Parwan also spelled Parvan () is one of the 34

provinces of Afghanistan The provinces of Afghanistan ( ''Wilayah, wilāyat'') are the primary administrative divisions. Afghanistan is divided into 34 provinces. Each province encompasses a number of Districts of Afghanistan, districts or usually over 1,000 villages. ...

. It is the largest province of the Greater Parwan region and has a population of about 751,000. The province is multi-ethnic and mostly rural society. The province is divided into ten

districts A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

. The town of Imam Abu Hanifa serves as the provincial capital. The province is located north of

Kabul Province Kabul (Dari/Pashto: ), situated in the east of the country, is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. The capital of the province is Kabul city, which is Afghanistan's capital and largest city. The population of the Kabul Province is ...

and south of

Baghlan Province Baghlan ( Dari and ) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan and located in northeastern Afghanistan. As of 2020, the province has a population of about 1,014,634. Its capital is Puli Khumri, but its name comes from the other major town in t ...

, west of

Panjshir Province Panjshir (Dari: , literally "Five Lions," pronounced /pand͡ʒʃeːɾ/, also spelled as Panjsher) is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located in the northeastern part of the country containing the Panjshir Valley. The provinc ...

and

Kapisa Province Kapisa ( ; Dari and Pashto: ''Kāpisā'') is the smallest of Afghanistan, Afghanistan's thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, provinces and is located in the north-east of the country. It has an estimated population of 523,201 people and an area ...

, and east of

Maidan Wardak Province Wardak is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in central Afghanistan. Its capital is the closest provincial city to Kabul. Wardak Have 8 District. Wardak or Wardag (Dari/Pashto: ), is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in ...

and

Bamyan Province Bamyan, also spelled Bamiyan, Bāmīān or Bāmyān (), is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan with the city of Bamyan as its center, located in central parts of Afghanistan. The terrain in Bamyan is mountainous or semi-mountainous ...

. The province's famous tourism attraction is the Golghondi Hill, also known as “the flower hill,” located in Imam Azam about an hour away from the capital city of Kabul. After Panjshir this province has been considered as one of the main raising points of Afghanistan War against Soviets. The name Parwan is also attributed to a town, the exact location of which is now unknown, that supposedly existed during prehistory, in the nearby

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 ...

mountains. Frye, Richard Nelson (1999). "Farran (also Parwan)". ''

Encyclopaedia of Islam The ''Encyclopaedia of Islam'' (''EI'') is a reference work that facilitates the Islamic studies, academic study of Islam. It is published by Brill Publishers, Brill and provides information on various aspects of Islam and the Muslim world, Isl ...

'' CD-ROM Edition v. 1.0. Leiden, The Netherlands: Koninklijke Brill NV. Retrieved on December 18, 2007. Despite a four-decade-long state of

war in Afghanistan War in Afghanistan, Afghan war, or Afghan civil war may refer to: *Conquest of Afghanistan by Alexander the Great (330 BC – 327 BC), the conquest of Afghanistan by the Macedonian Empire * Muslim conquests of Afghanistan, a series of campaigns in ...

, Parwan was relatively free of conflict by the mid-2010s. While occasional attacks on government or international forces were reported, they were usually minor. Such incidents in Parwan mostly involved grenade attacks on the residences of government officials or roadside bombs.

Bagram Air Base Bagram Airfield-BAF, also known as Bagram Air Base , is located southeast of Charikar in the Parwan Province of Afghanistan. It is under the Afghan Ministry of Defense. Sitting on the site of the ancient town of Bagram at an elevation of a ...

, which was one of the largest US military bases in Afghanistan, is located in Parwan.

History

In 329 BC,

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...

founded the settlement of Parwan as his Alexandria of the Caucasus. It was conquered by Arab Muslims in 792 AD. In 1221, the province was the site of the battle between the invading

Mongols Mongols are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, China ( Inner Mongolia and other 11 autonomous territories), as well as the republics of Buryatia and Kalmykia in Russia. The Mongols are the principal member of the large family o ...

, led by

Genghis Khan Genghis Khan (born Temüjin; August 1227), also known as Chinggis Khan, was the founder and first khan (title), khan of the Mongol Empire. After spending most of his life uniting the Mongols, Mongol tribes, he launched Mongol invasions and ...

