Charikar (), also known as Imam Azam (, )
[ or Imam Abu Hanifa][ (), is the capital of Parwan Province in northern ]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 ...
. It also serves as the district center of Charikar District, which has a population of around 171,200 residents. They include nearly all ethnic groups of Afghanistan. The city was officially renamed in December 2022 to honor the 8th-century Sunni Muslim theologian and jurist Abu Hanifa,[ who is also sometimes called Imam Azam ("The Great Imam")][ and was the founder of the Hanafi school of ]Islamic law
Sharia, Sharī'ah, Shari'a, or Shariah () is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition based on scriptures of Islam, particularly the Qur'an and hadith. In Islamic terminology ''sharīʿah'' refers to immutable, intan ...
.
Charikar lies on the Afghan Ring Road, from Kabul
Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...
along the route to the northern provinces. Travelers would pass the city when traveling to Mazar-i-Sharif, Kunduz
Kunduz (; ; ) is a city in northern Afghanistan and the capital of Kunduz Province. The city has an estimated population of about 268,893 as of 2015, making it about the List of cities in Afghanistan, seventh largest city of Afghanistan, and the ...
or Puli Khumri. Despite the proximity to Kabul, slightly more than half of the land is not built-up. Of the built-up land, almost equal parts are residential (37%) and vacant plots (32%), with a grid network of road coverage amounting to 19% of built-up land area, . The city is at the gateway to the Panjshir Valley, where the Shamali plains meet the foothills of the Hindu Kush
The Hindu Kush is an mountain range in Central Asia, Central and South Asia to the west of the Himalayas. It stretches from central and eastern Afghanistan into northwestern Pakistan and far southeastern Tajikistan. The range forms the wester ...
, and is known for its pottery and high-quality grapes.[
, the city has a total population of 96,039 people and 10,671 dwellings. It has four police districts (''nahias'') and a total land area of .][
]
History
In 1221, the Battle of Parwan was fought near Charikar, in which Jalal al-Din Mangburni with a large army defeated a column of 30,000 soldiers of the invading Mongols. He later escaped into the northern Punjab, and avoided the immediate consequences of the fall of the Khwarezmid Empire.
At the beginning of the 19th century, Charikar became a flourishing commercial town of several thousand inhabitants. Charikar was the location of major battle during the First Anglo-Afghan War. In 1841 a British garrison was massacred by Afghans led by Mir Masjidi Khan, and the Anglo-Indian army officer Major Eldred Pottinger was badly wounded.
During the Soviet–Afghan War
The Soviet–Afghan War took place in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from December 1979 to February 1989. Marking the beginning of the 46-year-long Afghan conflict, it saw the Soviet Union and the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic o ...
(1979–1989), the region around Charikar was the scene to some of the fiercest fighting. Some areas around Charikar served as a stronghold of the Liberation Organization of the People of Afghanistan (SAMA). Charikar was at the front line between Ahmad Shah Massoud's Northern Alliance and the 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) ...
who captured Kabul in 1996. In January 1997 the Taliban took control of Charikar, but Massoud recaptured it by July. In August 1999 the Taliban launched an offensive and briefly captured Charikar, before Massoud counterattacked and drove them out again.
On 14 August 2011, a team of about six suicide bombers attacked the governor's palace in Charikar. The Governor Abdul Basir Salangi survived but 19 people were killed to which the Taliban claimed responsibility.
On 19 May 2020, gunmen opened fire inside a mosque in Charikar, killing 11 worshipers and injuring 16 others when they were offering the evening prayer after breaking their Ramadan fast. The Taliban denied involvement in the attack.
In late August 2020, the city was the site of floods that killed at least 92 people.
Following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, the Taliban provincial governor of Parwan province announced in December 2022 that the name of the city would be changed. One news source said the new name of the town was "Imam Abu Hanifa", while another reported the new name as "Imam Azam". A government official from the former Afghan regime said the renaming was the beginning of an anti- Farsi campaign by the regime.[
]
Climate
Charikar has a humid continental climate
A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...
(Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer
* Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan
* Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...
: ''Dsa'') with hot summers and cold winters. The winter months are much rainier than the summer months. The warmest month of the year is July, with an average temperature of . January is the coldest month, with temperatures averaging .
See also
* List of cities in Afghanistan
The only city in Afghanistan with over 1 million people is its capital, Kabul. The rest are smaller cities and towns. Demographics of Afghanistan, Afghanistan's population is estimated to be between 36–50 million. Of this, 26% were reported to ...
* Valleys of Afghanistan
References
External links
*
*
{{Parwan Province
329 BC
Populated places in Parwan Province
Populated places along the Silk Road
320s BC establishments
Provincial capitals in Afghanistan
Populated places established in the 2nd century BC