Parun (, , ), also called Prasûn and Prasungul, is a small town and administrative center of

Nuristan Province Nuristan, also spelled as Nurestan or Nooristan (Pashto: ; Katë: ), is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the eastern part of the country. It is divided into seven districts and is Afghanistan's least populous province, with a ...

and its Parun District in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

. The city of Parun has a population of 1,647. It has 1 district and a total land area of 350 hectares. The total number of dwellings in Parun is 183. On 15 August 2021, Parun was seized by

Taliban , leader1_title = Supreme Leader of Afghanistan, Supreme leaders , leader1_name = {{indented plainlist, * Mullah Omar{{Natural Causes{{nbsp(1994–2013) * Akhtar Mansour{{Assassinated (2015–2016) * Hibatullah Akhundzada (2016–present) ...

fighters, becoming the thirty-second provincial capital to be captured by the Taliban as part of the wider

2021 Taliban offensive The 2021 Taliban offensive was a Offensive (military), military offensive by the Taliban insurgent group and allied militants that led to the fall of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the end of the nearly 20-year War in Afghanistan (200 ...

Land use

Parun is a village in northeastern Afghanistan with only 350 hectares and 183 dwellings. It is predominantly forest land (54%) followed by agriculture (33%). Built-up land only accounts for 7% of total land use. But unlike many other cities, Parun does not have any barren land and only 4 hectares of vacant plots.

Geography

Parun has 6 villages: Ishtewi, Pronz, Dewa, Kushteki, Tsutsum and Pashki. They are located over a distance of 20 km from north to south along the Parun River. Ishtewi, the upper village, lies at an altitude of 2,850 m above sea level, while Pashki, the lowest village, lies at 2,500 m above sea level.

Climate

Under the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

, Parun has a

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a continental climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of ...

(''Dsc''). The average temperature for the year in Parun is . The warmest month, on average, is July with an average temperature of , while the coldest month on average is January, with an average temperature of .

Plans for a city

According to news published in 2007, the governor of Nuristan Province was planning to establish a city of about 20,000 people in Parun. This would make it "''the first city in Nuristan''". The report indicated that some construction had begun.Afghan Governor Has Big Plans for Lonely Province
Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson, National Public Radio, 13 November 2007, ''... The 50-year-old governor says Parun — the first city in Nuristan — is only the beginning for a province where residents farm and raise goats to survive ...''

Languages

Wasi-wari Prasun is a Nuristani language spoken in the Parun, Prasun Valley in Afghanistan. Prasun belongs to the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family, and is on the Nuristani languages, Nuristani group of the Indo-Iranian languages, In ...

is natively spoken in Parun, while Kamkata-vari,

Pashto Pashto ( , ; , ) is an eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyb ...

and

Dari Dari (; endonym: ), Dari Persian (, , or , ), or Eastern Persian is the variety of the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan. Dari is the Afghan government's official term for the Persian language;Lazard, G.Darī – The New Persian ...

are also understood. The Gujars of Parun also speak their native language, known as Gujari.

References

Populated places in Nuristan Province Provincial capitals in Afghanistan {{Nuristan-geo-stub