TASHKURGHAN  , or KxuLm, a khanate and

town of Afghan Turkestan . The khanate lies between Kunduz and Balkh . The ancient town of Khulm stood in the Oxus plain, surrounded by orchards of famous productiveness; but it was destroyed by Ahmad Shah Abdali, who founded Tashkurghan in the middle of the 18th century, and took all the inhabitants away from Khulm to populate it . Ancient Khulm is now only a mass of ruins; but Tashkurghan, lying two or three miles to the south of it, has become the great trade-mart of Afghan Turkestan and second only in importance to Mazar-i-Sharif, the military centre of the province; while it is much larger and more prosperous than the latter place . At Tashkurghan the caravans from India and Bolthara meet, and from here the merchandise is distributed all over the country . A hill fortress dominates the town and overlooks the debouchment of the road from Haibak and Kabul into the plains of the Oxus .