Balkhab District Sar-i-Pul Province

District Chief:
Abdullah Ansari (20111115)
District Police Chief:
Mohammad Ziya Rezai (2012)

Background:

Balkhab is a district of Sar-e Pol Province. The district seat lies at Balkhab, also known as Tarkhoj. Coal is mined in the area. A massive copper deposit is also located in Balkhab district of Sar-e pol province, the new copper discovery is bigger than the current Aynak copper deposit in Logar province, southeast of Kabul, according to a GSA report. It is valued at billions of U.S. dollars and one of the biggest untapped copper mines in Afghanistan. The discovery appears to be a volcano genetic massive sulfide deposit -- a deposit type which could supply much of the world's gold, copper, lead and zinc.

The district has been under the control of Mohammad Mohaqeq’s faction of Hezb-e Wahdat-e Islami-ye Afghanistan (now a separate party called Hezb-e Wahdat-e Islami-ye Mardom-e Afghanistan) since the Taleban regime was toppled in 2001. The Taleban do not have any presence in the district, which is the southeastern-most of Sar-e Pulprovince and the only one there with a Hazara majority population.