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Pashtuns

August 22, 2023

"Pathan" and "Pakhtoon" redirect here. For other uses, see Pathan (disambiguation).
For the Pashtun language, see Pashto.

Pashtuns (/ˈpʌʃˌtʊn/, /ˈpɑːʃˌtʊn/, /ˈpæʃˌtuːn/; Pashto: پښتانه, pəx̌tānə́),[28] also known as Pakhtuns,[29] Pashteens or Pathans,[a] are an Eastern Iranian ethnic group[29] primarily residing in southern and eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan.[33][34] They historically were also referred to as Afghans[b] until the 1970s,[40] after the term's meaning had become a demonym for members of all ethnic groups in Afghanistan.[40][41]

Pashtuns
پښتانه
Pashtun men in southern Afghanistan
Total population
c. 65+ million[1]
Regions with significant populations
 Pakistan40,097,131 (2023)[2]
 Afghanistan21,012,000 (2023)[3] [4]
 India3,200,000 (2018)[5][6][7][8]
 United Arab Emirates338,315 (2009)[9]
 United States138,554 (2010)[10]
 Iran110,000 (1993)[11]
 United Kingdom100,000 (2009)[12]
 Germany37,800 (2012)[13]
 Canada31,700 (2021)[14]
 Russia9,800 (2002)[15]
 Australia8,154 (2006)[16]
 Malaysia6,000 (2008)[17]
 Tajikistan4,000 (1970)[11]
 Finland1,181[18]
Languages
Pashto
Additional: Dari Persian (in Afghanistan) and Hindi–Urdu (in Pakistan and India)[19][20][21]
Religion
Majority:
Islam
(Sunni majority, Shia minority)[22][23]
Minority:
Hinduism (Sheenkhalai),[24][25][26] Sikhism[27]
Related ethnic groups
Other Iranian peoples

The group's native language is Pashto, an Iranian language in the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. Additionally, Dari serves as the second language of Pashtuns in Afghanistan,[42][43][44] while those in the Indian subcontinent speak Urdu and Hindi as their second language.[20][21][19][45]

Pashtuns are the 26th-largest ethnic group in the world, and the largest segmentary lineage society; there are an estimated 350–400 Pashtun tribes and clans with a variety of origin theories.[46][47][48] The total population of the Pashtun people worldwide is estimated to be around 49 million,[1] although this figure is disputed due to the lack of an official census in Afghanistan since 1979.[49] They are the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan and the second-largest ethnic group in Pakistan,[50] constituting around 42 percent of the total Afghan population and around 18.24 percent of the total Pakistani population.[51][52][53][54] In India, significant and historical communities of the Pashtun diaspora exist in the northern region of Rohilkhand as well as in major Indian cities such as Delhi and Mumbai.[55][56][8] A more recent Pashtun diaspora has formed in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf (primarily in the United Arab Emirates) as part of the larger Afghan and Pakistani diaspora in that region.[57]

Geographic distribution

Further information: Pashtun diaspora, Pathans of Kashmir, Pathans of Punjab, and Pathans of Sindh

Afghanistan and Pakistan

See also: Ethnic groups in Afghanistan and Ethnic groups in Pakistan
 
Pashtun-inhabited areas in Pakistan and Afghanistan (including the southern borders of the former Soviet Union, the northeastern borders of Iran, and the northwestern borders of India disputed with Pakistan), in the early 1980s.

Pashtuns are found all over Afghanistan and Pakistan, especially between south of the Hindu Kush, the Indus River or around the Sulaiman Mountains.[33] Big cities with a Pashtuns-majority include Jalalabad, Kandahar, Khost, Kohat, Lashkar Gah, Mardan, Mingora, Peshawar, Quetta, among others. Pashtuns also live in Abbottabad, Farah, Ghazni, Herat, Islamabad, Kabul, Karachi, Kunduz, Lahore, Mazar-i-Sharif, Multan, Rawalpindi, and several other cities.

