What’s all this nonsense about Islam not having been spread by the sword? Islam is supposedly a religion of peace that’s just been grossly misunderstood, but this Wikipedia article greatly contests the Islamic spin on its history. The poor pagans of the Hindukush had to endure being assaulted by Islam on and off for a thousand years, labeled as Kafirs and had their land known as “Kafirstan”.
The former name (until 1895) of Nurestan (or Nuristan) was Kafiristan. This historic region lies on the southern slopes of Hindukush and mainly comprises basins of the Alingar, Pech, Landai Sin and Kunar rivers and the intervening mountain ranges. Its northern boundary is the main range of the Hindukush, eastern the Pakistani border, its southeastern the Kunar Valley and westernen the Kamah river. The people were formerly known as Kafirs which was a Muslim appellation for those not believing in Islam or the teachings of prophet Muhammad.
A ferocious, fiercely independent and culturally distinctive people, the Kafirs followed paganism until 1895 when they were conquered and forcibly converted to Islam by Amir Abdur Rahman Khan. Their region was renamed as Nurestan (Land of Light) and the people as Nuris (The Enlightened Ones).