Karte Parwan Gurdwara in the Karte Parwan section of

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

, is one of the main

Gurdwara A gurdwara (sometimes written as gurudwara) (Gurmukhi: ਗੁਰਦੁਆਰਾ ''guradu'ārā'', meaning "Door to the Guru") is a place of assembly and worship for Sikhs. Sikhs also refer to gurdwaras as ''Gurdwara Sahib''. People from all faiths ...

s in the region. Gurdawara means the Gateway to the

Guru Guru ( sa, गुरु, IAST: ''guru;'' Pali'': garu'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: traditionally, the guru is a reverentia ...

, and is a

place of worship A place of worship is a specially designed structure or space where individuals or a group of people such as a congregation come to perform acts of devotion, veneration, or religious study. A building constructed or used for this purpose is somet ...

for

Sikh Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...

Background

There were thousands of

s living in Kabul before the

Soviet–Afghan War The Soviet–Afghan War was a protracted armed conflict fought in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989. It saw extensive fighting between the Soviet Union and the Afghan mujahideen (alongside smaller groups of anti-Soviet ...

and

Afghan Civil War (1992–1996) The 1992–1996 Afghan Civil War took place between 28 April 1992—the date a new interim Afghan government was supposed to replace the Republic of Afghanistan of President Mohammad Najibullah—and the Taliban's conquest of Kabul establishing ...

. Many of them fled among the

Afghan refugees Afghan refugees are citizens of Afghanistan who were compelled to abandon their country as a result of major wars, persecution, torture or genocide. The 1978 Saur Revolution followed by the 1979 Soviet invasion marked the first wave of inter ...

in the 1980s and 1990s to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and neighboring

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. After the American military involvement and the removal of the

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...

regime in late 2001, some of them decided to return. As of 2008, there are an estimated 2,500 Sikhs in Afghanistan. The road outside the Gurdwara was widened prior to 2009 and the two rows of buildings and the courtyard of the Gurdwara have been reduced in size.

Attacks

On October 5, 2021, some armed individuals which are assumed to be affiliated with the

forcefully entered the site and began destroying the interior. Damage to furniture, walls, and windows were reported as well as several security cameras were destroyed. On 18 June 2022, militants affiliated to the Islamic State-Khorasan Province stormed the gurdwara and fired at the worshippers. Later that day, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan's Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Nafi Takor announced that the militants had been neutralized by ISEA soldiers and the gunfight resulted in the death of one ISEA soldier and a Sikh worshipper.

Gallery

File:KABUL Gurdwara Karte Parwan IMG 0619.JPG, Gurdwara Karte Parwan in Kabul File:Kabul Gurdwara Karte Parwan IMG 0621.JPG, Inside Gurdwara Karte Parwan in Kabul File:Gurdwara Karte Parwan IMG 0628.JPG, Inside Gurdwara Karte Parwan in Kabul

References

Buildings and structures in Kabul Gurdwaras in Afghanistan Religious buildings and structures in Kabul Sikhism in Kabul {{Afghanistan-struct-stub

Background

Attacks

Gallery

See also

References