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Band-e Amir National Park

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A ranger , park ranger , park warden , field ranger , or forest ranger is a person entrusted with protecting and preserving parklands and protected areas – private, national, state, provincial, or local parks. Their duties include law enforcement, wildlife and land management, firefighting, and community engagement and education. Rangers monitor wildlife, remove snares, confront and arrest poachers, identify and remove invasive species, and much more.

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72-483: Band-e Amir National Park ( Dari : پارک ملی بند امیر ; Pashto : د امیر بند ملي پارک ) is located in the central Bamyan Province of Afghanistan . It was established on 22 May 2009 as Afghanistan's first national park to promote and protect the natural beauty of a series of intensely blue lakes created by natural dams high in the Hindu Kush . Band-e-Amir is a chain of six lakes in the southern mountainous desert area of

144-660: A distinction between varieties of the Sistan region and the varieties in the Western group. However Encyclopaedia Iranica considers the Sistani dialect to constitute their own distinctive group, with notable influences from Balochi . Dari does not distinguish [ ɪ ] and [ ɛ ] in any position, these are distinct phonemes in English but are in un-conditional free variation in nearly all dialects of Dari. There are no environmental factors related to

216-442: A group of rangers was installed to manage the conservation and protection of park natural resources. The WCS is the only non-government organization with an office in the park. The WCS supports park staff and works with the local community to promote conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Ecotourism is expected to decrease local economic dependency on the park's natural resources. Tourists visit Band-e-Amir primarily in

288-464: A late spring and summertime tourism destination, as the high elevation central Hazarajat region of Afghanistan is extremely cold in winter, with temperatures reaching as low as −20 °C (−4.0 °F). The six constituent lakes of Band-e Amir are: The white travertine dams created by fault lines, which are prevalent in the Band-e Amir Valley, form the barriers between the lakes. Band-e Haibat

360-444: A modern dialect form of Persian that is the standard language used in administration, government, radio, television, and print media. Because of a preponderance of Dari native speakers, who normally refer to the language as Farsi ( فارسی , "Persian"), it is also known as "Afghan Persian" in some Western sources. There are different opinions about the origin of the word Dari . The majority of scholars believe that Dari refers to

432-518: A nearly identical categorization but considered varieties spoken in the Sistan region to constitute a distinct group. Takhar and the MOE only discussed vocabulary differences between the dialect groups and did not extensively discuss phonological differences between these groups. However there was a noticeable difference in the romanizations of the Western dialects and the South-Eastern dialects. Chiefly that

504-544: A need for well prepared human capacity to manage. Park rangers are the backbone of park management. They are on the ground. They work on the front line with scientists, visitors, and members of local communities." Adopt A Ranger claims that the ranger deficit is the single greatest limiting factor in effectively protecting nature in 75% of the world. Currently, no conservation organization or Western country or international organization addresses this problem. Adopt A Ranger has been incorporated to draw worldwide public attention to

576-515: A shared heritage that includes thinkers, writers, and poets of the Farsi language against those who believe that Dari has older roots and provides a distinct identity that cannot be confused with Iran's claim. Park ranger "Parks" may be broadly defined by some systems in this context, and include protected culturally or historically important built environments, and is not limited to the natural environment. Different countries use different names for

648-460: A wide area in the west of Kabul which is mainly recognized as Dashti Barchi, and some regions near Herat . As a group, the Hazaragi varieties are distinguished by the presence of retroflex consonants and distinctive vocabulary. However it has been shown that Hazaragi is more accurately a sub-dialect of Dari rather than its own variety of Persian. Afghanistan's Ministry of Education does not make

720-404: A worldwide ranger deficit of 105,000 rangers in the developing and transition countries. One of the world's foremost conservationists, Dr. Kenton Miller, stated about the importance of rangers: "The future of our ecosystem services and our heritage depends upon park rangers. With the rapidity at which the challenges to protected areas are both changing and increasing, there has never been more of

792-515: Is accomplished by the professionalism and sometimes overlapping of the different divisions. For example, an interpretive ranger may perform a law enforcement role by explaining special park regulations to visitors and encouraging them to be proper stewards of natural and cultural history. Law enforcement rangers and other park employees may contribute to the mission of the interpretive ranger by providing information to park visitors about park resources and facilities. The spirit of teamwork in accomplishing

