAAAAYAAJ}}</ref>

==See also== * Marjah Accelerated Agricultural Transition (2010 project) * Helmand Province * Battle of Marjah

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Further reading== {{Commons category|Marjah, Afghanistan}} * {{cite news|url=http://www.alternet.org/world/145971/marjah%3A_the_non-existent_city_the_military_said_we_conquered_in_afghanistan|title=Marjah: The Non-Existent City the Military Said We Conquered in Afghanistan| work=AlterNet|author=Gareth Porter}} * {{cite news|title=Marjah offensive: Q&A on why it matters to Afghanistan war |author=David Guttenfelder|work=Christian Science Monitor|url=https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-South-Central/2010/0209/Marjah-offensive-Q-A-on-why-it-matters-to-Afghanistan-war}}

{{Authority control}} {{Coord|31|31|N|64|07|E|display=title|region:AF_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki}}

Category:Populated places in Helmand Province