Mazar-e-Charif (various other forms of which Mazar-i-Charif , of the Persan مزارشریف Mazāre Šarīf) is the fourth plus big city of Afghanistan, with a population of 183.000 people (estimate of 2002). Capital of the province of Balkh, it is connected by the road to Kabul to south-east, Hérat in the west and the Ouzbékistan in north.

The name of Mazar-e-Charif (" noble écrin") refers to the sanctuary of the downtown area and with its mosque, large monument with the blue tiles that the Afghans, that they are Chiites or Sunnites, hold for the tomb of Ali, that the historians believe rather buried in Najaf (Iraq).

The principal spoken language with Mazar-e-Charif is the Dari (Persan of Afghanistan). The city is an important tourist destination because of its Moslem inheritance and its archeological sites hellenistic.

Be-X-old: Мазары-Шарыф