Editing Logar Province (section)

== History ==
{{Further|Ancient history of Afghanistan}}
A 2,600-year-old [[Zoroastrian]] [[fire temple]] was found at Mes Aynak (about 25 miles or 40  kilometers southeast of Kabul). Several [[Buddhist]] [[stupas]] and more than 1,000 statues were also found. Smelting workshops, miners’ quarters (even then the site's [[copper]] was well known), a mint, two small forts, a citadel, and a stockpile of [[Kushan Empire|Kushan]], [[Sassanian]] and [[Indo-Parthian]] [[coins]] were also found at the site.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://thediplomat.com/2013/06/saving-the-buddhas-of-mes-aynak-updated/|title=Saving the Buddhas of Mes Aynak|first=Jonathan|last=DeHart|website=thediplomat.com}}</ref>

=== Recent history ===
During the [[Soviet–Afghan War]], Logar was known among some Afghans as the Bab al-Jihad (Gates of Jihad) because it became a fierce theatre of war between US-backed/trained [[mujahideen]] groups and the [[Democratic Republic of Afghanistan|Soviet-backed Afghan government troops]]{{why?|date=May 2025}}. The [[Ahmadzai (Ghilji clan)|Ahmadzai]] [[Pashtuns]] is dominant in this region. Haji Shuja, Haji Zareen and Haji Bahadur were the prominent traders and chieftains in the region before the soviet invasion of Afghanistan. It was one of the main supply routes of mujahideen rebels coming from Pakistan. Like other parts of the country, Logar has also seen heavy fighting since the Soviets started a crackdown against the elders of the [[Ahmadzai tribe]] during the 1980s.<ref name="Kakar">{{cite book|last=Kakar|first=M. Hassan|title=Afghanistan: The Soviet Invasion and the Afghan Response, 1979–1982|year=1995|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-20893-3 |chapter=Massacre in Logar |url=http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft7b69p12h&chunk.id=s1.14.1&toc.depth=1&toc.id=ch014&brand=eschol}}</ref> Swedish journalist Borge Almqvist, who visited the province in 1982, wrote that: "Everywhere in the Logar province the most common sight except for ruins are graves".<ref>{{Cite conference|title=International Afghanistan Hearing|last=Almqvist|first=Borge|editor=Committee for International Afghanistan Hearing|year=1984}}</ref> Soviet operations included using bombing, the use of flammable liquids to burn alive people in hiding, poisoning of drinking water, and destruction of crops and farmland. One writer who witnessed the events argues that the Soviet actions in Logar amounted to genocide.<ref name="Kakar" />

By 1995, the province had fallen to the [[Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (1996–2001)|Taliban government]]. During the [[presidency of Hamid Karzai]], the [[International Security Assistance Force]] (ISAF) and [[Afghan National Security Forces]] (ANSF) gradually took over the security of the area. The [[Provincial Reconstruction Team Logar]] (PRT Logar) was established in March 2008. It provided several benefits to the locals, including security, development, and jobs.

On 19 August 2014, a major Taliban offensive took place with 700 insurgents aiming to take control of the province,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ibtimes.com/logar-afghanistan-attacked-more-700-taliban-fighters-1662402|title=Logar In Afghanistan Attacked By More Than 700 Taliban Fighters|date=19 August 2014|website=Ibtimes.com|access-date=15 May 2018}}</ref> while the [[NATO]]-led foreign force mistakenly killed three civilians in an airstrike in December 2014.<ref>{{cite news|title=Nato force kills three Afghan civilians in airstrike, mistaking them for insurgents|url=http://www.straitstimes.com/news/asia/south-asia/story/nato-force-kills-three-afghan-civilians-air-strike-mistaking-them-insurge|access-date=27 December 2014|publisher=Singapore Press Holdings Ltd}}</ref>

On 20 January 2019, the Taliban claimed responsibility for a [[car bomb]] attack on the province's governor and his convoy, which killed eight security forces and wounded at least 10 on the highway to Kabul. The governor and the provincial head of the [[National Directorate of Security]] were uninjured.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-afghanistan-attack/car-bomb-attack-kills-eight-security-force-members-in-afghanistans-south-idUSKCN1PE08K|title=Car bomb attack kills eight security force members in Afghanistan's south|last=Sediqi|first=Abdul Qadir|work=[[Reuters]]|access-date=2019-01-20|language=en-US}}</ref>

On 14 August 2021, the [[2021 Taliban offensive|Taliban offensive]] reached [[Puli Alam]] (the province capital), and the province of Logar fell to the Taliban, setting their sights on [[Fall of Kabul (2021)|Kabul]] the following day.