Panjwayi was the site of continual fighting and emplacements of
improvised explosive devices (IED) during the
War in Afghanistan, with the bulk of the
Canadian Forces' casualties taken from this district. It was the scene of the
Battle of Panjwayi involving Canadian Forces and
Taliban fighters and the theatre of the
ISAF Operation Medusa, September 2006.
NATO claimed to have killed over 500 Taliban insurgents. The 2009 increase in ISAF forces, brought on about by the U.S. surge, increased troop densities in Panjwayi, resulting in a greater ability on behalf of Afghan government and international forces to conduct operations and penetrate into former Taliban strongholds, especially villages in the "Horn of Panjwayi" such as Mushan, Nejat, Talokan, Sperwan Ghar and Zangabad. These villages are considered the "Birthplace of the Taliban" and were seen as one of the most dangerous regions of Afghanistan for NATO forces. On 16 November 2009 Canadian troops captured the Taliban-controlled village of Hajji Baba southwest of Kandahar City. The
Kandahar massacre occurred at around 3:00 AM on Sunday, March 11, 2012, when 38-year-old U.S. Army
staff sergeant Robert Bales from
Joint Base Lewis-McChord (in
Washington), went from house to house in two separate villages in the district (
Balandi and
Alokzai) and killed 16 Afghan civilians, including 9 children. The Taliban maintained a significant psychological and physical presence in the district, and recaptured it on 10 July 2021, during the
2021 Taliban offensive. ==Populated places==