Nuristan (also spelled Nooristan, Nurestan, or Noorestan) (Persian/Nuristani: نورستان) is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. It was formed in 2001 from the northern parts of Laghman Province and Kunar Province. The ethnic Nuristanis make up the majority of the population of this province.

Located on the southern slopes of the Hindu Kush mountains in the northeastern part of the country, Nuristan spans the basins of the Alingâr, Pech, Landai Sin, and Kunar rivers. Its capital is Nuristan. It is bordered on the north by Badakhshan Province, on the west by Panjshir Province, on the south by Laghman and Kunar provinces, and on the east by Pakistan.

History

Until the 1890s, the region was known as Kafiristan (Persian: Land of the unbelievers) because of its inhabitants: the Nuristani, an ethnically distinctive people (numbering about 60,000) who practiced animism. The region was conquered by Emir Abdur Rahman Khan in 1895-96 and the Nuristani were forcibly converted to Islam. The region was renamed Nuristan, meaning Land of the Enlightened, a reflection of the forced "enlightening" of the pagan Nuristani by the "light-giving" of Islam.

Nuristanis are believed to be descendants of Proto-Indo-Europeans (sometimes also referred as Aryans).

Nuristan is thought to have been the area of land where Alexander of Macedon camped with his men. Therefore there has been a myth circulating among some Westerners suggesting that the Nuristani people are direct descendants of Alexander.

Nuristan was the scene of some of the heaviest guerrilla fighting during the 1979-89 invasion and occupation of Afghanistan by Soviet forces. For a period of time during this era, the eastern area of Nuristan was a semi-autonomous region called the Islamic Revolutionary State of Afghanistan, or Dalwat. It was a Wahhibist Islamic state run by anti-Soviet warlord Maulvi Afzal and was recognized by Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. The Dalwat dissolved under Taliban rule. [1]

Nuristan is one of the poorest and most remote provinces of Afghanistan. As of Summer 2006, no NGO's operate in Nuristan because of a poor security situation and lack of infrastructure. In response to a publicity campaign by Nuristan's governor, Tamim Nuristani, roads are being built between Nangarej to Mandol and Chapa Dara to Titan Dara [2]. Nuristani is also working on a direct road route to Laghman province, in order to not be so dependent on the road through restive Kunar province to the rest of Afghanistan.

Districts

Politics

The current Governor of the province is Tamim Nuristani.

Security Situation

Since Nuristan is the only ethnically homogeneous province in Afghanistan, there are few incidents of inter-ethnic violence. However, there are instances of disputes between inhabitants, some of which continue for decades. Nuristan has suffered from its inaccessibility and lack of infrastructure. The government presence is under-developed, even compared to neighboring provinces. Nuristan's educational sector is weak, with few professional teachers. Illiteracy is high.

The terrain, coupled with its proximity to Pakistan make Nuristan vulnerable to infiltration from anti-government elements who receive support and sanctuary and support in Pakistan. This does not necessarily mean that the insurgents enjoy the support of Nuristanis.

Sami Nuristani

At Kala Gush in Nurgram district there is a Provincial Reconstruction Team, led by the US. It provides security, governance and development assistance to support the sub-national administration at the provincial and district levels. Other Coalition military units operate in Nuristan are based at Kala Gush; Nangalam, Pech District, Kunar Province; and Narai, Narai District, Kunar Province.

Trivia

Nuristan is the subject of the book A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush by the British travel writer Eric Newby.
Nuristan was the location of three of the missions in Hitman: Silent Assassin.
Rudyard Kipling's short story The Man Who Would Be King and the film it inspired are set in pre-Islamic Nuristan (when Muslims called it Kafiristan, the Land of the Kafirs, or infidels).

External References

Richard F. Strand. Richard Strand's Nuristan Site. [3] The most accruate and comprehensive source on Nuristan, by the world's leading scholar on the languages and ethnic groups of Nuristan.

M. Klimburg. NURISTAN in Encyclopedia Iranica. [4]

Nuristan Province