Faizabad

Faizabad or Feyzabad (both : fī'zəbăd, fīzäbäd'), city (1992 est. pop. 9,098), capital of Badakhshan prov., NE Afghanistan, on the Kokcha River. The chief commercial and administrative center of NE Afghanistan and the Pamir region, Faizabad also has rice and flour mills. Most of its people are Tajiks. In winter the city is sometimes isolated by deep snow. In 1979 it was a focus of Afghan guerrillas attempting to repel the Soviet invasion. Faizabad was taken by Soviet forces in 1980 and became a major Soviet garrison town.