Kafiristan in the context of "Chitral District"

The ancient history of Afghanistan, also referred to as the pre-Islamic period of Afghanistan, dates back to the prehistoric era and the Helmand civilization around 3300–2350 B.C. Archaeological exploration began in Afghanistan in earnest after World War II and proceeded until the late 1970s during the Soviet–Afghan War. Archaeologists and historians suggest that humans were living in Afghanistan at least 50,000 years ago, and that farming communities of the region were among the earliest in the world. Urbanized culture has existed in the land from between 3000 and 2000 BC. Artifacts typical of the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze, and Iron ages have been found inside Afghanistan.

After the Indus Valley Civilisation stretched up to northeast Afghanistan, it was inhabited by the Iranic tribes and controlled by the Medes until about 500 BC when Darius the Great (Darius I) marched with his Persian army to make it part of the Achaemenid Empire. In 330 BC, Alexander the Great of Macedonia invaded the land after defeating Darius III of Persia in the Battle of Gaugamela. Much of Afghanistan became part of the Seleucid Empire followed by the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom. Seleucus I Nicator was defeated by Chandragupta Maurya and gave his daughter in a peace treaty. The land was inhabited by various tribes and ruled by many different kingdoms for the next two millennia. Before the arrival of Islam in the 7th century, there were a number of religions practiced in modern-day Afghanistan. Zoroastrianism and Ancient Iranian religions were practiced in western Afganistan (Khorasan and Herat). Hinduism and Buddhism was primarily practiced in regions of Eastern (Kabul) and South-Eastern Afganistan (Kandahar). The Kafiristan (present-day Nuristan) region, in the Hindu Kush mountain range, was not converted until the 19th century. They still follow the ancient Vedic religion (related to modern day Hinduism).

The Nuristanis are an Indo-Iranian ethnic group native to the Nuristan Province (formerly Kafiristan) of northeastern Afghanistan and Chitral District of northwestern Pakistan. Their languages comprise the Nuristani branch of Indo-Iranian languages.

In the mid-1890s, after the establishment of the Durand Line when Afghanistan and the British Indian Empire reached an agreement regarding the Indo-Afghan border as the region of Kafiristan became part of the Great Game and for a period of time, Emir Abdur Rahman Khan conducted a military campaign to secure the eastern regions and followed up his conquest by imposition of Islam; the region thenceforth being known as Nuristan, the "Land of Light". Before their conversion, the Nuristanis practised an Indo-Iranian (Vedic- or Hindu-like) religion. Non-Muslim religious practices endure in Nuristan today to some degree as folk customs. In their native rural areas, they are often farmers, herders, and dairymen.

Nuristan (Pashto; Dari: نورستان, lit. 'Land of Light'), also spelled as Nurestan or Nooristan, known as Nuriston (Katë: نورستان), and historically known as Kafiristan (Pashto, Dari: کافرستان lit. 'Land of Infidels') until 1896, is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the eastern part of the country. It is divided into seven districts and is Afghanistan's least populous province, with a population of around 167,000. Parun serves as the provincial capital. Nuristan is bordered on the south by Laghman and Kunar provinces, on the north by Badakhshan province, on the west by Panjshir province, and on the east by Pakistan.

The origin of the local Nuristani people has been disputed, ranging from being the indigenous inhabitants forced to flee to this region after refusing to surrender to invaders, to being linked to various ancient groups of people and the Turk Shahi kings. Some Nuristanis claim being descendants of the Greek occupying forces of Alexander the Great. It was formerly called Kafiristan (Pashto: كافرستان) ("Land of the Infidels") until the inhabitants were forcibly converted from an animist religion with elements from Indo-Iranian (Vedic- or Hindu-like) religion infused with local variations, to Islam in 1895, and thence the region has become known as Nuristan ("Land of Light"). The region was located in an area surrounded by Buddhist and Hindu civilizations which were later taken over by Muslims.

The Nuristani languages, known earlier as Kafiri languages, are one of the three groups within the Indo-Iranian language family, alongside the Indo-Aryan and Iranian languages. They have approximately 214,000 speakers primarily in Nuristan and Kunar provinces in northeastern Afghanistan and a few adjacent valleys in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Chitral District, Pakistan. The region inhabited by the Nuristanis is located in the southern Hindu Kush mountains, and is drained by the Alingar River in the west, the Pech River in the center, and the Landai Sin and Kunar rivers in the east. More broadly, the Nuristan region is located at the northern intersection of the Indian subcontinent and the Iranian plateau.

The Nuristani languages were not described in literature until the 19th century. The older name for the region was Kafiristan due to the pre-Islamic religious practices of its residents, but this term has been abandoned in favor of Nuristan ("land of light") after the region's people were converted to Islam.

"The Man Who Would Be King" is an 1888 short story by Rudyard Kipling about two British adventurers in British India who become kings of Kafiristan, a remote part of Afghanistan. The story was first published in The Phantom 'Rickshaw and Other Tales (1888); it also appeared in Wee Willie Winkie and Other Child Stories (1895) and numerous later editions of that collection. It has been adapted for other media a number of times.

The Hazara genocide occurred in the Hazarajat area of Afghanistan in the aftermath of Second Anglo-Afghan War when the Afghanistan Emirate signed the Treaty of Gandamak. Afghan Amir Abdur Rahman set out to bring the Turkistan, Hazaristan, and Kafiristan regions under Afghan control. He launched several campaigns in the Hazarajat due to resistance to oppression from the Hazaras, culminating in the Battle of Uruzgan and he conducted a widespread genocidal campaign against its population.

The Hazaras are a Shia Muslim minority in predominantly Sunni Muslim countries. This religious difference has contributed to their historic marginalization and made them targets of sectarian violence. Over 60 percent of the total Hazara population was massacred with some being displaced and exiled by migrating to Quetta, British Raj and Mashhad (Iran) and other adjoining areas. The Hazara land was distributed among loyalist villagers of nearby non-Hazaras. The repression after the uprising has been called the most significant case of genocide or ethnic cleansing in the history of modern Afghanistan.

In the winter of 1895, Emir Abdur Rahman Khan conquered Kafiristan as part of his campaign to consolidate Afghan territorial control. The region was later renamed "Nuristan (Land of Light)" to reflect the population's conversion to Islam. Pre-Islamic shrines, idols, and ritual structures were destroyed, and religious leaders were either executed, marginalised, or co-opted.