, and the

Khwarazmian Empire The Khwarazmian Empire (), or simply Khwarazm, was a culturally Persianate society, Persianate, Sunni Muslim empire of Turkic peoples, Turkic ''mamluk'' origin. Khwarazmians ruled large parts of present-day Central Asia, Afghanistan, and Iran ...

led by Jalal al-Din Mangburni, where the Mongols were defeated. The Kingdom of Kapisa (known in contemporary Chinese sources as Chinese: 漕國 Caoguo and Chinese: 罽賓 Jibin) was a state located in what is now Afghanistan during the late 1st millennium CE. Its capital was the city of

Bagram Bagram (; Pashto/) is a town and seat in Bagram District in Parwan Province of Afghanistan, about 60 kilometers north of the capital Kabul. It is the site of an ancient city located at the junction of the Ghorband and Panjshir Valley, near t ...

. The kingdom stretched from the Hindu Kush in the north to Bamiyan and Kandahar in the south and west, out as far as the modern Jalalabad District in the east. The famous Moroccan traveler and scholar,

Ibn Battuta Ibn Battuta (; 24 February 13041368/1369), was a Maghrebi traveller, explorer and scholar. Over a period of 30 years from 1325 to 1354, he visited much of Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Iberian Peninsula. Near the end of his life, Ibn ...

, visiting the area in 1333 write: The area was subsequently ruled by the

Timurids The Timurid Empire was a late medieval, culturally Persianate, Turco-Mongol empire that dominated Greater Iran in the early 15th century, comprising modern-day Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, much of Central Asia, the South Caucasus, and parts of contem ...

and

Mughals The Mughal Empire was an early modern empire in South Asia. At its peak, the empire stretched from the outer fringes of the Indus River Basin in the west, northern Afghanistan in the northwest, and Kashmir in the north, to the highlands of pre ...

until

Ahmad Shah Durrani Ahmad Shāh Durrānī (; ; – 4 June 1772), also known as Ahmad Shāh Abdālī (), was the first ruler and founder of the Durrani Empire. He is often regarded as the founder of modern Afghanistan. Throughout his reign, Ahmad Shah fought ov ...

made it part of the

Durrani Empire The Durrani Empire, colloquially known as the Afghan Empire, or the Saddozai Kingdom, was an Afghanistan, Afghan empire founded by the Durrani tribe of Pashtuns under Ahmad Shah Durrani in 1747, which spanned parts of Central Asia, the Iranian ...

in 1747. In 1840, Parwan was the site of a major battle in the

First Anglo-Afghan War The First Anglo-Afghan War () was fought between the British Empire and the Emirate of Kabul from 1838 to 1842. The British initially successfully invaded the country taking sides in a succession dispute between emir Dost Mohammad Khan ( Bara ...

where the invading

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

were defeated. Parwan's modern history began with the construction of a new textile factory in the town of Jabal Saraj in 1937. Parwan was involved in 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 ...

as some of the fiercest fightings took place in the area. In the 1990s it was the site of heavy resistance against 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) ...

Recent history

Following the removal of the Taliban in late 2001, the

United States Armed Forces The United States Armed Forces are the Military, military forces of the United States. U.S. United States Code, federal law names six armed forces: the United States Army, Army, United States Marine Corps, Marine Corps, United States Navy, Na ...

took control of

and began using it as one of their main bases in Afghanistan. A

Provincial Reconstruction Team A Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) was a unit introduced by the United States government, consisting of military officers, diplomats, and reconstruction subject matter experts, working to support reconstruction efforts in unstable states. PRT ...

(PRT) led by

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

helped the locals with development activities in the province until 2014. In mid-February 2011, five

rocket-propelled grenade A rocket-propelled grenade (RPG), also known colloquially as a rocket launcher, is a Shoulder-fired missile, shoulder-fired anti-tank weapon that launches rockets equipped with a Shaped charge, shaped-charge explosive warhead. Most RPGs can ...

s hit the newly built South Korean military base housing the provincial reconstruction team and civilian aid workers. No one was injured in the attack, but it came hours after a visit by South Korean Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin, raising suspicions of

involvement. The opening ceremony of the base was postponed indefinitely. A plan to build a power plant in the province is under consideration. A large portion of Parwan's economy relies on remittances from the

Afghan diaspora Afghan diaspora refers to the Afghan people that domicile (law), reside and work (human activity), work outside of Afghanistan. They include natives and Afghan identity card, citizens of Afghanistan who have immigration, immigrated to other coun ...

living abroad. In July 2012, the Taliban executed a married woman in front of a large crowd after she was found guilty of adultery. It was reported that the woman had a secret affair with a married military commander of the

Afghan National Army The Islamic National Army (, ), also referred to as the Islamic Emirate Army and the Afghan Army, is the army, land force branch of the Afghan Armed Forces. The roots of an army in Afghanistan can be traced back to the early 18th century when th ...

