Editing Bagram (section)

== History ==
[[File:AsokaKandahar.jpg|thumb|upright|Bilingual edict ([[Greek language|Greek]] and [[Aramaic]]) by Emperor [[Ashoka the Great|Ashoka]], from [[Kandahar]] - [[Afghan National Museum]]. (Click image for translation).]]
===Ancient history===
{{Main|Ancient Kapisa|Alexandria on the Caucasus|Treasure of Begram}}
The ancient city of [[Kapisi]] is identified with present-day Bagram. The figures of ancient [[Buddhist]] and [[Hindu]] sculptures show that the city was initially ruled by [[Indic people]] who have either migrated or intermingled with the [[Iranian peoples|Iranian]] populations who moved into the region like [[Kambojas]] from [[Bactria]].   

While the [[Diadochi]] were warring amongst themselves, the [[Mauryan dynasty|Mauryan Empire]] was developing in the northern part of the [[Indian subcontinent]]. The founder of the empire, [[Chandragupta Maurya]], confronted a Macedonian invasion force led by [[Seleucus I Nicator|Seleucus I]] in 305 BC and following a brief conflict, an agreement was reached as Seleucus ceded [[Gandhara]] and [[Arachosia]] (centered on ancient [[Kandahar]]) and areas south of Bagram (corresponding to the extreme south-east of modern Afghanistan) to the Mauryans. During the 120 years of the Mauryans in southern Afghanistan, Buddhism was introduced and eventually become a major religion alongside Zoroastrianism and local pagan beliefs. Mauryan punch-marked coins have been discovered at [[Begram]] and [[Mir Zakah]], indicating early trade or administrative presence in the region.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ball |first1=Warwick |last2=Gardin |first2=Jean-Claude |title=Archaeological Gazetteer of Afghanistan, Vol. I |publisher=DAFA (Délégation Archéologique Française en Afghanistan) |page=55–56, 184 |year=1982}}</ref>

Bagram became the capital of the [[Kushan Empire]] in the first century. The "Bagram treasure" as it has been called, is indicative of intense commercial exchanges between all the cultural centers of the classical time, with the Kushan empire at the junction of the land and sea trade between the east and west. However, the works of art found in Bagram, such as the [[Begram ivories]], are either quite purely Hellenistic, Roman, Chinese or Indian, with only little indications of the cultural [[syncretism]] found in [[Greco-Buddhist art]].

===Islamic conquest===

The [[Muslim conquests of Afghanistan|Islamic conquest of Afghanistan]] and the adjoining Pashtun region began in seventh century right after [[Muslim conquest of Persia|conquest of Persia]]. However, the complete Islamization of Afghanistan wasn't achieved until the [[Ghaznavid]] rule. The modern-day town is believed to be founded by [[Babur]] at the site of the ancient city.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tfE6DwAAQBAJ|last1=Bhattacharya|first1=Avijeet|title=Journeys on the Silk Road Through Ages|date=11 October 2017|publisher=Zorba|pages=192|isbn=9789386407818|access-date=19 January 2018}}</ref> In Babur's memoirs, the ''[[Baburnama]]'', the emphasis of his visit in 1519 is on the colony of Hindu ascetics at Gurh Kattri (Kur Katri), who fascinated him.<ref>Losty, J. P. Roy, Malini (eds), ''Mughal India: Art, Culture and Empire'', pp. 42-43, 2013, British Library, {{ISBN|0712358706}}, 9780712358705</ref>

===Recent history===
[[File:AfghanischeKinder.jpg|thumb|Bagram school children]]
Bagram hosts the strategic [[Bagram Airfield]], from which most US air activity in Afghanistan took place. The runway was built in 1976, and it was a [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] [[air base]] from 1979 to 1989. There was also a [[Provincial Reconstruction Team]] when the US were present in Afghanistan and implemented their counter-insurgency strategy.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs)|url=http://www.understandingwar.org/provincial-reconstruction-teams-prts|access-date=2021-07-02|website=Institute for the Study of War|language=en}}</ref>

Bagram is also the location of the [[Parwan Detention Facility]]; this detention facility was the last prison in Afghanistan under management of the US. It was handed back to the Afghan government on 25 March 2013.<ref name="aljaz">Aljazeera news: [http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2013/03/201332534437116216.html US hands over Bagram prison to Afghanistan], 25 March 2013</ref> The detention centre had earlier come into the attention of the news media as it was claimed that prisoners were tortured (see the article [[Bagram torture and prisoner abuse]]). At the time of the hand-over of the facility, human-rights groups like [[Amnesty International]] have raised concerns about the treatment of prisoners there.<ref name="aljaz"/>

On December 21, 2015, Bagram was the site of a [[2015 Bagram suicide bombing|suicide bombing]] killing 6 people.<ref name=cnn>{{cite web|last1=Popalzai|first1=Masoud|last2=Starr|first2=Barbara|title=6 U.S. troops killed in motorcycle bomb attack in Afghanistan, officials say|date=21 December 2015 |url=http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/21/asia/nato-members-killed-bagram-afghanistan/|publisher=[[CNN]]|access-date=21 December 2015}}</ref>

On July 1, 2021, US troops departed from the air base, abandoning the outpost over to the Afghan government after 20 years.  According to the Afghan commander at the time, the US evacuated the base during the night without any previous official notice to the Afghan army.<ref name=bbcnews>{{cite news|title=US left Bagram Airbase at night with no notice, Afghan commander says |date=6 July 2021 |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-57682290 |publisher=[[BBC]]|access-date=2022-06-16}}</ref>