Sheberghān

Town in northern Afghanistan, 130 km/80 mi west of Mazār-e Sharīf, on the Safid River in Jowzjan province; population (2001 est) 37,400. At an altitude of 365 m/1,197 ft the town is in an irrigated area, producing crops of cereals and cotton. Some 8 km/5 mi to the east large reserves of natural gas have been discovered, which are delivered by pipeline to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, as well as to Mazār-e Sharīf, where the gas is used in producing thermal electricity and chemical fertilizers.

Sheberghān was previously the capital of an Uzbek khanate, but it became part of Afghanistan under an Anglo-Russian border settlement of 1873.