Forces of British India unsuccessfully attempted to take it from Afghan Emir Abdur Rahman Khan in the 19th century.

[2] During the 1919 Afghan War of Independence the area was part of the Chatral front of the war where the tribes of the area were led to victory over the British Empire and its Raj Subjects by Ghazi Mir Zaman Khan.

[3] During the 1980s Soviet war in Afghanistan, the Afghan mojahiddin forces used Asmar as one of their escape routes to neighboring Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan.

After their withdrawal from the country, the area returned to the control of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

The inhabitants of Asmar are overwhelmingly ethnic Pashtuns, with a very small population of Nuristanis.