Garsmir was controlled by the
Safavid dynasty of Iran in the 17th century, under the name Tor Agha. In 1747,
Ahmad Shah Durrani conquered it and changed the name to Garmsir, which means "hot place" in Persian. Ahmad Shah sent Pashtun settlers from the
Alizai and
Nurzai tribes to occupy and farm the land. Between the 1950s and 1970s, Garmsir was transformed by the work of the
Helmand and Arghandab Valley Authority, which built a canal system throughout Helmand and vastly increased the amount of arable land in Garsmir. In the early 1970s, King
Zahir Shah and his successor
Mohammed Daoud sent 25,000 immigrants to Garmsir to occupy the newly irrigated land. Garmsir was contested throughout the
Soviet–Afghan War, with
mujahideen controlling the majority of the district and communist forces holding the district center. The mujahideen captured the district center in August 1988 and expelled the communists. Following the mujahideen victory, violence broke out between Alizai and Noorzai tribal leaders over who would rule the district. The fighting ended with an Alizai victory in September 1989, when
Nasim Akhundzada brought 600 fighters from Musa Qala to reinforce the Alizai. Approximately 300 people were killed during the year-long conflict. The Alizai chose a
Barakzai man named Abdullah Jan to serve as district governor. In early 1995, the
Taliban conquered Garmsir, along with the rest of Helmand. They ruled until the
United States invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. During the
War in Afghanistan (2001–present), the
Battle of Garmsir took place in the district from 2007 to 2011. The district contained ISAF installations including
Forward Operating Base Delhi and
Camp Dwyer. ==Geography==