History
(See Pakthas, Loya Paktia and Pre-Islamic scripts in Afghanistan
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Paktika is the southernmost part of a historical region known as Greater Paktia (Pashto: لویه پکتیا, Loya Paktia), that was once a unified province including Paktia, Khost and parts of Ghazni and Logar. The tribes that reside in this area were mentioned by the Greek historian Herodotus, who called them the "Pactyans" as early as the 1st millennium BCE.
In the 1970s, the provincial capital of the largely undeveloped and remote province of Paktika was moved from the town of Urgun to Sharana due to its proximity with the main highway, connecting it to the larger cities and commercial centres of Kabul, Ghazni and Kandahar.
Paktika was the site of many battles during the Soviet occupation of the country and the lawless years that followed.
The Siege of Urgun took place between 1983 and 1984.
Read more about this topic: Paktika Province
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