Kapisa is the smallest of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the northeastern part of the country. It has an estimated population of 523,201 people and an area of , making it the most densely populated province apart from Kabul Province. It borders Panjshir Province to the north, Laghman Province to the east, Kabul Province to the south and Parwan Province to the west. Mahmud-i-Raqi is the provincial capital, while the most populous city and district of Kapisa is Nijrab.
History
The earliest references to Kapisa appear in the writings of the fifth century BCE Indian scholar Pāṇini. Pāṇini refers to the city of Kapiśi, a city of the Kapisa kingdom,Ashtadhyayia Sutra IV.2.99. modern Bagram. Pāṇini also refers to Kapiśayana,Sutra IV.2.29. a famous wine from Kapisa.Dr S. Chattopadhyaya 1974: 58; India as Known to Panini, 1953, p. 71, Dr V. S. Aggarwala; Foreign Elements in Ancient Indian Society, 2nd Century BC to 7th Century AD, 1979, p. 86, Dr Uma Prasad Thapliyal. The city of Kapiśi also appeared as Kaviśiye on Graeco-Indian coins of Apollodotus I and Eucratides.See: Notes on Indian coins and Seals, Part IV, E. J. Rapson in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland, 1905, p 784, (Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland).
Archeological discoveries in 1939 confirmed that the city of Kapisa was an emporium for Kapiśayana wine, bringing to light numerous glass flasks, fish-shaped wine jars, and drinking cups typical of the wine trade of the era.A Grammatical Dictionary of Sanskrit (Vedic): 700 Complete Reviews of the Best Books for ..., 1953, p 118, Dr Peggy Melcher, Vasudeva Sharana Agrawala, Surya Kanta, Jacob Wackernagel, Arthur Anthony Macdonell. The grapes (Kapiśayani Draksha) and wine (Kapiśayani Madhu) of the area are referred to in several works of ancient Indian literature.Cultural History of Ancient India: A Socio-economic and Religio-cultural Survey of Kapisa and ... , 1979, p 29, Jaya Goswami; India as Known to Pāṇini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashṭādhyāyī, 1953, 118, Dr Vasudeva Sharana Agrawala The epic Mahabharata also mentions the common practice of slavery in the city.Mahabharata 2.48.7.; Tribes in the Mahabharata: A Socio-cultural Study, 1987, pp. 94 ,314, Krishna Chandra Mishra - Mahābhārata; Geographical and Economic Studies in the Mahābhārata: Upāyana Parva, 1945, p. 44, Dr Moti Chandra - India
Based on the account of the Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang, who visited in AD 644, it seems that in later times Kapisa was part of a kingdom ruled by a kshatriya king holding sway over ten neighboring states, including Lampaka, Nagarahara, Gandhara, and Banu.Su-kao-seng-chaun, Chapter 2, (no. 1493); Kai-yuan-lu, chapter 7; Publications, 1904, pp. 122–123, published by Oriental Translation Fund (Editors Dr T. W. Rhys Davis, S. W. Bushel, London, Royal Asiatic Society). Xuanzang notes the Shen breed of horses from the area, and also notes the production of many types of cereals and fruits, as well as a scented root called Yu-kin.
The 7th-century Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang mentions Rajouri (Rajapura) in the context of Kashmir, but he does not associate Rajouri with the Kambojas or describe Rajouri as the capital of a major transregional kingdom. This absence is noteworthy because Xuanzang elsewhere explicitly records figures and polities preserved in epic and early historical tradition, including Mahabharata Magadha King Jarasandha with Rajagriha, And Xuanzang Identifies Bhagadatta, and the rulers of Kamarupa
By contrast, Xuanzang describes Kapisa as a prominent political and commercial center south of the Hindu Kush, a region widely identified in Sanskrit, Buddhist, Greek, and Chinese sources with Kamboja.On this basis, some scholars argue that identifying the Kamboja capital Rājapura with Rajouri relies largely on toponymic similarity, whereas the association with Kapisa being Rajapura (Capital Of Kambojas) corresponds more closely with Xuanzang’s geographical descriptions, Mahabharata , Buddhist and the broader comparative source tradition.
The Mahābhārata, particularly the Droṇa Parva, refers to Rājapura as the capital of the Kamboja kingdom, portraying Kamboja as an organized polity engaged in sustained military activity alongside Bāhlikas, Pahlavas, Saka and Yavanas. Some modern scholarship has identified this Rājapura with present-day Rajouri, largely on the basis of name similarity.
However, this identification has been questioned, as Rajouri lacks independent textual, archaeological, Greek, or Chinese evidence linking it to the Kambojas. By contrast, multiple Sanskrit, Buddhist, Greco-Roman, and Chinese sources equate Kamboja with Kapisa (Kapisha/Ki-pin), a major political and commercial center south of the Hindu Kush described in detail by the 7th-century pilgrim Xuanzang. Scholars such as Sylvian Lévi, Moti Chandra, and K. C. Mishra therefore argue that Kapisa better fits the geographical, economic, and historical profile of the Kamboja capital Rajapura described in the epic Mahabharata.
