A stronghold of anti-Taleban resistance has been named as Afghanistan's newest province in honour of assassinated leader Ahmad Shah Massood, a spokesman for the president said Monday.
President Hamid Karzai signed a decree declaring the Panjshir Valley the war-ravaged country's 34th province, slicing the territory out of mountainous Parwan province.
Karzai created the new province "to honour the national hero," Karzai deputy spokesman Hamid Elmi told AFP.
The spokesman said that the establishment of the new province where Masood was born was in response to the "repeated requests of the people."