Kunar (Pashto: ; Dari: ) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the northeastern part of the country. Its capital is Asadabad also known as Chaghasray or Chaghan Saray (چغسري يا چغان سرای). The province has an estimated population of 544,839 people.
It is one of the four "N2KL" provinces (Nangarhar Province, Nuristan Province, Kunar Province and Laghman Province). N2KL was the designation used by the US and Coalition Forces in Afghanistan for the rugged region along the Afghanistan–Pakistan border opposite Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Kunar is the center of the N2KL region.
Kunar, along with Nuristan, was historically part of the border region known as Kafiristan (the "Land of the Kafirs" or "Land of the Infidels") and until a few decades ago, it was not considered an integral part of Afghanistan. Kunar is a sparsely populated, mountainous, forested border area.
A serious earthquake struck Kunar on 31 August 2025 at 11:47 pm local time, with damage especially bad in Nurgal District.
History
Early history The region has been part of many empires in the past, from the Seleucid Empire to the latest Afghan Durrani Empire. Many famous historical figures are believed to have visited the area, including Alexander the Great, Mahmud Ghaznavi, Xuanzang, Ibn Battuta, and others. Archaeologists have dated to AD 800–1000 a fortification system overlooking a Muslim cemetery at Chaga Serai (near the Pech-Kunar confluence).Cultural Property Training Resource, Afghanistan Significant Site 32 US DoD Central Command, from Colorado State, citing Source: Warwick Ball, Archaeological Gazetteer of Afghanistan, 1982, n. 154
It was the seat of Gabari Sultans (later known as Jahangiri Swati Sultans) from 900 to 1190 AD.
The notable Gabari Sultans of Kunar as recorded by Akhund Darweza are:
1- Sultan Shamoos Gabari
2- Sultan Jarsan Gabari
3- Sultan Jamad Gabari
4- Sultan Hand Gabari
5- Sultan Kehjaman Kunari s/o Sultan Hand
6- Sultan Pakhal Gabari - Founder of Swat Sultanate.
Babur wrote about Kunar in Baburnama. He claimed that there was a shrine in Kunar of a preacher and poet Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani, who is said to have died there in 1384 AD (786 AH). He also describes agricultural products: citron, oranges, coriander, orchards, strong yellow wines, and a burial custom wherein a woman whose corpse moved was considered to have done good things in life. He mentions Chaghan-Sarai as a small town, and describes the towns folk as Muslims who mixed with the Kafirs of nearby Kafiristan and followed some of their customs. He also claims to have later captured the town, even as the Pech river Kafirs tried to help the Chaghan Sarai residents repel his attack.Baburnama, translated by Annette Susannah Beveridge, 1922, 1979, from at archive.org
Walter Hamilton's writing in 1828 mentions that the padishah of Cooner was joined in alliance with the neighboring Kafirs (non Muslims) of Nuristan in battles against Muslim invaders.The East Indian gazetteer: containing particular descriptions of . . . – Volume 1 – Page 30, Walter (M. R. A. S.) Hamilton – 1828 The Kafirs were forcibly converted by Abdur Rahman Khan in the 1890s.Conflict in Afghanistan: a historical encyclopedia by Frank Clements, Ludwig W. Adamec Edition: illustrated Published by ABC-CLIO, 2003 Page 139 ,
Some British sources from the Great Game period (1800s) go into more detail about Kunar. For example, one from 1881 describes the various Kunar chiefs and their internecine wars, the conflict with Dost Mohammad Khan and their relations with the British.Selections from the Calcutta Review – Volume 1 – Page 464 1881 Names vary greatly, with Kunar sometimes being called Kama, or Kashkote, and the capital being listed as "Pashoot", which is not on modern maps.
An 1891 book described the Kunar region as split between the lower river area, controlled by Afghan chiefs, and the upstream area, where the Kunar river was actually referred to as the Chitral river. The major city of Chitral (in modern Pakistan) was the base of a Mehtar (King), who ruled under the Maharajah of KashmirThe Earth and Its Inhabitants ...: South-western Asia – Page 47, Elisée Reclus, Ernst Georg Ravenstein, Augustus Henry Keane – 1891
20th century The modern province of Kunar was established on 30 April 1964, when Afghanistan was reorganised into 29 provinces, replacing the previous system of fewer but larger administrative units.Kabul Times, 30 April 1964, p. 1. It comprised the former Governorate of Kunarha (), whose territory broadly corresponded to the southern portions of the present-day province of Kunar and the northern portions of present-day Nangarhar. In 1975, with the publication of the official yearbook of the Republic of Afghanistan, it was reported that Kunar was downgraded from a province to a large district () within the province of Nangarhar the past year.Afghanistan Republic Annual 1975, Ministry of Information and Culture, p. 299.
