Badakhshan is one of the northeastern provinces of Afghanistan and is widely regarded as one of the country's most geographically distinctive and historically significant regions. It borders Tajikistan's Gorno-Badakhshan province to the north, China's Xinjiang province to the east, and Pakistan's northern provinces to the south, while internally it neighbors the Afghan provinces of Takhar and Panjshir. The provincial capital is Fayzabad, which functions as the main administrative, economic, and cultural center of the province.