Charikar, Afghanistan

Charikar چاریکار
A street in Charikar
Charikar Location in Afghanistan
Coordinates: 35°0′47″N 69°10′8″E / 35.01306°N 69.16889°E / 35.01306; 69.16889Coordinates: 35°0′47″N 69°10′8″E / 35.01306°N 69.16889°E / 35.01306; 69.16889
Country	Afghanistan
Province	Parwan Province
Elevation	1,600 m (5,200 ft)
Population (2015)
• City	96,093
• Urban	96,039
Time zone	UTC+4:30

Charikar (Persian: چاریکار‎‎, pronounced Chârikâr) is the main town of the Kohdaman Valley and the capital of Parwan Province in northern Afghanistan. It has a population of around 171,200, which is a multi-ethnic society.

The city lies on the road 69 km from Kabul to the northern provinces. Travelers would pass Charikar when traveling to Mazar-I-Sharif, Kunduz or Puli Khumri. Charikar is at the gateway to the Panjshir Valley, where the Shamali plains meet the foothills of the Hindu Kush. Charikar is known for its pottery and high-quality grapes.

Charikar is in northeastern Kabul, only 69 kilometers from Kabul. Despite the proximity to Kabul, slightly more than half of the land is not built-up. Of the built-up land almost equal parts is residential (37%) as vacant plots (32%) with a grid network of road coverage amounting to 19% of built-up land area.

The city of Charikar has a total population of 96,039 (2015) and has 4 Police districts (Nahias) with 3,025 Hectare of total land area. There are 10,671 total number of dwellings in Charikar.

In 1221, the Battle of Pirvan was fought near Charikar, in which Jalal ud-Din with an army of 30,000 with 100,000 auxiliaries delayed an advance column of 30,000 men of the invading Mongol army long enough to allow part of his army to escape into the northern Punjab, and avoid the immediate consequences of the fall of the Khwarezmid Empire.

At the beginning of the 19th century, Charikar became a flourishing commercial town of several thousand inhabitants. Charikar was the location of major battle during the First Anglo-Afghan War. In 1841 a British garrison was massacred. In 1842 the British Army returned to lay waste to the town in their campaign of retribution.

During the Soviet invasion, the region around Charikar was the scene to some of the fiercest fighting.