According to a US Army paper, the Pashtuns of Kunar and the Kafirs of Kunar/Nuristan eventually joined in the 20th century. Fundamentalist religion came to the region in the 1950s but the heavy unification happened during the Soviet–Afghan War (1979–88). Some of the first anti-government forces (lashkar) rose in the Kunar region.Afghanistan's Heart of Darkness: Fighting the Taliban in Kunar Province, Nov 15, 2008, CTC Sentinel, West Point, Brian Glyn Williams (copied from the original on 2010-06-11)
Kerala, a town near Asadabad, was the site of the 1979 Kerala massacre, where the male population of a village was allegedly murdered by the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan and its Soviet advisors.
Later, over ten-thousand Soviet and Afghan communist troops invaded the region, resulting in a massive refugee flow of the populace into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. There were Spetsnaz units based in Asadabad (where the Pech meets the Kunar), in Jalalabad (where the Kunar meets the Kabul), and other towns. The major mujahideen groups had representation in the area, and were successful enough to confine the Communist troops for the most part to their fortifications in the major towns of the Kunar valley.
Eventually one of the Mujahideen leaders, Jamil al-Rahman, formed a movement that had a very strict interpretation of Islam, along the lines of Wahhabism and/or Salafism. He was supported by elements in Saudi Arabia, and later attracted many Saudis and Egyptians who had come to Afghanistan to fight Jihad.
When the Soviets left in 1988, the leader of the Mujahideen group Hizb-i-Islami, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, began to fight with Jamil al-Rahman over control of the area. Hekmatyar was victorious and eventually his troops sacked Asadabad. By 1996 however, Mullah Omar's Taliban had invaded Kunar and driven out Hekmatyar.
21st century
After the September 11 attacks of 2001, Afghanistan was invaded by United States and other NATO countries provided direct support to the Northern Alliance forces fighting the Taliban regime, which was quickly toppled and fled to remote areas. It was part of the war on terror and to assist the new government that was led by Hamid Karzai.
During the 19th century British military expeditions, the 1980s Soviet occupation, and the latest conflict, Kunar has been a favoured spot of insurgent groups. Its impenetrable terrain, cave networks and the border with the semi-autonomous Pakistani Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provide significant advantages for unconventional warfare and militant groups. The province is informally known as "Enemy Central" and "Indian Country" by Western armed forces serving in Afghanistan. Between January 2006 and March 2010 more than 65% of all insurgent incidents in Afghanistan occurred in Kunar province.
Asadabad hosts both an American Provincial Reconstruction Team at nearby Forward Operating Base Wright and a UNAMA development office. Additionally, representatives of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), US State and Agriculture Departments advise the local government. A US Army Agribusiness Development Team (ADT) was deployed to the province in late 2009. Successive ADTs continue to serve in the province. Like many of the mountainous eastern provinces of Afghanistan, the groups involved in armed conflict vary greatly in strength and purpose. Native Taliban forces mingle with foreign al-Qaeda fighters, while former mujahadeen militias, such as Hekmatyar's Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin, continue to operate as they did in the chaotic post-Soviet years. Another strong militia in the region is the Hezbi Islami faction of the late Mulavi Younas Khalis, who had his headquarters in neighboring Nuristan Province.
The province which is relatively small, was occupied by one of the highest concentrations of both US and Afghan security forces during the war. Special Operations Forces operated extensively throughout the area.
As of September 2015 the United States has awarded twelve Medals of Honor for actions in Afghanistan. Six of these have been awarded for actions in Kunar Province, and an additional four have been awarded for neighboring Nuristan Province.
Operation Mountain Resolve in 2003 involved the 10th Mountain Division air dropping into Nuristan and traveling dozens of kilometers, including in Kunar, to fight what was termed "Anti-Coalition Militia" (ACM) activity.
In 2005, Operation Red Wings set out with the intent to disrupt ACM activity in the region in order to further aid the stabilization efforts of the region for the upcoming September 18, 2005 Afghan National Parliamentary Elections. Anti-Coalition Militia activity in the region was carried out at the time most notably by a small group led by a local man named Ahmad Shah (from Nangarhar Province) who had aspirations of regional Islamic fundamentalist prominence, hence he and his small group would be one of the primary targets of the operation. A team of four Navy SEALs, tasked for surveillance and reconnaissance of a group of structures known to be used by Ahmad Shah and his men, fell into an ambush by Shah and his group just hours after inserting by fastrope from an MH-47 helicopter in the area. Three of the four SEALs were killed in the ambush; a quick reaction force helicopter sent in for their aid was subsequently shot down with an RPG-7 rocket propelled grenade by one of Shah's men, 19 American Forces were killed when their CH-47 Chinook helicopter was shot down, representing the second biggest loss of American forces since their invasion of the country.
According to Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik, Osama bin Laden was most likely hiding in Kunar Province in the spring and summer of 2009: "According to our information Osama is in Afghanistan, probably Kunar, as most of the activities against Pakistan are being directed from Kunar."Christina Lamb, "Stop bombing us: Osama isn't here, says Pakistan" The Sunday Times, July 12, 2009 Bin Laden was later found and killed in Abbottabad, Pakistan, contrary to what the Pakistani government had previously stated. He had been living there since 2005.
On 16 April 2022, Pakistani airstrikes and rocket attacks targeted the Chogam village of Shultan District, killing three girls, two boys, and one woman, and wounding one man.
Geography