Samangan (Dari: سمنگان; Pashto: سمنګان) is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located north of the Hindu Kush mountains in the central part of the country.

The earliest known history of the province is linked to the identification of the Samangan by Aoros Ptolemy as the place of the Varni or Uarni and the fortified city of Samangan on the banks of the Khulm River identical to the Bhaktria regi on the Dargydus river south east of Zariaspa.

[5][6] Historicity of the Samangan town dates to the time of the Kushan Empire during the 4th and 5th centuries when it was a famous Buddhist centre.

Witness to this period is seen now in the form of ruins at a place called the Takht-e Rostam, which is located 3 km from the town on a hilltop.

"One of the most spectacular sites is that of Takth i Raustam, near Samangan (Haybak), north of Hindu Kush passes.

[citation needed] It was ruled by the Durranis followed by the Barakzai dynasty, and was untouched by the British during the three Anglo-Afghan wars that were fought in the 19th and 20th centuries.

After the Afghan Civil War, the town of Darra Souf in Samangan Province was occupied by Ustad Mohammad Mohaqiq and the Taliban in late 1999.

The Taliban forces gained control of the area from January to March 2000 including nearby Sar-e-Pol and Baghlan provinces, where they were reported to have massacred an unknown number of civilians.

In the meantime, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) established a Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in the province.

However, on 15 February 2011 an ISAF peacekeeper from Finland was killed in a roadside bombing near Samangan City, and on 14 July 2012, Ahmed Khan Samangani, a member of the National Assembly of Afghanistan, was killed when a suicide bomber infiltrated his daughter's wedding party in the city of Samangan.

The bomb also killed the provincial head of the National Directorate of Security (NDS), and 13 other guests, and 60 were injured, including senior police and army commanders.

[11] Owing to its relative isolation, Samangan province is underdeveloped with no energy infrastructure and has a high rate of illiteracy,[12] although some students have access to education in neighbouring Mazari Sharif.

Economic condition of the people is very hard with nearly 12% households finding it difficult to meet the food requirements to sustain.

Food security is a major issue since nearly 12% of the population receive less than the minimum daily caloric intake to sustain good health.

[14] The economy revolves around agriculture, with farmers in Samangan province cultivating grains, fruits, and nuts on the region's fertile river plains.

Horse breeding also sustains the economy of the province as it caters particularly for the popular sport of buzkashi in Afghanistan.

[15] Buzkashi is a traditional Central Asian team sport played on horseback in Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, northern Pakistan and Kazakhstan.

The monastery of major Buddhist tradition of Theravada Buddhism, has five chambers, two are sanctuaries and one is a domed ceiling with an intricate lotus leaf beautification.

Many bones, silk clothes, and Islamic symbols were found in this district, but due to the erosion and landslide, the entrance of these places has disappeared.

Some parts of the province are characterised by distinctive rolling hills and mountains and rich green valleys.

[21] Samangan Province has a long history of earthquakes which has led to the loss of thousands of people and their homes.

[21] A series of earthquakes struck nearby Baghlan province on March 3, 2002, killing roughly 1,000 people.

"Samangan like most of Afghanistan is ethnically diverse with Tajiks, Uzbeks, Hazara, Turkomen and even a minority of Pashtuns living throughout the province.