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864-713: Is in Edmund Spenser 's poem The Shepheardes Calendar from 1579: "[Wolves] walk not widely, as they were wont, for fear of rangers and the great hunt." The office of Ranger of Windsor Great Park appears to have been created in 1601. In North America, rangers served in the 17th through 18th-century wars between colonists and Native American Indian tribes. Rangers were full-time soldiers employed by colonial governments to patrol between fixed frontier fortifications in reconnaissance providing early warning of raids. During offensive operations, they acted as scouts and guides, locating villages and other targets for task forces drawn from

936-674: Is its conservative nature compared to, for example, the Tehrani dialect. This can be seen in its Phonology (e.g. it's preservation of "Majhul" vowels), Morhphonology and Syntax, and it's Lexicon. A further distinction may be made between varieties in and near Kabul and varieties in and near Afghan Turkistan. With dialects near Kabul exhibiting some influences from languages in southern Afghanistan and South Asia and dialects in Afghan Turkistan exhibiting more influence from Tajik . All South-Eastern varieties exhibited some influence from Uzbek . Despite

1008-491: Is sugar  – Rhyme method in Dari is sweeter Uzūbat usually means "bliss", "delight", "sweetness"; in language, literature and poetry, uzubat also means "euphonious" or "melodic". Referring to the 14th-century Persian poet Hafez , Iqbal wrote: شکرشکن شوند همه طوطیان هند Šakkar-šakan šavand hama tūtīyān-i Hind زین قند پارسی که به بنگاله می‌رود zīn qand-i Pārsī ki ba Bangāla mē-ravad English translation: All

1080-704: Is the variety of the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan . Dari Persian is the Afghan government's official term for the Persian language; it is known as Afghan Persian or Eastern Persian in many Western sources. The decision to rename the local variety of Persian in 1964 was more political than linguistic to support an Afghan state narrative. Dari Persian is most closely related to Tajiki Persian as spoken in Tajikistan and

1152-526: Is the biggest and the deepest of the six, with an average depth of approximately 150 metres, as estimated by the Provincial Reconstruction Team diving team from New Zealand . Another comparable lake is Band-e Azhdahar (The Dragon), located a few kilometres southeast of the town of Bamyan, which has also been created as a result of carbon dioxide rich water oozing out of the faults underground and depositing calcium carbonate precipitate to form

1224-464: Is the common language spoken in cities such as Balkh , Mazar-i-Sharif , Herat , Fayzabad , Panjshir , Bamiyan , and the Afghan capital of Kabul where all ethnic groups are settled. Dari Persian-speaking communities also exist in southwestern and eastern Pashtun-dominated areas such as in the cities of Ghazni , Farah , Zaranj , Lashkar Gah , Kandahar , and Gardez . Dari Persian has contributed to

1296-618: Is the language of the cities of Madā'en; it is spoken by those who are at the king's court. [Its name] is connected with presence at court. Among the languages of the people of Khorasan and the east, the language of the people of Balkh is predominant." Dari Persian spoken in Afghanistan is not to be confused with the language of Iran called Dari or Gabri, which is a language of the Central Iranian subgroup spoken in some Zoroastrian communities. Dari comes from Middle Persian which

1368-402: The 2004 Constitution of Afghanistan , Dari Persian is one of the two official languages of Afghanistan; the other is Pashto . Dari Persian is the most widely spoken language in Afghanistan and the native language of approximately 25–55% of the population . Dari Persian serves as the lingua franca of the country and is understood by up to 78% of the population. Dari Persian served as

1440-612: The Medieval Latin word regardatores which appeared in 1217 in the Charter of the Forest . Regardatores was later rendered as rangers in the English translations of the Charter. Others translate it as regarders . For example, the fifth clause of the Charter of the Forest is commonly translated: "Our regarders shall go through the forests making the regard as it used to be made at the time of

1512-681: The ezāfe ) have often been employed to coin words for political and cultural concepts, items, or ideas that were historically unknown outside the South Asian region, as is the case with the aforementioned "borrowings". Dari Persian has a rich and colorful tradition of proverbs that deeply reflect Afghan culture and relationships, as demonstrated through the works of Rumi and other literature. There are phonological, lexical, and morphological differences between Afghan Persian and Iranian Persian. For example Afghan Farsi has more vowels than Iranian Farsi. However, there are no significant differences in

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1584-476: The 1975 Bollywood film Dharmatma , with Feroz Khan and Hema Malini , were filmed at the Band-e Amir National Park. In 2004, Band-e Amir was submitted for recognition as a World Heritage site. Efforts to make Band-e Amir a national park started in the 1970s, but were then put on hold due to the wars. In April 2009, Band-e Amir was finally declared Afghanistan's first national park. By 2023,

1656-470: The 19th and 20th centuries from the old idioms used for the wardens – royally appointed – who patrolled the deer parks and hunting forests in England. There is much debate among scholars about which area was the world's first national park (Yosemite or Yellowstone), so there is little agreement about who was the first national park ranger. Some argue that Galen Clark was first when, on May 21, 1866, he became

1728-605: The Afghanistan Ministry of Education referring to this group as "South-Eastern" some of the varieties included are in the north. As seen in many Hazaragi varieties, certain Eastern Dialects have developed a system of retroflex consonants under pressure from Pashto. They are not widespread, however. The Kabuli dialect has become the standard model of Dari Persian in Afghanistan, as has the Tehrani dialect in relation to

1800-732: The Conqueror to protect the "vert and venison". Their duties were originally confined to seeing that the Forest Law was enforced in the borders, or purlieus , of the royal forests . Above them were the Foresters-in-Fee (later called Woodwards), then the Verderers, then the Justices in Eyre. Their duties corresponded in some respects with that of a mounted forester . The term ranger seems to correspond to

1872-696: The Oxus River region, Afghanistan, and Khorasan after the Arab conquests and during Islamic-Arab rule. The replacement of the Pahlavi script with the Arabic script in order to write the Persian language was done by the Tahirids in 9th century Khorasan. Dari Persian spread and led to the extinction of Eastern Iranian languages like Bactrian and Khwarezmian with only a tiny amount of Sogdian descended Yaghnobi speakers remaining, as

1944-702: The Persian in Iran. Since the 1940s, Radio Afghanistan has broadcast its Dari programs in Kabuli Dari, which ensured the homogenization between the Kabuli version of the language and other dialects of Dari Persian spoken throughout Afghanistan. Since 2003, the media, especially the private radio and television broadcasters , have carried out their Dari programs using the Kabuli variety. The Western group includes various varieties spoken in and around: Herat , Badghis , Farah and Ghor . Varieties in this group share many features with

2016-545: The Persian word dar or darbār ( دربار ), meaning "court", as it was the formal language of the Sassanids . The original meaning of the word dari is given in a notice attributed to Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ (cited by Ibn al-Nadim in Al-Fehrest ). According to him, " Pārsī was the language spoken by priests, scholars, and the like; it is the language of Fars ." This language refers to Middle Persian . As for Dari , he says, "it

2088-597: The Ruler's Dam " in Dari which is believed by some to be a reference to Ali , the fourth Caliph of the Muslims . The area is dominated by ethnic Hazaras , who are estimated to make up around 10 percent of Afghanistan's population . In her 1970 guide to Afghanistan, historian Nancy Dupree wrote that a full description about Band-e Amir would "rob the uninitiated of the wonder and amazement it produces on all who gaze upon it". Parts of

2160-561: The U.S. Department of the Interior . These badges were presumably issued to rangers working in the national parks as well as those in the national forests, since both were known as Forest Rangers at that time. The term ranger was also applied to a reorganization of the Fire Warden force in the Adirondack Park after 1899 when fires burned 80,000 acres (320 km ) in the park. The name

2232-460: The U.S. Forest Service are officially titled "Ranger", but there are several positions that perform similar or identical outdoor work including Foresters, Forestry Technicians, and Law Enforcement Officers. Many are referred to colloquially as "rangers" such as Wilderness Rangers, Climbing Rangers, Snow Rangers, Recreation Rangers, and Forest Protection Officers even though they are all officially categorized as "Forestry Technicians". Other countries use

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2304-581: The ancestors of Tajiks started speaking Dari after relinquishing their original language (most likely Bactrian) around this time, due to the fact that the Arab-Islamic army which invaded Central Asia also included some Persians who governed the region like the Sassanids . Persian was a prestigious high-ranking language and was further rooted into Central Asia by the Samanids. Persian also phased out Sogdian. The role of lingua franca that Sogdian originally played

2376-511: The appearance of [ ɪ ] or [ ɛ ] and native Dari speakers do not perceive them as different phonemes (that is to say, the English words bet [b ɛ t] and bit [b ɪ t] would be nearly indistinguishable to a native Dari speaker). However, speakers in Urban regions of Kabul, Panjšir and other nearby provinces in southern and eastern Afghanistan tend to realize the vowel as [ ɪ ]. Speakers of Dari in central Afghanistan (i.e. Hazaragi speakers) tend to realize

2448-534: The authority to write federal citations even though they are not armed/sworn Forest Service Law Enforcement Officers. The Adopt A Ranger Foundation has calculated that worldwide about 150,000 rangers are needed for the protected areas in developing and transitions countries. There is no data on how many rangers are employed at the moment, but probably less than half the protected areas in developing and transition countries have any rangers at all and those that have them are at least 50% short. This means that there would be

2520-981: The dialect of Dari spoken in Western Afghanistan stands in between the Afghan and Iranian Persian. For instance, the Herati dialect shares vocabulary and phonology with both Afghan and Iranian Persian. Likewise, the dialect of Persian in Eastern Iran, for instance in Mashhad , is quite similar to the Herati dialect of Afghanistan. In a paper jointly published by Takhar University and the Ministry of Education in 2018, researchers studying varieties of Persian from Iran to Tajikistan, Identified 3 dialect groups (or macro dialects) present within Afghanistan. In an article about various languages spoken in Afghanistan, Encyclopaedia Iranica identified

2592-502: The dialects of Persian spoken in Eastern Iran, and one may make many comparisons between the speech of Herat and Mashhad . The third group recognized by Afghanistan Ministry of Education is Hazaragi . Spoken by the Hazara people , these varieties are spoken in the majority of central Afghanistan including: Bamyan , parts of Ghazni , Daikundi, Laal Sari Jangal in Ghor province, 'uruzgan khas', in

2664-764: The fifteenth century it appeared in Herat under the Persian-speaking Timurid dynasty . The Persian-language poets of the Mughal Empire who used the Indian verse methods or rhyme methods, like Bedil and Muhammad Iqbal , became familiar with the araki form of poetry. Iqbal loved both styles of literature and poetry, when he wrote: گرچه هندی در عذوبت شکر است Garče Hendī dar uzūbat šakkar ast طرز گفتار دری شیرین تر است tarz-e goftār-e Darī šīrīn tar ast This can be translated as: Even though in euphonious Hindi

2736-437: The first coronation of the aforesaid King Henry [II] our grandfather, and not otherwise." A "regard" is considered to be an inspection of the forest. The earliest letters patent found mentioning the term refer to a commission of a ranger in 1341. Documents from 1455 state that England had "all manner and singular Offices of Foresters and Rangers of our said Forests". One of the first appearances of ranger in literature

2808-527: The first person formally appointed and paid to protect and administer Yosemite, thus become California's and the nation's first park ranger. Clark served as the Guardian of Yosemite for 24 years. Others point to Harry Yount who worked as a gamekeeper in Yellowstone National Park in 1880–1881. Prophetically, Yount recommended "the appointment of a small, active, reliable police force...[to] assist

2880-494: The illegal hunting of birds and a few mammals living in the park is formally prohibited by the park office, there is no current data to evaluate the status of wildlife and biodiversity. In August 2023, the Taliban banned women from entering the park, with the acting Minister of Virtue and Vice, Mohammad Khaled Hanafi, alleging that women had not been observing hijab inside the park. A 41,000 ha (100,000 acres) tract overlapping

2952-580: The importance of preserving this pristine landscape. According to Flora MacDonald, the former Foreign Minister of Canada who was working in Afghanistan at the time, in her book ( https://www.mqup.ca/flora--products-9780228018421.php )" Abdullah Barat embarked on a campaign to sway the Environmental Protection Agency and Mustafa Zahir, the grandson of Afghanistan's last king, towards an alternative vision ). Through persistent advocacy and impassioned pleas, Abdullah Barat succeeded in convincing

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3024-452: The increased number of Persian speakers within Afghanistan. The World Factbook states that about 80% of the Afghan population speaks Dari Persian. About 2.5 million Afghans in Iran and Afghans in Pakistan , part of the wider Afghan diaspora , also speak Dari Persian as one of their primary languages. Dari Persian dominates the northern, western, and central areas of Afghanistan, and

3096-784: The introduction of Persian language into the subcontinent was set, from its earliest days, by various Persianized Central Asian Turkic and Afghan dynasties. The sizable Persian component of the Anglo-Indian loan words in English and in Urdu therefore reflects the Dari Persian pronunciation. For instance, the words dopiaza and pyjama come from the Afghan Persian pronunciation; in Iranian Persian they are pronounced do-piyāzeh and pey-jāmeh . Persian lexemes and certain morphological elements (e.g.,

3168-652: The language of the Achaemenids (550–330 BC). In historical usage, Dari refers to the Middle Persian court language of the Sassanids . Dari is a name given to the New Persian language since the 10th century, widely used in Arabic (compare Al-Estakhri , Al-Muqaddasi and Ibn Hawqal ) and Persian texts. Since 1964, it has been the official name in Afghanistan for the Persian spoken there. In Afghanistan, Dari refers to

3240-449: The latter would henceforth be named Dari. Within their respective linguistic boundaries, Dari Persian and Pashto are the media of education. The term continues to divide opinion in Afghanistan today. While Dari has been the official name for decades, "Farsi" is still the preferred name to many Persian speakers of Afghanistan. Omar Samad , an Afghan analyst and ambassador, says of the dispute: This debate pits those who look at language as

3312-549: The majority of Persian borrowings in several Indo-Aryan languages , such as Urdu , Hindi , Punjabi , Bengali and others, as it was the administrative, official, cultural language of the Persianate Mughal Empire and served as the lingua franca throughout the Indian subcontinent for centuries. Often based in Afghanistan , Turkic Central Asian conquerors brought the language into South Asia. The basis in general for

3384-521: The militia or other colonial troops. During the Revolutionary War , General George Washington ordered Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Knowlton to select an elite group of men for reconnaissance missions. This unit was known as Knowlton's Rangers , and was the first official Ranger unit for the United States; it is the precusor of the modern day Army Rangers . The word was resurrected by Americans in

3456-458: The mission of protecting the parks and people is underscored by the fact that in many cases, for the U.S. National Park Rangers in particular, all park rangers share a common uniform regardless of work assignment. Similarly, in the U.S. Forest Service , due to the broad landscapes and relatively fewer employees, any field going employee (that meets the background and training requirements) can be certified as an unarmed Forest Protection Officer with

3528-470: The most urgent problem that conservation is facing in developing and transition countries: protected areas without field staff. Specifically, it will contribute to solving the problem by fund raising to finance rangers in the field. It will also help governments in developing and transition countries to assess realistic staffing needs and staffing strategies. In popular culture, a stereotype of American park rangers has been created by children's media such as

3600-599: The national park has been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports populations of Himalayan snowcocks , Hume's larks , white-winged snowfinches , Afghan snowfinches and Eurasian crimson-winged finches . It was reported that there are over 170 bird species in the park. Dari language Dari ( / ˈ d ɑː r i , ˈ d æ -/ ; endonym : دری [d̪ɐˈɾiː] ), Dari Persian ( فارسی دری , Fārsī-yi Darī , [fʌːɾˈsiːjɪ d̪ɐˈɾiː] or Fārsī-ye Darī , [fʌːɾˈsiːjɛ d̪ɐˈɾiː] ), or Eastern Persian

3672-459: The national park. The lakes formed from mineral-rich water that seeped out of faults and cracks in the rocky landscape. Over time, the water deposited layers of hardened mineral (travertine) that built up into walls that now contain the water. The Balkh River originates here and flows to Balkh Province in the north. According to () who conducted an interview with Mustafa Zahir; who was the head of Afghanistan's environmentalist protection agency at

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3744-474: The natural wonders of Band-e Amir but also set a precedent for conservation efforts across Afghanistan. Thanks to Abdullah Barat's determination and advocacy, future generations can now cherish and benefit from the ecological riches preserved within the boundaries of Afghanistan's first national park. According to the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), who helped the Afghan government set up

3816-467: The number of local and foreign tourists visiting the Band-e Amir National Park was over 100,000. The area is monitored by park rangers . Band-e Amir is situated at approximately 75 km (47 mi) to the north-west of the ancient city of Bamyan , close to the town of Yakawlang . Together with Bamyan Valley , they are the heart of Afghanistan's tourism , attracting over 100,000 local and foreign tourists every year. The Band-e Amir lakes are primarily

3888-587: The park, Band-e-Amir is one of the few travertine systems in the world. They were created by the carbon dioxide rich water oozing out of the faults and fractures to deposit calcium carbonate precipitate in the form of travertine walls that today store the water of these lakes. Band-e Amir is one of the few rare natural lakes in the world which are created by travertine systems. The site of Band-e Amir has been described as Afghanistan's Grand Canyon National Park , and draws more than 100,000 local and foreign tourists annually. The name Band-e Amir literally means "

3960-553: The parrots of India will crack sugar Through this Persian Candy which is going to Bengal Here qand-e Pārsī (" Rock candy of Persia") is a metaphor for the Persian language and poetry. Persian replaced the Central Asian languages of the Eastern Iranics. Ferghana, Samarkand, and Bukhara were starting to be linguistically Darified in originally Khorezmian and Soghdian areas during Samanid rule. Dari Persian spread around

4032-635: The position. Warden is the favored term in Canada , Ireland , and the United Kingdom . Within the United States , the National Park Service refers to the position as a Park Ranger for all law enforcement, interpretive, and fee collection booth rangers. "District Rangers" in the U.S. Forest Service do not perform the same duties, instead focusing on administration/management of Ranger Districts, large subunits of National Forests. Few other positions in

4104-498: The post-Sassanid period, and the New era being the period afterward down to the present day. The first person in Europe to use the term Deri for Dari may have been Thomas Hyde in his chief work, Historia religionis veterum Persarum (1700). Dari or Deri has two meanings. It may mean the language of the court: It may also indicate a form of poetry used from Rudaki to Jami . In

4176-579: The preferred literary and administrative language among non-native speakers, such as the Turco-Mongol peoples including the Mughals , for centuries before the rise of modern nationalism. Also, like Iranian Persian and Tajiki Persian , Dari Persian is a continuation of Middle Persian , the official religious and literary language of the Sassanian Empire (224–651 AD), itself a continuation of Old Persian ,

4248-429: The royal figures of Afghanistan to reconsider the fate of Band-e Amir. He highlighted the invaluable ecological and cultural heritage of the region, emphasizing its potential as a national treasure rather than a mere resource for development. Barat's efforts ultimately led to a pivotal decision: the designation of Band-e Amir as Afghanistan's inaugural national park. This transformational shift in policy not only safeguarded

4320-479: The summer months when the weather is warm. A poor local economy and limited outside investment have hampered efforts to attract winter tourism. The local people in Band-e-Amir National Park rely heavily on the park's natural resources for their livelihood. Grazing of livestock, collection of shrubs for fuel and winter fodder and rain-fed farming is still widely practiced within the park boundary. Although

4392-404: The superintendent of the park in enforcing laws, rules, and regulations." The first permanent appointment of rangers in a national park occurred on September 23, 1898, when Charles A. Leidig and Archie O. Leonard became forest rangers at Yosemite National Park . One of the earliest uses of the term ranger was on badges with the title "Forest Reserve Ranger" which were used from 1898 to 1906 by

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4464-432: The term park warden or game warden to describe this occupation. The profession includes a number of disciplines and specializations, and park rangers are often required to be proficient in more than one. They take care of national parks. In medieval England , rangers, originally called under-foresters, were the most junior officials employed to "range" through the countryside enforcing the forest law imposed by William