The city of Karachi in Pakistan is home to the world's largest urban community of Pashtuns.[58]

India

Main article: Pathans in India
Further information: Pathans of Kashmir, Pathans of Punjab, Pathans of Rajasthan, Pathans of Gujarat, Pathans of Uttar Pradesh, Pathans of Bihar, Pathans of Madhya Pradesh, Pathans of Tamil Nadu, and Pathans of Sri Lanka

Pashtuns in India are often commonly referred to as Pathans (the Hindustani word for Pashtun) both by themselves and other ethnic groups of the subcontinent.[59][60][61][62] Some Indians claim descent from Pashtun soldiers who settled in India by marrying local women during the Muslim conquest in the Indian subcontinent.[63] Many Pathans chose to live in the Republic of India after the partition of India and Khan Mohammad Atif, a professor at the University of Lucknow, estimates that "The population of Pathans in India is twice their population in Afghanistan".[64]

Historically, Pashtuns have settled in various cities of India before and during the British Raj in colonial India. These include Bombay (now called Mumbai), Delhi, Calcutta, Rohilkhand, Jaipur and Bangalore.[55][56][8] The settlers are descended from both Pashtuns of present-day Afghanistan and Pakistan (British India before 1947). In some regions in India, they are sometimes referred to as Kabuliwala.[65]

In India significant Pashtun diaspora communities exist.[66][63] While speakers of Pashto in the country only number 21,677 as of 2011, estimates of the ethnic or ancestral Pashtun population in India range from 3,200,000[5][67][68] to 11,482,000[69] to as high as double their population in Afghanistan (approximately 30 million).[70]

The Rohilkhand region of Uttar Pradesh is named after the Rohilla community of Pashtun ancestry. They also live in the states of Maharashtra in central India and West Bengal in eastern India that each have a population of over a million with Pashtun ancestry;[71] both Bombay and Calcutta were primary locations of Pashtun migrants from Afghanistan during the colonial era.[72] There are also populations over 100,000 each in the cities of Jaipur in Rajasthan and Bangalore in Karnataka.[71] Bombay (now called Mumbai) and Calcutta both have a Pashtun population of over 1 million, whilst Jaipur and Bangalore have an estimate of around 100,000. The Pashtuns in Bangalore include the khan siblings Feroz, Sanjay and Akbar Khan, whose father settled in Bangalore from Ghazni.[73]

During the 19th century, when the British were accepting peasants from British India as indentured servants to work in the Caribbean, South Africa and other places, Rohillas who had lost their empire and were unemployed and restless, were sent to places as far as Trinidad, Surinam, Guyana, and Fiji, to work with other Indians on the sugarcane fields and perform manual labour.[74] Many of these immigrants stayed there and formed unique communities of their own. Some of them assimilated with the other South Asian Muslim nationalities to form a common Indian Muslim community in tandem with the larger Indian community, losing their distinctive heritage. Some Pashtuns travelled as far as Australia during the same era.[75]

Today, the Pashtuns are a collection of diversely scattered communities present across the length and breadth of India, with the largest populations principally settled in the plains of northern and central India.[76][77][78] Following the partition of India in 1947, many of them migrated to Pakistan.[76] The majority of Indian Pashtuns are Urdu-speaking communities,[79] who have assimilated into the local society over the course of generations.[79] Pashtuns have influenced and contributed to various fields in India, particularly politics, the entertainment industry and sports.[78]

Iran

Pashtuns are also found in smaller numbers in the eastern and northern parts of Iran.[80] Records as early as the mid-1600s report Durrani Pashtuns living in the Khorasan Province of Safavid Iran.[81] After the short reign of the Ghilji Pashtuns in Iran, Nader Shah defeated the last independent Ghilji ruler of Kandahar, Hussain Hotak. In order to secure Durrani control in southern Afghanistan, Nader Shah deported Hussain Hotak and large numbers of the Ghilji Pashtuns to the Mazandaran Province in northern Iran. The remnants of this once sizable exiled community, although assimilated, continue to claim Pashtun descent.[82] During the early 18th century, in the course of a very few years, the number of Durrani Pashtuns in Iranian Khorasan, greatly increased.[83] Later the region became part of the Durrani Empire itself. The second Durrani king of Afghanistan, Timur Shah Durrani was born in Mashhad.[84] Contemporary to Durrani rule in the east, Azad Khan Afghan, an ethnic Ghilji Pashtun, formerly second in charge of Azerbaijan during Afsharid rule, gained power in the western regions of Iran and Azerbaijan for a short period.[85] According to a sample survey in 1988, 75 percent of all Afghan refugees in the southern part of the Iranian Khorasan Province were Durrani Pashtuns.[86]

