Quetta in the context of "Hazaras"

Mehrgarh is a Neolithic archaeological site situated on the Kacchi Plain of Balochistan in Pakistan. It is located near the Bolan Pass, to the west of the Indus River and between the modern-day Pakistani cities of Quetta, Kalat and Sibi. The site was discovered in 1974 by the French Archaeological Mission in the Indus Basin led by the French archaeologists Jean-François Jarrige and Catherine Jarrige. Mehrgarh was excavated continuously between 1974 and 1986, and again from 1997 to 2000. Archaeological material has been found in six mounds, and about 32,000 artifacts have been collected from the site. The earliest settlement at Mehrgarh, located in the northeast corner of the 495-acre (2.00 km) site, was a small farming village dated from 7000 BCE or 5250 BCE (see below).

Bolan Pass (Urdu: درۂ بولان) is a valley and a natural gateway through the Toba Kakar range in Balochistan province of Pakistan. It is situated 120 km (75 miles) south of Pakistan's border with Afghanistan. The pass is an 89 km (55 miles) stretch of the Bolan River valley from Rindli in the south to Darwāza near Kolpur in the north. It is made up of a number of narrow gorges and stretches. It connects Quetta with Sibi by road and railway.

Being strategically located, it has also been used by traders, invaders, and nomadic tribes as a gateway to and from South Asia. The Bolān Pass is an important pass on the Baluch frontier, connecting Jacobabad and Jhang with Multan, which has always occupied an important place in the history of British campaigns in Afghanistan.

Spin Boldak (Pashto: سپین بولدک) is a city in Kandahar Province of Afghanistan, serving as the capital of Spin Boldak District. Its current mayor is Lutfullah Latifi.

Spin Boldak sits along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. It is linked by a highway with the city of Kandahar to the north, and with Chaman and Quetta in Pakistan to the south. The Wesh-Chaman border crossing is located in the southeast of the city.

The Sulaiman Mountains Range are a north–south extension of the southern Hindu Kush mountain system in western Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan. They rise to form the eastern edge of the Iranian plateau. They extend from the Kandahar, Zabul and Paktia provinces of Afghanistan across the northern Balochistan, Waziristan and Kurram of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan. In southwestern Punjab, the mountains extend into the Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur districts, which are located west of the Indus River on the boundary with Balochistan. Bordering the mountains to the east are the plains of the Indus River valley, and to the north are the arid highlands of the Central Hindu Kush whose heights extend up to 3,383 m (11,099 ft). The total area on which this range spans around 6,475 km (2,500 sq mi). Together with the Kirthar Mountains on the border between Balochistan and Sindh Province, the Sulaiman Mountains form the Sulaiman-Kirthar geologic province.

The most well-known peak of the Sulaimans is the twin-peaked Takht-e-Sulaiman at 3,487 m (11,440 ft), located near Darazinda in Dera Ismail Khan Subdivision, close to the border with both South Waziristan and the Zhob District of neighboring Balochistan. The highest peak is Zarghun Ghar at 3,578 m (11,739 ft) near Quetta. The next highest peak in Balochistan province is Khilafat Hill at 3,475 m (11,401 ft) located in the Ziarat District of Pakistan and is famous for the Ziarat Juniper Forest, where Juniperus macropoda trees grow.

Turbat (Urdu and Balochi: تربت) is a city in the southern region of the Balochistan province of Pakistan. It is the administrative centre of Kech District. Turbat is the second-largest city in Balochistan after Quetta and the 35th largest city in the country by population. Situated on the left bank of the Kech River, Turbat was the historical capital of the princely state of Makran in British India. It is the largest city in the southern part of the province. The Gwadar Port lies 180 kilometres (110 mi) southwest of Turbat.

The Hazaras have long been the subject of persecution in Afghanistan, including enslavement during the 19th century and ethnic and religious persecution for hundreds of years. In the 20th and 21st centuries, they have also been the victims of massacres committed by the Taliban and al-Qaeda. Hazaras have been systemically killed and discriminated against socially, economically, and culturally with specific intent, argued by some to constitute genocide. The Hazaras primarily come from the central regions of Afghanistan, known as Hazarajat. Significant communities of Hazara people also live in Quetta, Pakistan and in Mashad, Iran, as part of the Hazara and Afghan diasporas.

During the reign of Amir Abdur Rahman (1880–1901), millions of Hazaras were massacred, expelled, and displaced. Half the population of Hazarajat was killed or fled to neighboring regions of Balochistan in British India and Khorasan in Iran. This led to Pashtuns and other ethnic groups occupying parts of Hazarajat.

Loy Kandahar (Pashto: لوی کندهار, pronounced [loɪ 'kand̪(ah)ɑr]; lit. 'Greater Kandahar') is a historical and cultural region of Afghanistan, comprising the modern Afghan provinces of Kandahar, Helmand, Farah, Uruzgan, as well as parts of Nimruz and Zabul, and the Pashtun majority northern part of Balochistan including cities like Quetta, Chaman and many other areas (the latter known as "South Pashtunkhwa"). In 1709, Mirwais Hotak made the region an independent kingdom and turned Kandahar city into the capital of the Hotak dynasty. In 1747, Ahmad Shah Durrani, founder of the Durrani dynasty, made Kandahar the capital of the Afghan Empire.

Loy Kandahar is vaguely defined by a common culture and history that is connected to the local indigenous tribes that reside in the region. Some people may refer to these areas as being under the "Kandahari cultural sphere of influence".Particular styles of clothing, articles of clothing, turban styles, turban cloth colors, dialects of Pashto language, etc. may sometimes be associated with specific tribes indigenous to Loy Kandahar and thus integrate themselves into regional culture. For instance, a Pashtun tribesman from Loy Kandahar may quickly recognize a Pashtun from Loya Paktia based upon his turban style and color. Likewise, a Pashtun from Loya Paktia may recognize someone from Loy Kandahar based upon his unique style of collarless kameez (shirt) with specific embroidered patterns on the front. There are many subtle and intricate cultural indicators of this type that are not recorded in any known written history but simply known and observed by the tribesmen of the various Pashtun regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The Chaman border crossing is one of the major international border crossings between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Located on the Pak-Afghan border, it leads north from the town of Chaman, Chaman District, Balochistan into Wesh, Afghanistan in Spin Boldak District, Kandahar province. More generally, it links the two provincial capitals: Quetta and Kandahar.

At least 10,000 peoples cross this border on a daily basis for businesses in Wesh, Afghanistan and return home in the evening.