Greco-Bactrian Kingdom and the Mauryan Empire
The Kapisa province territory fell to the Maurya Empire, which was led by Chandragupta Maurya. The Mauryas promoted both Buddhism and Hinduism to the region which was entirely Hindu for all its history till then, and were planning to capture more territory of Central Asia when they decimated local Greco-Bactrian forces and the chief general of Alexander Seleucus. Seleucus is said to have reached a peace treaty with Chandragupta by giving his daughter in marriage, control of the territory south of the Hindu Kush to the Mauryas and 500 elephants.
Having consolidated power in the northwest, Chandragupta pushed east towards the Nanda Empire. Afghanistan's significant ancient tangible and intangible Buddhist heritage is recorded through wide-ranging archeological finds, including religious and artistic remnants. Buddhist doctrines are reported to have even reached as far as Balkh during the life of the Buddha (563 BCE to 483 BCE), as recorded by Xuanzang.
Recent history
The modern province of Kapisa 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 eastern portion of the former Large Governorate of the North (), the territory of which largely corresponds to the present-day provinces of Kapisa and Panjshir. In 1975, with the publication of the official yearbook of the Republic of Afghanistan, it was reported that Kapisa was downgraded from a province to a large district () within the province of Parwan the past year.Afghanistan Republic Annual 1975, Ministry of Information and Culture, p. 299.
Just like the rest of Afghanistan, many historical sites in Kapisa have been looted by smugglers and then sold abroad. During 2009 and 2010 twenty-seven relics were discovered by the National Security forces; these included ancient relics belonging to 2 BC and 4 BC mostly from Kohistan district.
Before 2012, French forces were complemented by U.S. forces through Provincial Reconstruction Teams and Human Terrain Teams. The province was served by the Kapisa PRT, located at Forward Operating Base Morales-Frazier in Nijrab District. The PRT conducted counterinsurgency and stability operations in the province for more than six years, working with leaders of Kapisa at the provincial and district level, to bolster the capacity and credibility of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. The PRT participated in key leader engagements, scouting areas for new projects, and performing quality checks and site visits on existing projects. The key focus was on building roads, bridges, construction of schools, and also improvements to power capabilities on existing infrastructure. Composed of U.S. Air Force, Army, State Department, and USAID subject matter experts and mentors, the team sought to work closely with key leaders to facilitate development. The vision was to foster a stable and secure environment ready for transition to the Afghan government.
By August 2008 the French mission was facing serious challenges. A shocking ambush in Surobi, the district of Kabul Province they were responsible for patrolling, killed 10 French troops. Some accounts suggest part of the reason why they were ambushed was because the Italian government was paying bribes to the local Taliban commander; when the French took over, the bribes stopped and the Taliban attacked. However, this accusation has been dismissed by Rome, Paris, and NATO. The Surobi massacre spurred a larger debate in France about the war. After taking over from the U.S., which exercised partial control over the province for several years beforehand, the French continued to follow the U.S.-led approach of sending troops through an area to kill or chase away militants. Like the American military, the French never developed a solid plan for consolidating their victories and building on successes – which left many areas of Kapisa in a constant tug-of-war between the French and the insurgents.
In early 2009, French forces embarked on a significant campaign which aimed to retake an eastern Alasay District that the Taliban has controlled for the previous year. Alasay district is a strategic goldmine: it lies along a primary infiltration route into and out of Pakistan, it provides easy access to Kabul in an easily defensible primary valley (there are two other valleys in Alasay District), and it is mostly populated by the ethnic minority the Pashai and some Nuristani. In a French-led NATO force initiated, the operation was a success initially, due to reaching out to locals beforehand, they retook the entire valley with a single casualty over a single day of fighting. Almost immediately, the Afghans of the valley welcomed the French, and things seemed to be looking up. However, they didn't stay. Much as in previous efforts to "sweep" the province, the French were dragged into other tasks, like protecting the main highway that travels the province from north to south through the volatile Tagab Valley. As a result, Alasay fell back to Taliban later that year and the security situation in the province deteriorated. It was that same tug-of-war all over again, with the residents of Alasay left frustrated and less safe than ever before. As 2009 progressed, bigger and bigger chunks of the province came under the sway of the insurgency, leading the provincial capital being more or less under curfew from the militants. By 2010, the French had stopped liaising with their Afghan Army counterparts, and the Provincial Reconstruction Team had ceased most of its operations.
In late 2009, the province saw an influx of ISAF forces as the French elevated their presence from a Battalion-strength Task Force under Task Force Korrigan (Groupement tactique interarmes de Kapisa) to a Brigade-strength Task Force under Task Force Lafayette (Brigade La Fayette). At the same time, the Kapisa PRT, formerly the Parwan-Kapisa PRT, relocated from Bagram Airbase to FOB Morales-Frazier, focusing exclusively on operations in the Kapisa Province for the following three years.