In other regions

Further information: Afghan diaspora and Overseas Pakistani

Indian and Pakistani Pashtuns have utilised the British/Commonwealth links of their respective countries, and modern communities have been established starting around the 1960s mainly in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia but also in other commonwealth countries (and the United States). Some Pashtuns have also settled in the Middle East, such as in the Arabian Peninsula. For example, about 300,000 Pashtuns migrated to the Persian Gulf countries between 1976 and 1981, representing 35% of Pakistani immigrants.[87] The Pakistani and Afghan diaspora around the world includes Pashtuns.

Etymology

Ancient historical references: Pashtun

 
Pactyans, present day Pashtunistan. The Oriental Empires about 600 B.C., Historical Atlas by William Shepherd (1923-26)[88][89]

A tribe called Pakthās, one of the tribes that fought against Sudas in the Dasarajna, or "Battle of the Ten Kings", are mentioned in the seventh mandala of the Rigveda, a text of Vedic Sanskrit hymns dated between c. 1500 and 1200 BCE:[90][91]

Together came the Pakthas (पक्थास), the Bhalanas, the Alinas, the Sivas, the Visanins. Yet to the Trtsus came the Ārya's Comrade, through love of spoil and heroes' war, to lead them.

— Rigveda, Book 7, Hymn 18, Verse 7

Heinrich Zimmer connects them with a tribe mentioned by Herodotus (Pactyans) in 430 BCE in the Histories:[92][93][94]

Other Indians dwell near the town of Caspatyrus[Κασπατύρῳ] and the Pactyic [Πακτυϊκῇ] country, north of the rest of India; these live like the Bactrians; they are of all Indians the most warlike, and it is they who are sent for the gold; for in these parts all is desolate because of the sand.

— Herodotus, The Histories, Book III, Chapter 102, Section 1

These Pactyans lived on the eastern frontier of the Achaemenid Arachosia Satrapy as early as the 1st millennium BCE, present-day Afghanistan.[95] Herodotus also mentions a tribe of known as Aparytai (Ἀπαρύται).[96] Thomas Holdich has linked them with the Afridi tribe:[97][98][99]

The Sattagydae, Gandarii, Dadicae, and Aparytae (Ἀπαρύται) paid together a hundred and seventy talents; this was the seventh province

— Herodotus, The Histories, Book III, Chapter 91, Section 4

Joseph Marquart made the connection of the Pashtuns with names such as the Parsiētai (Παρσιῆται), Parsioi (Πάρσιοι) that were cited by Ptolemy 150 CE:[100][101]

"The northern regions of the country are inhabited by the Bolitai, the western regions by the Aristophyloi below whom live the Parsioi (Πάρσιοι). The southern regions are inhabited by the Parsiētai (Παρσιῆται), the eastern regions by the Ambautai. The towns and villages lying in the country of the Paropanisadai are these: Parsiana Zarzaua/Barzaura Artoarta Baborana Kapisa niphanda"

— Ptolemy, 150 CE, 6.18.3-4

Strabo, the Greek geographer, in the Geographica (written between 43 BC to 23 AD) makes mention of the Scythian tribe Pasiani (Πασιανοί), which has also been identified with Pashtuns given that Pashto is an Eastern-Iranian language, much like the Scythian languages:[102][103][104][105][106]

"Most of the Scythians...each separate tribe has its peculiar name. All, or the greatest part of them, are nomades. The best known tribes are those who deprived the Greeks of Bactriana, the Asii, Pasiani, Tochari, and Sacarauli, who came from the country on the other side of the Iaxartes (Syr Darya)"

