Balkh University (Persian: دانشگاه بلخ‎; Pashto: د بلخ پوهنتون‎) is a public university located in Mazar-i-Sharif, capital of Balkh Province in northern Afghanistan. Established in 1986, the university has about 18,000[1] students and is the third-largest in Afghanistan after Kabul University and Nangarhar University.