Parwan Province

Parwan is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan. It is the largest province of the Greater Parwan region, and has a population of about 751,000. 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 mountains.

Despite a four-decade-long state of war in Afghanistan, 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, which was one of the largest US military bases in Afghanistan, is located in Parwan.

History

In 329 BC, Alexander the Great founded the settlement of Parwan as his Alexandria of the Caucasus. It was conquered by Arab Muslims in 792 AD.|Ibn Battuta|1304–1369

The area was subsequently ruled by the Timurids and Mughals until Ahmad Shah Durrani made it part of the Durrani Empire in 1747. In 1840, Parwan was the site of a major battle in the First Anglo-Afghan War where the invading British were defeated. In the 1990s it was the site of heavy resistance against the Taliban.

Recent history

thumb|upright|Computer class at the Korean Education and Cultural Center in Parwan.

Following the removal of the Taliban in late 2001, the United States Armed Forces took control of Bagram Air Base and began using it as one of their main bases in Afghanistan. A Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) led by South Korea helped the locals with development activities in the province until 2014. In mid-February 2011, five rocket-propelled grenades 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 Taliban 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 living abroad.

In July 2012, the Taliban publicly 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. In August 2021, Parwan was captured by the Taliban during their offensive.

Administrative divisions

250px|thumb|Map of the districts of Parwan as of January 2004, prior to the redrawing of provincial and district boundaries later that year

250px|thumb|Hisa-I-Awali Panjsher as of January 2004, at that time still part of Parwan Province

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.

{| class="wikitable sortable"

|+ Districts of Parwan Province

!District

!Capital

!Population (2022)

|Bagram || || 117,181 || 381 || 308 || 60% Tajiks, 35% Pashtuns, 5% Hazara.

|Charikar (capital) || || 202,210 || 258 || 783 || Mixed Tajiks and Pashtuns.

|Ghorband || || 109,342 || 908 || 120 || Mixed Pashtuns, Tajiks and Hazaras.

|Jabal Saraj || || 72,345 || 99 || 730 || Tajiks.

|Kohi Safi || || 35,075 || 569 || 62 || Predominantly Pashtuns.

|Sayed Khel || || 51,549 || 31 || 1,639 || Mix Tajiks and Pashtuns.

|Shinwari || || 46,501 || 722 || 64 || Predominantly Pashtuns.

|- bgcolor="#d3d3d3"

|Parwan

|737,700

|5,715

|129

|Majority Tajik, notable minorities include Hazaras and Pashtuns.

Demographics

Population

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 second lowest figure in Afghanistan behind only Logar Province.

Ethnicity, languages and religion

According to the Naval Postgraduate School, the ethnic groups of the province are as follows: Tajiks, Hazaras, Uzbeks, Pashtuns, Kuchis and other minority groups. According to Afghanistan's Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development:

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; table-layout:fixed; width:100%; margin:0"

|+ Estimated ethnolinguistic and -religious composition

! style="width:7.5em; background-color:#d8f3d8;" | Ethnicity

! colspan="3" style="width:15.5em; background-color:#d8f3d8;" | Persian-speaking people

! rowspan="2" style="width:4.6em; background-color:#d8f3d8;" | Pashtun

! rowspan="2" style="width:4.6em; background-color:#d8f3d8;" | Turkmen

! rowspan="2" style="width:4.6em; background-color:#d8f3d8;" | Others

! rowspan="2" style="width:3em; background-color:#d8f3d8;" | Sources

! style="width:7.5em; background-color:#ddf;" | Period

! style="width:4.6em; background-color:#d8f3d8;" | Tajik/ Farsiwan

! style="width:4.6em; background-color:#d8f3d8;" | Hazara

! style="width:4.6em; background-color:#d8f3d8;" | Qizilbash

{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="text-align:center; table-layout:fixed; width:100%; margin:0"

|- style="background-color:#e6f2ff;"

! style="width:7.5em; background-color:#ddf;" | 2004–2021 (Islamic Republic)

| colspan="3" style="width:15.5em;" | 71 – 81%

| style="width:4.6em;" | 18 – 29%

| style="width:4.6em;" | 0 – 1%

| style="width:4.6em;" | ∅

| style="width:3em;" |

|-style="background-color:#E6E6E6;"

| 2020 EU

| 1st

| 3rd

| –

| 2nd

| –

|-style="background-color:#E6E6E6;"

| 2018 UN

| 70%

| 11%

| –

| 18%

| 1%

| –

|-style="background-color:#E6E6E6;"

| 2015 CP

| major

| ∅

| major

| –

| ∅

|-style="background-color:#FFFFFF;"

| 2015 NPS

| ∅

| –

| ∅

|-style="background-color:#E6E6E6;"

| 2011 PRT

| colspan="3" | 71%

| 29%

| –

|-style="background-color:#FFFFFF;"

| 2011 USA

| colspan="2" | 71%

| –

| 29%

| –

|-style="background-color:#FFFFFF;"

| 2009 ISW

| major

| ∅

| major

| –

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:left; table-layout:fixed; margin:0"

| Legend:

<li>∅: Ethnicity mentioned in source but not quantified</li>

<li>–: Ethnicity not mentioned specifically</li>

<li>Source abbreviations: , , </li>

</ul>

Education

The overall literacy rate (6+ years of age) fell from 37% in 2005 to 28% in 2011. The percentage of births attended to by a skilled birth attendant increased from 4% in 2005 to 7% in 2011.