— Strabo, The Geography, Book XI, Chapter 8, Section 2

This is considered a different rendering of Ptolemy's Parsioi (Πάρσιοι).[105] Johnny Cheung,[107] reflecting on Ptolemy's Parsioi (Πάρσιοι) and Strabo's Pasiani (Πασιανοί) states: "Both forms show slight phonetic substitutions, viz. of υ for ι, and the loss of r in Pasianoi is due to perseveration from the preceding Asianoi. They are therefore the most likely candidates as the (linguistic) ancestors of modern day Pashtuns."[108]

Middle historical references: Afghan

Further information: Afghan (ethnonym)

In the Middle Ages until the advent of modern Afghanistan in the 18th century, the Pashtuns were often referred to as "Afghans".[109] The etymological view supported by numerous noted scholars is that the name Afghan evidently derives from Sanskrit Aśvakan, or the Assakenoi of Arrian, which was the name used for ancient inhabitants of the Hindu Kush.[110] Aśvakan literally means "horsemen", "horse breeders", or "cavalrymen" (from aśva or aspa, the Sanskrit and Avestan words for "horse").[111] This view was propounded by scholars like Christian Lassen,[112] J. W. McCrindle,[113] M. V. de Saint Martin,[114] and É. Reclus,[115][116][117][118][119][120]

 
Bactrian document in the Greek script from the 4th century mentioning the word Afghan (αβγανανο): "To Ormuzd Bunukan from Bredag Watanan, the chief of the Afghans"

The earliest mention of the name Afghan (Abgân) is by Shapur I of the Sassanid Empire during the 3rd century CE,[121] In the 4th century the word "Afghans/Afghana" (αβγανανο) as a reference to a particular people is mentioned in the Bactrian documents found in Northern Afghanistan.[122][123]

"To Ormuzd Bunukan ,from Bredag Watanan ... greetings and homage from ... ) , the ( sotang ( ? ) of Parpaz ( under ) [ the glorious ) yabghu of Hephthal , the chief of the Afghans , ' the judge of Tukharistan and Gharchistan . Moreover , ' a letter [ has come hither ] from you , so I have heard how [ you have ] written ' ' to me concerning ] my health . I arrived in good health , ( and ) ( afterwards ( ? ) ' ' I heard that a message ] was sent thither to you ( saying ) thus : ... look after the farming but the order was given to you thus. You should hand over the grain and then request it from the citizens store: I will not order, so.....I Myself order And I in Respect of winter sends men thither to you then look after the farming, To Ormuzd Bunukan, Greetings"

— the Bactrian documents, 4th century

"because [you] (pl.), the clan of the Afghans, said thus to me:...And you should not have denied? the men of Rob[124] [that] the Afghans took (away) the horses"

— the Bactrian documents, 4th century, Sims-Williams 2007b, pp. 90-91

"[To ...]-bid the Afghan... Moreover, they are in [War]nu(?) because of the Afghans, so [you should] impose a penalty on Nat Kharagan ... ...lord of Warnu with ... ... ...the Afghan... ... "

— the Bactrian documents, 4th century, Sims-Williams 2007b, pp. 90-91

The name Afghan is later recorded in the 6th century CE in the form of "Avagāṇa" [अवगाण][125] by the Indian astronomer Varāha Mihira in his Brihat-samhita.[126][127]

"It would be unfavourable to the people of Chola, the Afghans (Avagāṇa), the white Huns and the Chinese."[127]

— Varāha Mihira, 6th century CE, chapt. 11, verse 61

The word Afghan also appeared in the 982 Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam, where a reference is made to a village, Saul, which was probably located near Gardez, Afghanistan.[128]

"Saul, a pleasant village on a mountain. In it live Afghans".[128]

The same book also speaks of a king in Ninhar (Nangarhar), who had Muslim, Afghan and Hindu wives.[129] In the 11th century, Afghans are mentioned in Al-Biruni's Tarikh-ul Hind ("History of the Indus"), which describes groups of rebellious Afghans in the tribal lands west of the Indus River in what is today Pakistan.[128][130]