. In August 2021, Parwan was captured by the

during their offensive.

Healthcare

The percentage of households with clean drinking water fell from 32% in 2005 to 11% in 2011. The percentage of births attended to by a skilled birth attendant increased from 4% in 2005 to 7% in 2011.

Education

The overall literacy rate (6+ years of age) fell from 37% in 2005 to 28% in 2011. The overall net enrolment rate (6–13 years of age) increased from 42% in 2005 to 54% in 2011.

Demographics and geography

As of 2020, the total population of the province is about 751,000, which is multi-ethnic and mostly a rural society. 8 percent of the population lived below the national

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, the second lowest figure in Afghanistan behind only

Logar Province Logar (Pashto/Dari: لوگر) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the eastern section of the country. It is divided into 7 districts and contains hundreds of villages. Puli Alam is the capital of the province. As of 2021, Logar ...

. According to the

Naval Postgraduate School Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) is a Naval command with a graduate university mission, operated by the United States Navy and located in Monterey, California. The NPS mission is to provide "defense-focused graduate education, including clas ...

, the ethnic groups of the province are as follows:

Tajiks Tajiks (; ; also spelled ''Tadzhiks'' or ''Tadjiks'') is the name of various Persian-speaking Eastern Iranian groups of people native to Central Asia, living primarily in Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Even though the term ''Tajik'' ...

Hazaras The Hazaras (; ) are an ethnic group and a principal component of Afghanistan’s population. They are one of the largest ethnic groups in Afghanistan, primarily residing in the Hazaristan (Hazarajat) region in central Afghanistan. Hazaras al ...

Uzbeks The Uzbeks () are a Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group native to Central Asia, being among the largest Turkic ethnic groups in the area. They comprise the majority population of Uzbekistan, next to Kazakhs, Kazakh and Karakalpaks, Karakalpak ...

Pashtuns Pashtuns (, , ; ;), also known as Pakhtuns, or Pathans, are an Iranian peoples, Iranic ethnic group primarily residing in southern and eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. They were historically also referred to as Afghan (ethnon ...

Kuchis Kochis also spelt as Kuchis (Pashto Language, Pashto: کوچۍ Kuchis) are pastoral nomads belonging primarily to the Ghilji Pashtuns. It is a social rather than ethnic grouping, although they have some of the characteristics of a distinct et ...

and other minority groups. According to Afghanistan's

Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development The Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (, ) (MRRD) is a ministry of the Afghan government. Its main headquarters is located in Kabul, Afghanistan, but has offices and employees in all the 34 provinces of the country. MRRD's mission ...

Districts

As per the figures below based on the ethnographics of each district as well as the density and therefore the inhabitability of each district, the province has a population of approximately 878,192.

Notable towns and villages

* Gulbahar, Afghanistan

Gallery

File:CH-NB - Afghanistan, Shibar Pass (Shebar Pass, Kowtal-e Shebar)- Landschaft - Annemarie Schwarzenbach - SLA-Schwarzenbach-A-5-20-220.jpg, Near the

Shibar Pass Shibar Pass (''Kowtal-e Shibar'') in Afghanistan is situated at a height of above sea-level, connecting Parwan Province with Bamyan Province. It is the longer of the two main routes from Kabul Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afgha ...

that connects Parwan to Bamyan. File:Road in Parwan-11.jpg, A road in the Parwan Province, near the Sayed Bridge which is located short distance north from

. File:Near Sayed Bridge in Parwan-4.jpg, Fields near the Sayed Bridge File:Flickr - boellstiftung - Parwan.jpg, School girls in a rural area of Parwan File:Afghan boys and police in 2010.jpg, A member of the

Afghan National Police The Afghan National Police (ANP; ; ), also known as the Afghan Police, is the national police force of the Afghanistan, Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, serving as a single law enforcement agency all across the country. The first police officer i ...

trying to control local children awaiting the distribution of goods from the U.S. military for the winter months. File:Afghan women in Parwan province.jpg, Afghan women working inside a factory in Parwan

References

External links

* , April 16, 2019, Ariana Television Network.
Parwan Province
by the

Parwan Province
by the

Institute for the Study of War The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) is an American nonprofit research group and advocacy think tank founded in 2007 by military historian Kimberly Kagan and headquartered in Washington, D.C. ISW provides research and analysis of modern arm ...

{{authority control Hazarajat Provinces of Afghanistan Provinces of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan