Bagram بگرام بګرام | |
|---|---|
Town | |
    Clockwise from top: Bazaar and part of Bagram (2009); Bagram Valley; A U.S. Army CH-47 Chinook heavy lift helicopter takes off on February 4, 2012 fromBagram Airfield; and Bagram Airfield in winter | |
  Bagram Location in Afghanistan Show map of Afghanistan Bagram Bagram (South Asia) Show map of South Asia | |
| Coordinates:34°56′25″N69°15′18″E / 34.9403°N 69.2550°E /34.9403; 69.2550 | |
| Country |  Afghanistan |
| Province | Parwan |
| District | Bagram |
| Elevation | 4,882 ft (1,488 m) |
| Time zone | +04:30 |
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Bagram (/bəɡrɑːm/;Pashto/Persian:بگرام) is a town and seat inBagram District inParwan Province ofAfghanistan, about 60 kilometers north of the capitalKabul. It is the site of an ancient city located at the junction of theGhorband andPanjshir Valley, near today's city ofCharikar, Afghanistan. The location of this historical town made it a key passage fromAncient India along theSilk Road, leading westwards through the mountains towardsBamiyan, and north over theKushan Pass to theBaghlan Valley[2] and past the Kushan archeological site atSurkh Kotal, to the commercial centre ofBalkh and the rest of northern Afghanistan. Bagram was the capital of theKushan Empire in the first centuryCE.
According to theKöppen climate classification system, Bagram has a hot-summerhumid continental climate (Dsa) with brief, but cold winters and long, hot and dry summers. Precipitation is most likely between the months of October and April. Dust storms and sand storms occur frequently during certain times of the year[3] and the city is often blanketed by snow in winter months. The annual mean temperature is 12.0 °C (53.6 °F)
| Climate data for Bagram | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 3.5 (38.3) | 4.1 (39.4) | 11.1 (52.0) | 18.2 (64.8) | 24.6 (76.3) | 29.6 (85.3) | 32.6 (90.7) | 31.8 (89.2) | 27.6 (81.7) | 21.0 (69.8) | 12.9 (55.2) | 7.2 (45.0) | 18.7 (65.6) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | −2.5 (27.5) | −1.3 (29.7) | 4.8 (40.6) | 11.3 (52.3) | 17.4 (63.3) | 22.3 (72.1) | 25.5 (77.9) | 24.7 (76.5) | 20.7 (69.3) | 14.4 (57.9) | 6.3 (43.3) | 0.8 (33.4) | 12.0 (53.7) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −8.5 (16.7) | −6.7 (19.9) | −1.5 (29.3) | 4.4 (39.9) | 10.1 (50.2) | 15.0 (59.0) | 18.3 (64.9) | 17.6 (63.7) | 13.7 (56.7) | 7.7 (45.9) | −0.4 (31.3) | −5.6 (21.9) | 5.3 (41.6) |
| Averageprecipitation mm (inches) | 50 (2.0) | 72 (2.8) | 73 (2.9) | 51 (2.0) | 23 (0.9) | 6 (0.2) | 2 (0.1) | 1 (0.0) | 3 (0.1) | 9 (0.4) | 20 (0.8) | 29 (1.1) | 339 (13.3) |
| Source: Climate-Data.org[4] | |||||||||||||
The ancient city ofKapisi is identified with present-day Bagram. The figures of ancientBuddhist andHindu sculptures show that the city was initially ruled byIndic people who have either migrated or intermingled with theIranian populations who moved into the region likeKambojas fromBactria.
While theDiadochi were warring amongst themselves, theMauryan Empire was developing in the northern part of theIndian subcontinent. The founder of the empire,Chandragupta Maurya, confronted a Macedonian invasion force led bySeleucus I in 305 BC and following a brief conflict, an agreement was reached as Seleucus cededGandhara andArachosia (centered on ancientKandahar) 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.
Bagram became the capital of theKushan 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 theBegram ivories, are either quite purely Hellenistic, Roman, Chinese or Indian, with only little indications of the culturalsyncretism found inGreco-Buddhist art.
TheIslamic conquest of Afghanistan and the adjoining Pashtun region began in seventh century right afterconquest of Persia. However, the complete Islamization of Afghanistan wasn't achieved until theGhaznavid rule. The modern-day town is believed to be founded byBabur at the site of the ancient city.[5] In Babur's memoirs, theBaburnama, the emphasis of his visit in 1519 is on the colony of Hindu ascetics at Gurh Kattri (Kur Katri), who fascinated him.[6]
Bagram hosts the strategicBagram Airfield, from which most US air activity in Afghanistan took place. The runway was built in 1976, and it was aSovietair base from 1979 to 1989. There was also aProvincial Reconstruction Team when the US were present in Afghanistan and implemented their counter-insurgency strategy.[7]
Bagram is also the location of theParwan 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.[8] The detention centre had earlier come into the attention of the news media as it was claimed that prisoners were tortured (see the articleBagram torture and prisoner abuse). At the time of the hand-over of the facility, human-rights groups likeAmnesty International have raised concerns about the treatment of prisoners there.[8]
On December 21, 2015, Bagram was the site of asuicide bombing killing 6 people.[9]
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.[10]
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