Panjshir Province

Panjshir (Persian: پنجشیر, lit. 'five lions'), commonly known as Panjsher, is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the northeastern part of the country containing the Panjshir Valley. The province is divided into seven districts and contains 512 villages. The main inhabitants of the province are Shamali Tajiks, who speak Dari. As of 2021, the population of Panjshir province was about 334,940. Its current governor is Mohammad Agha Hakim.

Panjshir became an independent province from the neighboring Parwan Province in 2004. It is bordered 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

The territory fell to Babur in the early 16th century. It was later conquered by Ahmad Shah Durrani, and officially became part of the Durrani Empire. The rule of the Durranis was followed by that of the Barakzai dynasty. During the 19th century, the region was governed by the Emirate of Afghanistan. Florentia Sale crossed this river during her captivity under Wazir Akbar Khan in 1842 during the First Anglo-Afghan War. Like the rest of Afghanistan, Panjshir became part of the newly established Kingdom of Afghanistan in June 1926.

In July 1973, troops under the command of General Sardar Mohammed Daoud Khan overthrew the Afghan monarchy and established the Republic of Afghanistan. In this coup d'état, General Daoud seized power for himself, effectively proclaiming himself as the first President of Afghanistan. He began making claims over large swathes of Pashtun-dominant territory in Pakistan, causing great anxiety to the government of 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 support from Pakistani Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. Bhutto is said to have paved the way for the April 1978 Saur in Kabul by making General Daoud spread the Afghan Armed Forces to the countryside.