Farah (Persian/Dari: فراه, romanized: Farā) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the southwestern[3] part of the country on the border with Iran.

The province is bounded on the north by Herat, on the northeast by Ghor, the southeast by Helmand, the south by Nimroz, and on the west by Iran.

Upon Alexander's untimely death in 323 BC the region, along with the rest of his vast empire, was fought over by his generals all vying to be his successor.

Eventually several of these were successful in carving out parts of Alexander's empire for themselves thereby becoming his official successors or Diadochi.

Following the Marxist revolution in 1978, Farah was one of the cities in which civilian massacres were carried out by the now-dominant Khalqi communists against their political, ethnic, and religious opponents.

[5]: 97  At the start of the 1980s, the majority of Farah was allied with the Harakat-i-Inqilab-i-Islami movement, but after 1981 the province split along linguistic lines, with Pashto-speaking opponents of the communist government remaining with Harakat, Group-e-Malema (Teacher Group) and Tajiks moving to the Jamiat-e Islami.

[9][10] Farah witnessed heavy clashes after the US backed overthrow of the Taliban in 2001, and is being considered insecure, relative to many parts of the country.

Although there was sporadic heavy combat in the Bala Baluk, Bakwa, Khak-e-Safid, Pusht-e-Road and Gulestan districts.

Incidents of this type have increased as Taliban fighters face heavy pressure from the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) offensives in the south.

The education system greatly improved and a large number of illegal weapons were collected and destroyed in the province as testimony to the Provincial Reconstruction Team.

The United States built a base at Farah Airport, which is being expanded and also houses the Afghan National Security Forces (ANFS).

In May 2009, an American airstrike in the village of Granai in Bala Buluk District occurred that killed a large number of civilians.

He promised that "the United States will work tirelessly with your government, army and police to find ways to reduce the price paid by civilians, and avoid tragedies like what occurred in Bala Baluk.

[17] An ethnic census has never been conducted in Afghanistan but according to some recent estimates 80% of the Farah province are [Pashtuns] and 14% [Tajiks].