Gizab is a district in Orūzgān Province

Oruzgan Province

Orūzgān or Urōzgān , also spelled Uruzgan or Rōzgān , is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. It is in the center of the country, though the area is culturally and tribally linked to Kandahar in the south. Its capital is Tarin Kowt...

, Afghanistan. The district lies along the inexact line dividing Afghanistan's Pashtun

Pashtun people

Pashtuns or Pathans , also known as ethnic Afghans , are an Eastern Iranic ethnic group with populations primarily between the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan and the Indus River in Pakistan...

 tribes in the south from the Hazaras in the country's center—Gizab has a mix of Pashtun and Hazara villages. Gizab was transferred in 2004 from Oruzgan province to Daykundi Province, and then reannexed to Oruzgan in 2006. The main village Gizab (Hokumati Gizab) is at 1407 m altitude along the Helmand River

Helmand River

The Helmand River is the longest river in Afghanistan and the primarily watershed for the endorheic Sistan Basin....

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During a 2007 press conference, Mohammed Hashim Watanwal

Mohammed Hashim Watanwal

Hasham Watanwal a representative for Uruzgan Province to Afghanistan's national legislature, the Wolesi Jirga, until he was assassinated on July 17, 2011.According to the Afghan Biographies profile, during the communist era he was...

, a Wolesi Jirga representative, asserted that anti-government elements controlled all of Gizab district.

Through 2008, Gizab had no government representatives, either from the national, provincial, or district levels; nor from the international community or NATO's International Security Assistance Force

International Security Assistance Force

The International Security Assistance Force is a NATO-led security mission in Afghanistan established by the United Nations Security Council on 20 December 2001 by Resolution 1386 as envisaged by the Bonn Agreement...

, represented in the area by the Dutch Task Force Uruzgan

Task Force Uruzgan

The Netherlands Army Task Force Uruzgan was part of NATO's Regional Command South, International Security Assistance Force, in Afghanistan. The Dutch lead one of the four Provincial Reconstruction Teams in the southern region of the country...

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