Baraki Rajan experienced some of the heaviest clashes between the Soviet forces and Afghan Mujaheddin fighters throughout the Soviet–Afghan War.

According to a report by a Swedish committee in July 1982, in a massive operation by Soviet forces in Baraki Rajan, numerous war crimes were committed.

In a three-day-long operation, villages were bombed, shops burnt and hundreds of people, including 208 resistance fighters and 25 children, were killed.

[citation needed] Various Mujahideen groups were active in the area with Jamiat-e Islami being the most prominent and influential in the District.

[1] There are also political factions active in the area, notably Jamiat-e-Islami and Hizb-e-Islami, with histories of mutual antagonism dating back to the Afghan civil war of the early 1990s.