Al-Utbi, the Ghaznavid chronicler, in his Tarikh-i Yamini recorded that many Afghans and Khiljis (possibly the modern Ghilji) enlisted in the army of Sabuktigin after Jayapala was defeated.[131] Al-Utbi further stated that Afghans and Ghiljis made a part of Mahmud Ghaznavi's army and were sent on his expedition to Tocharistan, while on another occasion Mahmud Ghaznavi attacked and punished a group of opposing Afghans, as also corroborated by Abulfazl Beyhaqi.[132] It is recorded that Afghans were also enrolled in the Ghurid Kingdom (1148–1215).[133] By the beginning of the Khilji dynasty in 1290, Afghans have been well known in northern India.

Ibn Battuta, when visiting Afghanistan following the era of the Khilji dynasty, also wrote about the Afghans.

"We travelled on to Kabul, formerly a vast town, the site of which is now occupied by Afghans. They hold mountains and defiles and possess considerable strength, and are mostly highwaymen. Their principal mountain is called Kuh Sulayman. It is told that the prophet Sulayman [Solomon] ascended this mountain and having looked out over India, which was then covered with darkness, returned without entering it."[134]

— Ibn Battuta, 1333

Ferishta, a 16th-century Muslim historian writing about the history of Muslim rule in the subcontinent, stated:

He [Khalid bin Abdullah son of Khalid bin Walid] retired, therefore, with his family, and a number of Arab retainers, into the Sulaiman Mountains, situated between Multan and Peshawar, where he took up his residence, and gave his daughter in marriage to one of the Afghan chiefs, who had become a proselyte to Mahomedism. From this marriage many children were born, among whom were two sons famous in history. The one Lodhi, the other Sur; who each, subsequently, became head of the tribes which to this day bear their name. I have read in the Mutla-ul-Anwar, a work written by a respectable author, and which I procured at Burhanpur, a town of Khandesh in the Deccan, that the Afghans are Copts of the race of the Pharaohs; and that when the prophet Moses got the better of that infidel who was overwhelmed in the Red Sea, many of the Copts became converts to the Jewish faith; but others, stubborn and self-willed, refusing to embrace the true faith, leaving their country, came to India, and eventually settled in the Sulimany mountains, where they bore the name of Afghans.[38]

History and origins

Main article: Theories of Pashtun origin
Further information: History of Afghanistan, History of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, History of Balochistan, and History of Indian subcontinent
 
The Arachosia Satrapy and the Pactyan people during the Achaemenid Empire in 500 BCE

The ethnogenesis of the Pashtun ethnic group is unclear but historians have come across references to various ancient peoples called Pakthas (Pactyans) between the 2nd and the 1st millennium BC,[135][136] who may be their early ancestors, and old Iranian tribes that spread throughout the eastern Iranian plateau.[137][138] However, there are many conflicting theories amongst historians and the Pashtuns themselves.[34]

Mohan Lal stated in 1846 that "the origin of the Afghans is so obscure, that no one, even among the oldest and most clever of the tribe, can give satisfactory information on this point."[139] Others have suggested that a single origin of the Pashtuns is unlikely but rather they are a tribal confederation.

"Looking for the origin of Pashtuns and the Afghans is something like exploring the source of the Amazon. Is there one specific beginning? And are the Pashtuns originally identical with the Afghans? Although the Pashtuns nowadays constitute a clear ethnic group with their own language and culture, there is no evidence whatsoever that all modern Pashtuns share the same ethnic origin. In fact it is highly unlikely."[128]

— Vogelsang, 2002

Linguistic origin

 
Sculpture of a Saka warrior in Termez, Uzbekistan

Pashto is generally classified as an Eastern Iranian language.[140][141][142] It shares features with the Munji language, which is the closest existing language to the extinct Bactrian,[143] but also shares features with the Sogdian language, as well as Khwarezmian, Shughni, Sanglechi, and Khotanese Saka.[144]

