Panjshir Province

Panjshir پنجشیر
Province
A view of a valley in the Panjshir Province of Afghanistan in 2009
Map of Afghanistan with Panjshir highlighted
Coordinates (Capital):
Country	Afghanistan
Capital	Bazarak
Government
• Governor	Keramuddin Keram
Area
• Total	3,610 km2 (1,390 sq mi)
Population (2013)
• Total	146,100
• Density	40/km2 (100/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+4:30
ISO 3166 code	AF-PAN
Main languages	Dari

Panjshir (Persian: پنجشیر‎‎, literally "Five Lions", also spelled as Panjsher) is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located in the northeastern part of the country. The province is divided into seven districts and contains 512 villages. As of 2013, the population of Panjshir province is about 146,100. Bazarak serves as the provincial capital.

Panjshir became an independent province from neighboring Parwan Province in 2004. It is surrounded by Baghlan and Takhar in the north, Badakhshan and Nuristan in the east, Laghman and Kapisa in the south, and Parwan in the west.

History

Further information: History of Afghanistan

The territory was ruled by the Khanate of Bukhara between the early 16th century and the mid-18th century. It was given to Ahmad Shah Durrani by Murad Beg of Bukhara after a treaty of friendship was signed in or about 1750, and became part of the Durrani Empire. It was ruled by the Durranis followed by the Barakzai dynasty, and was untouched by the British during the 19th century Anglo-Afghan wars.

Afghanistan's first wind farm in Panjshir Province.

In 1973, while King Zahir Shah was on a special visit in Europe, his cousin Daoud Khan took over power and began threatening to invade Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. This was supported by the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) but caused great anxiety in Pakistan. By 1975, the young Ahmad Shah Massoud and his followers initiated an uprising in Panjshir but were forced to flee to Peshawar in Pakistan where they received recruitment from Pakistani Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto to create unrest in Afghanistan with the help of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Bhutto is said to have paved the way for the April 1978 Saur Revolution in Kabul by making Daoud spread the Afghan Armed Forces to the countryside. Pakistani objective was to prevent Afghan invasion. The Panjshir region was well defended during the 1980s Soviet war in Afghanistan.

After the collapse of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan in 1992 the area became part of the Islamic State of Afghanistan. By late 1990s, Panjshir and neighboring Badakhshan province, served as a staging ground for the Northern Alliance against the Taliban government. By 2000, the Taliban captured the area and on September 9, 2001, Defense Minister Massoud was assassinated by two al-Qaeda operatives. Two days later the September 2001 attacks occurred in the United States and this led to the start of a major U.S.-led war in Afghanistan.

Containing the Panjshir Valley, in April 2004 Panjshir District of Parwan Province was turned into a province under the Karzai administration. The Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) established several bases in the province. In the meantime, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) also established bases, a US-led Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) began operating in Panjshir in the late 2000s. As of 2012, security in the province is maintained by the Afghan National Police and the Afghan National Army.

Politics and governance

The current Governor of the province is Engineer Mohammad Arif Sarwari. His predecessor was Keramuddin Keram. Bazarak is the capital of Panjshir province. All law enforcement activities throughout the province are handled by the Afghan National Police (ANP). A provincial Police Chief is assigned to lead both the ANP. The Police Chief represents the Ministry of the Interior in Kabul. The ANP is backed by the military, including the NATO-led forces.

Healthcare

Further information: Health in Afghanistan

The percentage of households with clean drinking water increased from 16% in 2005, to 17% in 2011. And as many as 23% of births in 2011 were attended to by a skilled birth attendant.

Education

Further information: Education in Afghanistan

The overall literacy rate (6+ years of age) fell from 33% in 2005 to 12% in 2011. The overall net enrolment rate (6-13 years of age) fell from 42% in 2005 to 30% in 2011. Four Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) schools service the agriculturally-oriented Panjshir Province, including the Shah Masoud TVET. The school was established with the help from the Hilfe Paderborn and German Foreign Office and has about 250 students and 22 staff members (as of August 2014).

Demography

Further information: Demography of Afghanistan

Ethnolinguistic groups of Afghanistan

U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Abraham Jara hands out first aid kits to Afghan locals during a first aid class at a school in the Dara district of Panjshir province.

The population of Panjshir province is about 146,100 settled people According to the Naval Postgraduate School, the ethnic groups of the province are as follows: Tajik, Hazara, Pashai, Nuristani, Ghilzai Pashtun, and other minority groups. According to the Institute for the Study of War, "Tajiks form the majority of the population, but there are small numbers of Hazaras and Pashtuns as well."

Dari (Afghan Persian) is the dominant language in the province followed by Pashto, which is used as a second language. All inhabitants are followers of Islam, with majority being Sunni while the Hazaras are mostly Shias (Shiites).

Population by districts

Districts of Panjshir Province

District	Capital	Population	Area	Number of villages
Anaba		c. 5,000	164 km2	31
Bazarak	Bazarak	c. 65,000	378 km2	29
Dara		c. 5,500	709 km2	134
Khenj		c. 10,000	688 km2	154
Paryan		c. 3,902	1270 km2	67
Rokha		c. 5,000	144 km2	72
Shotul		c. 8,000	55 km2	23

Places of interest

• The tomb of Ahmad Shah Massoud, known as the "Lion of Panjshir", is located in Bazarak, Panjshir.
• The Football Stadium in Panjshir Valley, next to the Panjshir River

Notable people from the province

• Ahmad Shah Massoud
• Yunus Qanuni
• Mohammed Fahim
• Bismillah Khan Mohammadi
• Amrullah Saleh
• Keramuddin Keram

See also

• Provinces of Afghanistan

External links

• Panjshir Province by the Naval Postgraduate School
• Panjshir Province by the Institute for the Study of War