Samangan is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located north of the Hindu Kush mountains in the central part of the country. The province covers 11,218 square kilometres and is surrounded by Sar-e Pol Province in the west, Balkh in the north, Baghlan in the east, and Bamyan in the south. Samangan province is divided into 7 districts and contains 674 villages. It has a population of about 325,000 which is multi-ethnic and mostly a rural society.