It is suggested by some that Pashto may have originated in the Badakhshan region and is connected to a Saka language akin to Khotanese.[145] In fact major linguist Georg Morgenstierne has described Pashto as a Saka dialect and many others have observed the similarities between Pashto and other Saka languages as well, suggesting that the original Pashto speakers might have been a Saka group.[146][147] Furthermore Pashto and Ossetian, another Scythian-descending language, share cognates in their vocabulary which other Eastern Iranian languages lack[148] Cheung suggests a common isogloss between Pashto and Ossetian which he explains by an undocumented Saka dialect being spoken close to reconstructed Old Pashto which was likely spoken north of the Oxus at that time.[149] Others however have suggested a much older Iranic ancestor given the affinity to Old Avestan.[150]

Hephthalite (White Hun) theory

Yu. V. Gankovsky, a Soviet historian proposes an Ephthalite origin for the Pashtuns:[151][152]

"The Pashtuns began as a union of largely East-Iranian tribes which became the initial ethnic stratum of the Pashtun ethnogenesis, dates from the middle of the first millennium CE and is connected with the dissolution of the Epthalite (White Huns) confederacy. ... Of the contribution of the Epthalites (White Huns) to the ethnogenesis of the Pashtuns we find evidence in the ethnonym of the largest of the Pashtun tribe unions, the Abdali (Durrani after 1747) associated with the ethnic name of the Epthalites — Abdal. The Siah-posh, the Kafirs (Nuristanis) of the Hindu Kush, called all Pashtuns by a general name of Abdal still at the beginning of the 19th century."

— Gankovsky, History of Afganistan

According to Georg Morgenstierne, the Durrani tribe who were known as the "Abdali" before the formation of the Durrani Empire 1747,[153] might be connected to with the Hephthalites;[154] Aydogdy Kurbanov endorses this view who proposes that after the collapse of the Hephthalite confederacy, Hephthalite likely assimilated into different local populations.[155]

Others draw different conclusions. Ghilji tribe has been connected to the Khalaj people.[156] Following al-Khwarizmi, Josef Markwart claimed the Khalaj to be remnants of the Hephthalite confederacy.[157] The Hephthalites may have been Indo-Iranian,[157] although the view that they were of Turkic Gaoju origin[158] "seems to be most prominent at present".[159] The Khalaj may originally have been Turkic-speaking and only federated with Iranian Pashto-speaking tribes in Medieval times.[160]

However, according to linguist Sims-Williams, archaeological documents do not support the suggestion that the Khalaj were the successors of the Hephthalites,[161] while according to historian V. Minorsky, the Khalaj were "perhaps only politically associated with the Hephthalites."[162]

Anthropology and oral traditions

Theory of Pashtun descent from Israelites

Main article: Theory of Pashtun descent from Israelites

Some anthropologists lend credence to the oral traditions of the Pashtun tribes themselves. For example, according to the Encyclopaedia of Islam, the theory of Pashtun descent from Israelites is traced to Nimat Allah al-Harawi, who compiled a history for Khan-e-Jehan Lodhi in the reign of Mughal Emperor Jehangir in the 17th century.[163] The 13th century Tabaqat-i Nasiri discusses the settlement of immigrant Bani Israel at the end of the 8th century CE in the Ghor region of Afghanistan, settlement attested by Jewish inscriptions in Ghor. Historian André Wink suggests that the story "may contain a clue to the remarkable theory of the Jewish origin of some of the Afghan tribes which is persistently advocated in the Persian-Afghan chronicles."[164] These references to Bani Israel agree with the commonly held view by Pashtuns that when the twelve tribes of Israel were dispersed, the tribe of Joseph, among other Hebrew tribes, settled in the Afghanistan region.[165] This oral tradition is widespread among the Pashtun tribes. There have been many legends over the centuries of descent from the Ten Lost Tribes after groups converted to Christianity and Islam. Hence the tribal name Yusufzai in Pashto translates to the "son of Joseph". A similar story is told by many historians, including the 14th century Ibn Battuta and 16th century Ferishta.[38] However, the similarity of names can also be traced to the presence of Arabic through Islam.[166]

