Parwan

Parwan is a province of plains and high mountains immediately north of Kabul, where the road to northern Afghanistan climbs into the Hindu Kush. Its southern half takes in the northern part of the Shomali plain, a broad, well-watered stretch of vineyards and orchards around the capital, Charikar, and the town of Bagram. To the north the land rises steeply through Jabal Saraj and the Salang valley to the Salang Pass, and to the west the long Ghorband valley winds up towards the Shibar Pass and Bamyan. The province borders Baghlan to the north, Panjshir and Kapisa to the east, Kabul to the south-east, Maidan Wardak to the south-west and Bamyan to the west. The Ghorband and Salang rivers drain its mountains and flow out onto the plain to join the Panjshir River. Parwan is above all a crossroads. Most travellers see it from the highway between Kabul and Mazar-e Sharif, which passes beneath the Salang Pass through a tunnel at about 3,400 metres, but the province rewards a slower look: the vineyards and raisin-drying houses of the Shomali, the green, terraced Ghorband, and the high mountain scenery of the Salang road. Near Bagram lies the site of the ancient city of Kapisi, once one of the great centres of the Kushan empire.

The plain around Bagram has been important since antiquity. The ancient city of Kapisi, at the site now called Begram, was a summer capital of the Kushan rulers in the early centuries CE, and excavations there in the late 1930s uncovered a celebrated hoard of Indian ivories, Roman glassware and Chinese lacquer that shows how far its trade reached. Buddhist monasteries stood throughout the surrounding country. The passes of the Hindu Kush made Parwan a natural route for armies and caravans between Central Asia and the Kabul valley. In the early 20th century a royal palace and one of the country's first hydroelectric stations were built at Jabal Saraj, and in 1964 the Salang tunnel opened, transforming the journey north. Panjshir, long part of Parwan, became a separate province in 2004. The province saw heavy fighting in the late 20th century.

Dari is the main language across most of Parwan, with Pashto spoken in a number of villages, and many people speak both. The population is mostly Sunni Muslim, with Shia communities in the western valleys towards Bamyan. Village life in the Shomali follows the rhythm of the vineyard, from pruning in spring to the grape harvest and raisin-making in late summer, and the months after the harvest are a time of weddings and family gatherings. Nowruz is marked with picnics in the orchards and visits to local shrines, and in the cold months buzkashi is played on the open fields of the plain, as across much of northern and central Afghanistan. The tea houses along the Salang road, where drivers and passengers stop to eat, rest and swap news of the road, are a small culture of their own.

Parwan rises from about 1,500 metres on the Shomali plain to well over 4,000 metres in the Hindu Kush along its northern border. The plain is intensely cultivated: grapes are grown along long earthen ridges and trenches, alongside mulberry, apricot and walnut trees, and streams from the mountains are led through a dense network of irrigation channels. North of Jabal Saraj the Salang valley narrows into a steep mountain gorge, with snow on the peaks for much of the year and avalanche galleries protecting the road near the pass. To the west, the Ghorband valley is a long, green corridor of terraced fields and orchards beneath bare ridges, and its side valleys lead up to high summer pastures. Wild tulips, irises and wild rhubarb appear on the mountain slopes in spring.

The Shomali plain has long been one of Afghanistan's great vineyards, and Parwan's grapes come in many varieties, from small seedless green ones to long amber and red bunches. Much of the harvest is turned into raisins, some dried in the sun and some, the prized green raisins, in the shade of tall mud-brick drying houses that stand among the vines. Mulberries, apricots and walnuts are also important, especially in the Ghorband. On the Salang road, food is hearty traveller's fare. The tea houses serve shorwa, a meat and potato soup eaten with torn bread, along with kebabs, qabuli palaw and endless pots of tea, welcome after a cold crossing of the pass. In spring wild rhubarb, gathered on the mountain slopes and eaten raw with a sprinkling of salt, is sold by the roadside.

Parwan is not a major craft centre, and its bazaars are better known for produce than for handiwork. Village households weave simple kilims, sacks and saddlebags from local wool, and women embroider caps, cushion covers and clothing, mostly for family use and for weddings. The Shomali's raisins, dried mulberries and walnuts are the province's real speciality for sale, packed into boxes and sacks at roadside stalls and in village markets for buyers from Kabul and beyond. For carpets, pottery and other fine crafts, travellers usually look in Kabul or in the pottery village of Istalif, a short way south across the provincial boundary in Kabul Province.

Late spring and early autumn are the best seasons. From April to June the vineyards and orchards of the Shomali are green, the snow is retreating from the Salang and the Ghorband is at its freshest. The grape harvest runs from about August into October, the best time to see raisin-making and buy fresh fruit. Summer on the plain can be hot, but the Salang and the upper Ghorband stay cool. Winter is a serious matter in the mountains: the Salang Pass is kept open for most of the year, but heavy snow and avalanches can close it for hours or days between December and March, and the Shibar route to Bamyan becomes difficult. Charikar and the plain are cold in winter but usually remain accessible from Kabul.

Charikar is about 65 km north of Kabul on the main highway to the north, roughly an hour and a half's drive through the Koh-e Daman and the Shomali plain. Bagram lies a short way east of the highway, and Jabal Saraj is about 12 km beyond Charikar, close to where the roads to the Salang and to the Panjshir valley divide. From Jabal Saraj the highway climbs the Salang valley to the tunnel beneath the pass and descends through Baghlan towards Pul-e Khumri, the main road link between Kabul and the northern provinces. A second road leaves the plain westwards up the Ghorband valley and crosses the Shibar Pass to Bamyan, a long mountain journey. Road conditions and local circumstances change, so travellers should check current conditions before setting out.

Accommodation in Parwan is limited, and many visitors make day trips from Kabul or stop only on the way through. Charikar has a few simple hotels and guesthouses around the main bazaar and along the highway, used mostly by Afghan traders and travellers. Along the Salang road, roadside tea houses traditionally offer drivers and passengers a meal and a place to sleep on carpeted platforms, a basic but long-established option when snow closes the pass. In the Ghorband and other rural valleys there are no formal hotels; visitors who stay overnight do so with local families, through arrangements made in advance. Expect basic facilities everywhere outside Charikar.

Minibuses and shared taxis run frequently between Kabul and Charikar, and on from Charikar to Jabal Saraj, Gulbahar and the Salang. Long-distance buses and shared cars travelling between Kabul and the northern cities also pass through, though they rarely have seats to spare for passengers joining midway. Within Charikar, auto-rickshaws and taxis cover short trips and walking is easy around the bazaar. For the Ghorband valley, shared pick-ups and minibuses leave from the plain for the district centres, less often in winter. A private car with a driver is the most practical way to explore the vineyards of the Shomali or to make a day trip to the Salang. In the high side valleys, donkeys still carry loads along the tracks between villages.