city, northern Afghanistan, 35 miles (56 km) south of the border with Uzbekistan, at an elevation of 1,250 feet (380 metres). The town derives its name (meaning “tomb of the saint”) from the reputed discovery there of the tomb of the caliph Alīʿ, son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad, in the 15th or (according to Afghan legend) 12th century. A blue-tiled mosque and a shrine mark the location of the tomb, which is venerated by all Muslims, especially the Shīʿites. Mazār-e Sharīf's growth and the corresponding decline of the much older town of Balkh, a few miles to the west, date from this discovery. Mazār-e Sharīf came under Afghan rule in 1852 and became the political hub of Afghan Turkistan in 1869. After their military intervention in 1979, Soviet forces established a military command in the town. It was later the site of brutal fighting and atrocities between competing Afghan factions and changed hands several times. The city was controlled by the Taliban from 1998 to late 2001, when it was taken with little violence by a coalition of Afghan, U.S., and allied forces; a subsequent uprising at a prison there holding Taliban troops and their allies, however, left hundreds dead.