One conflicting issue in the belief that the Pashtuns descend from the Israelites is that the Ten Lost Tribes were exiled by the ruler of Assyria, while Maghzan-e-Afghani says they were permitted by the ruler to go east to Afghanistan. This inconsistency can be explained by the fact that Persia acquired the lands of the ancient Assyrian Empire when it conquered the Empire of the Medes and Chaldean Babylonia, which had conquered Assyria decades earlier. But no ancient author mentions such a transfer of Israelites further east, or no ancient extra-Biblical texts refer to the Ten Lost Tribes at all.[167]

Some Afghan historians have maintained that Pashtuns are linked to the ancient Israelites. Mohan Lal quoted Mountstuart Elphinstone who wrote:

"The Afghan historians proceed to relate that the children of Israel, both in Ghore and in Arabia, preserved their knowledge of the unity of God and the purity of their religious belief, and that on the appearance of the last and greatest of the prophets (Muhammad) the Afghans of Ghore listened to the invitation of their Arabian brethren, the chief of whom was Khauled...if we consider the easy way with which all rude nations receive accounts favourable to their own antiquity, I fear we much class the descents of the Afghans from the Jews with that of the Romans and the British from the Trojans, and that of the Irish from the Milesians or Brahmins."[168]

— Mountstuart Elphinstone, 1841

This theory has been criticised for not being substantiated by historical evidence.[166] Dr. Zaman Stanizai criticises this theory:[166]

"The ‘mythified’ misconception that the Pashtuns are the descendants of the lost tribes of Israel is a fabrication popularized in 14th-century India. A claim that is full of logical inconsistencies and historical incongruities, and stands in stark contrast to the conclusive evidence of the Indo-Iranian origin of Pashtuns supported by the incontrovertible DNA sequencing that the genome analysis revealed scientifically."

— [166]

According to genetic studies Pashtuns have a greater R1a1a*-M198 modal halogroup than Jews:[169]

"Our study demonstrates genetic similarities between Pathans from Afghanistan and Pakistan, both of which are characterized by the predominance of haplogroup R1a1a*-M198 (>50%) and the sharing of the same modal haplotype...Although Greeks and Jews have been proposed as ancestors to Pathans, their genetic origin remains ambiguous...Overall, Ashkenazi Jews exhibit a frequency of 15.3% for haplogroup R1a1a-M198"

— "Afghanistan from a Y-chromosome perspective", European Journal of Human Genetics

Other theories of descent

Some Pashtun tribes claim descent from Arabs, including some claiming to be Sayyids.[170] Some groups from Peshawar and Kandahar believe to be descended from Greeks who arrived with Alexander the Great.[171] According to Firasat et al. 2007, only a small proportion of Pashtuns may descend from Greeks, but they also suggest that Greek ancestry may also have come from Greek slaves brought by Xerxes I.[172]

One historical account connects the Pashtuns to a possible Ancient Egyptian past but this lacks supporting evidence.[173]

Henry Walter Bellew (1864) was of the view that the Pashtuns likely have mixed Greek and Rajput roots.[174][175][176] Following Alexander's brief occupation, the successor state of the Seleucid Empire expanded influence on the Pashtuns until 305 BCE when they gave up dominating power to the Indian Maurya Empire as part of an alliance treaty.[177]

Modern era

See also: Pashtun nationalism
 
Mahmud Hotak, the second ruler of the Hotak dynasty
 
Leader of the non-violent Khudai Khidmatgar, also referred to as "the Red shirts" movement, Bacha Khan, standing with Mohandas Gandhi
 
Afghan Amir Sher Ali Khan (in the center with his son) and his delegation in Ambala, near Lahore, in 1869

