Nuristan Province in the context of "Laghman Province"

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.

Kāfiristān, or Kāfirstān (Pashto: کاپیرستان; Dari: کافرستان; lit. 'Land of Infidels'), is a historical region that covered present-day Nuristan Province in Afghanistan and its surroundings. This historic region lies on, and mainly comprises, the basins of the rivers Alingar, Pech (Kamah), Landai Sin and Kunar, and the intervening mountain ranges. It is bounded by the main range of the Hindu Kush on the north, Pakistan's Chitral District to the east, the Kunar Valley in the south and the Alishang River in the west.

Kafiristan took its name from the enduring kafir (non-Muslim) Nuristani inhabitants who once practised what authors consider as a form of animism and ancestor worship with elements of Indo-Iranian (Vedic- or Hindu-like) religion; they were thus known to the surrounding predominantly Sunni Muslim population as Kafirs, meaning "disbelievers" or "infidels". They are closely related to the Kalash people, an independent people with a distinctive culture, language and religion, who reside in the Chitral District of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.

Panjshir (Pashto: پنجشېر, Dari: پنجشیر, lit. 'five lions'), commonly known as Panjsher, is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the northeastern part of the country containing the Panjshir Valley. The province is divided into seven districts and contains 512 villages. The main inhabitants of the province are Shamali Tajiks, who speak Dari. As of 2021, the population of Panjshir province was about 334,940. Its current governor is Mohammad Agha Hakim.

Panjshir became an independent province from the neighboring Parwan Province in 2004. It is bordered by Baghlan and Takhar in the north, Badakhshan and Nuristan in the east, Laghman and Kapisa in the south, and Parwan in the west.

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.

The Landai Sin River (Pashto: لنډی سين Lanḍai Sīn, "Short River"), also called the Bashgal River (باشګال سيند), is located in eastern Afghanistan. It rises in the Hindu Kush range near the Mandol Pass in the Nuristan Province of Afghanistan, and is fed from glaciers and snow to its north. The Landai Sin is a tributary of Kunar River.

The Landai Sin Valley is inhabited by the Kata, Mumo (Madugal), Kashtan, and Kom tribes of the Nuristani people. Eastern Kata-vari is the main spoken language in the Landai Sin Valley. The main town on the river is Kamdesh.

Parun (Pashto, Dari: پارون), also called Prasun and Prasungul, is a small town and administrative center of Nuristan Province and its Parun District in Afghanistan.

The city of Parun has a population of 1,647. It has 1 district and a total land area of 350 hectares. The total number of dwellings in Parun is 183.

Kunar (Pashto: کونړ; Dari: کنر) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the northeastern part of the country. Its capital is Asadabad. Its population is estimated to be 508,224. Kunar's major political groups include Wahhabis or Ahl-e- Hadith, Nazhat-e Hambastagi Milli, Hezb-e Afghanistan Naween and Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin.

It is one of the four "N2KL" provinces (Nangarhar Province, Nuristan Province, Kunar Province and Laghman Province). N2KL was the designation used by the US and Coalition Forces in Afghanistan for the rugged region along the Afghanistan–Pakistan border opposite Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (merged in 2018 with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa). Kunar is the center of the N2KL region.