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Kunar and Nuristan

Located in eastern Afghanistan, Kunar province borders Nangarhar province to the south, Laghman province to the west, and Nuristan province to the north. Kunar sits on the Pakistani border, with Mohmand and Bajaur Agencies of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATAata) to the southeast and the Lower Dir, Upper Dir, and Chitral Districts of the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) to the northeast. Kunar spans roughly 1,908 square miles, slightly larger than the state of Rhode Island.1 At its widest point, Kunar is approximately forty-five miles across, while only five miles across at its narrowest point. Nuristan sits north of Kunar and Laghman provinces, bordering Panjshir province to the west and Badakhshan province to the north. Prior to 1896, Nuristan was called Kafiristan, or the “land of disbelievers,” i.e. non-Muslims. After the Iron Amir, Abdur Rahman Khan, finally converted the province at the point of a sword, they renamed the area “Nuristan” for the land of light, and the people were called Nuristani, for the “enlightened ones,” since they had converted to Islam.2 Nuristan also shares a border with Pakistan’s Chitral District to the east and has an area of 3,561 square miles.3 Due to mountainous terrain and an almost nonexistent road network, it is extremely difficult to travel east-west across Nuristan, especially in winter. For example, travelers wishing to go from Nurgaram District in the west to Kamdesh District in the east would first have to travel south through Laghman Province to Nangarhar and then north through Kunar.4 Because the harsh terrain limits the movement of individuals and insurgents, this paper will focus on Kunar and eastern Nuristan. This area will be treated as one contiguous enemy system, different from that which emanates from Laghman and western Nuristan. Despite this distinction, it would be an overstatement to say that there is absolutely no overlap between the two or that there is no insurgent movement between eastern and western Nuristan.