Pashtun Valley: Nuristan Province of Afghanistan

Nuristan also spelled Nurestan or Nooristan, is a region in Afghanistan embedded in the south of the Hindu Kush valleys. Its administrative center is Parun. It was formerly known as Kafiristan ("land of the unbelievers") until the inhabitants were converted to Islam in 1896, and thence the region has become known as Nuristan ("Land of Light").

Today it is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, formed in 1989 and officially established in 2001 from the northern parts of Laghman Province and Kunar Province. Before 2001 its capital was situated in Laghman province due to Mujahideen control over Nuristan province. The primary occupations are agriculture, animal husbandry, and day labor. 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 administrative center is located in the Parun valley. It is bordered on the north by Badakhshan Province, on the south by Laghman and Kunar provinces, on the west by Panjshir Province, and on the east by

Pakistan

History;

Until the 1890s, the region was known as Kafiristan (Persian for "Land of the non-believers") because of its inhabitants: the Nuristani, an ethnically distinctive people (numbering about 60,000) who practiced animism, polytheism and shamanism.

Adventure of Islam;

The region was conquered by Emir Abdur Rahman Khan in 1895–96 and the Nuristani were then converted to Islam.

“ The Kafirs are thought to be the original inhabitants of the plains country of Afghanistan in what is now Nuristan. They were driven back into the mountain areas by the arrival of Islam in the country about 700AD. They are thought to be the descendents of the old Indian population that used to occupy the region, and they did not convert to Islam with the rest of the population, remaining pagan for several more centuries. Their language is much akin to Sanskrit.”

“The Kafirs were largely independent until the late nineteenth century, when the region was attacked by the forces of Abdur Rahman and the population was more forcibly converted to Islam.”

"They had only been converted to Islam as late as the 1890s, at the point of the sword"

Demographics;

The population of around 300,000 people is 95% Nuristani and 5% Pashtun/Tajik.30% of the population speak Dari or Pashto and 90% speak the following Nuristani languages:

Askunu language

Kamkata-viri language

Vasi-vari language

Tregami language

Kalasha-ala language

Pashayi language is spoken by 15% people.

The main Nuristani tribes in the province are Katta (38%), Kalasha (30%), Ashkori or Wamayee (12%), Kam (10%), Satra (5%), and Parsoon (4%).

District

Bargi Matal

Du Ab

Kamdesh

Mandol