4536-480: The time of the Delhi Sultanate (1206–1526), even as those governments were dominated by Pashtun people. Sher Ali Khan of the Barakzai dynasty (1826–1973) first introduced the Pashto language as an additional language of administration. The local name for the Persian variety spoken in Afghanistan was officially changed from Farsi to Dari, meaning "court language", in 1964. Zaher said there would be, as there are now, two official languages, Pashto and Farsi, though

4608-399: The time, before Band-e Amir was established as Afghanistan's first national park, there were plans to utilize the area for a hydrodam project. This potential threat to the natural beauty and ecological significance of the region prompted Abdullah Barat, a Hazara activist hailing from the Shaidan Valley and the head of the sub-office of Future Generations in Bamyan, to take action. Recognizing

4680-410: The travertine walls of Band-e Amir. High in the Hindu Kush at approximately 2,900 m (9,500 ft) above sea level, the national park has a subarctic climate ( Dsc ) closely bordering on a warm-summer humid continental climate (Dsb). The climate is extremely severe and the lakes freezing over in winter. After the formal establishment of the park in 2009, a park office with a park warden and

4752-414: The two share many phonological and lexical similarities. Apart from a few basics of vocabulary, there is little difference between formal written Persian of Afghanistan and Iran ; the languages are mutually intelligible. Dari Persian is the official language for approximately 35 million people in Afghanistan and it serves as the common language for inter-ethnic communication in the country. As defined in

4824-520: The vowel diacritic "pesh" ( Kasrah ) was romanized with an "i" for South-Eastern dialects but as an "e" for western dialects. This is presumably due to a difference in quality, however the paper itself did not explain why the vowels were transliterated differently. The South Eastern group (also referred to the Southern and Eastern group) constitutes varieties spoken in and around Kabul , Parwan , Balkh , Baghlan , Samangan , Kunduz , Takhar , Badakhshan and others. A distinctive character of this group

4896-494: The vowel in proximity to, or identically to, [ i ], unless the following syllable contains a high-back vowel. Speakers in western Afghanistan (such as in the Herat or Farah province) and some rural regions in the Kabul province (not the city) most commonly realize the vowel as [ ɛ ]. Additionally, in some varieties of Dari, the phoneme [ ɛ ] appears as an allophone of [a]. Successive governments of Afghanistan have promoted New Persian as an official language of government since

4968-585: The written forms, other than regional idiomatic phrases. The phonology of Dari Persian as spoken in Kabul, compared with Classical Persian, is overall more conservative than the accent of Iran's standard register. In this regard Dari Persian is more similar to Tajiki Persian. The principal differences between standard Iranian Persian and Afghan Persian as based on the Kabul dialect are: The dialects of Dari spoken in Northern, Central, and Eastern Afghanistan, for example in Kabul , Mazar , and Badakhshan , have distinct features compared to Iranian Persian . However,

5040-420: Was spoken during the rule of the Sassanid dynasty . In general, Iranian languages are known from three periods, usually referred to as Old, Middle, and New (Modern) periods. These correspond to three eras in Iranian history, the old era being the period from some time before, during, and after the Achaemenid period (that is, to 300 BC), the Middle Era being the next period, namely, the Sassanid period and part of

5112-677: Was succeeded by Persian after the arrival of Islam. Dari Persian is one of the two official languages of Afghanistan. In practice though, it serves as the de facto lingua franca among the various ethnolinguistic groups. Dari Persian is spoken by approximately 25-80% of the population of Afghanistan . Tajiks , who comprise 27-39% of the population , are the primary native speakers, followed by Hazaras (9%) and Aymāqs (4%). Moreover, while Pashtuns (48%) natively speak Pashto , those living in Tajik and Hazara dominated areas also use Dari Persian as their main or secondary language. Thus, non-native Persian speaking groups have contributed to

5184-524: Was taken from Rogers' Rangers , a small force famous for their woodcraft that fought in the area during the French and Indian War in 1755. The duties of the modern park ranger are as varied and diverse as the parks where they serve and in recent years have become more highly specialized. Regardless of the regular duties of any one discipline, the goal of all rangers remains to protect the park resources for future generations and to protect park visitors. This goal

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