Their modern past stretches back to the Delhi Sultanate (Khalji and Lodi dynasty), the Hotak dynasty and the Durrani Empire. The Hotak rulers rebelled against the Safavids and seized control over much of Persia from 1722 to 1729.[178] This was followed by the conquests of Ahmad Shah Durrani who was a former high-ranking military commander under Nader Shah and founder of the Durrani Empire, which covered most of what is now Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kashmir, Indian Punjab, as well as the Kohistan and Khorasan provinces of Iran.[179] After the decline of the Durrani dynasty in the first half of the 19th century under Shuja Shah Durrani, the Barakzai dynasty took control of the empire. Specifically, the Mohamedzais held Afghanistan's monarchy from around 1826 to the end of Zahir Shah's reign in 1973. The Pashtuns in Afghanistan resisted British designs upon their territory and kept the Russians at bay during the so-called "Great Game". By playing the two superpowers against each other, Afghanistan remained an independent sovereign state and maintained some autonomy (see the Siege of Malakand). During the reign of Abdur Rahman Khan (1880–1901), Pashtun regions were politically divided by the Durand Line, and what is today western Pakistan fell within British India as a result of the border. In the 20th century, many politically active Pashtun leaders living under British rule of undivided India supported Indian independence, including Ashfaqulla Khan,[180][181] Abdul Samad Khan Achakzai, Ajmal Khattak, Bacha Khan and his son Wali Khan (both members of the Khudai Khidmatgar), and were inspired by Mohandas Gandhi's non-violent method of resistance.[182][183] Many Pashtuns also worked in the Muslim League to fight for an independent Pakistan through non violent resistance, including Yusuf Khattak and Abdur Rab Nishtar who was a close associate of Muhammad Ali Jinnah.[184]

The Pashtuns of Afghanistan attained complete independence from British political intervention during the reign of Amanullah Khan, following the Third Anglo-Afghan War. By the 1950s a popular call for Pashtunistan began to be heard in Afghanistan and the new state of Pakistan. This led to bad relations between the two nations. The Afghan monarchy ended when President Daoud Khan seized control of Afghanistan from his cousin Zahir Shah in 1973, which opened doors for a proxy war by neighbors and the rise of Marxism. In April 1978, Daoud Khan was assassinated along with his family and relatives. Afghan mujahideen commanders began being recruited in neighboring Pakistan for a guerrilla warfare against the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan - the Marxist government was also dominated by Pashtun Khalqists. In 1979, the Soviet Union invaded its southern neighbor Afghanistan in order to defeat a rising insurgency. The Afghan mujahideen were funded by the United States, Saudi Arabia, China and others, and included some Pashtun commanders such as Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Jalaluddin Haqqani, Mohammad Nabi Mohammadi and Mohammad Yunus Khalis. In the meantime, millions of Pashtuns joined the Afghan diaspora in Pakistan and Iran, and from there tens of thousands proceeded to Europe, North America, Oceania and other parts of the world.[185]

 
American diplomat Zalmay Khalilzad with Taliban officials Abdul Ghani Baradar, Abdul Hakim Ishaqzai, Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai and Suhail Shaheen
 
President Hamid Karzai and Abdul Rahim Wardak
 
From left to right: Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai; Anwar ul-Haq Ahady; and Abdullah Abdullah
 
Imran Khan, Pakistani cricketer-turned-politician and former Prime Minister, belongs to the Niazi tribe.
 
Manzoor Pashteen, leader of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM)

Many high-ranking government officials in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan were Pashtuns, including: Abdul Rahim Wardak, Abdul Salam Azimi, Anwar ul-Haq Ahady, Amirzai Sangin, Ghulam Farooq Wardak, Hamid Karzai, Mohammad Ishaq Aloko, Omar Zakhilwal, Sher Mohammad Karimi, Zalmay Rasoul, Yousef Pashtun. The list of current governors of Afghanistan also include large percentage of Pashtuns. Mullah Yaqoob serves as acting Defense Minister, Sirajuddin Haqqani as acting Interior Minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi as acting Foreign Minister, Gul Agha Ishakzai as acting Finance Minister, and Hasan Akhund as acting Prime Minister. A number of other ministers are also Pashtuns.

The Afghan royal family, which was represented by King Zahir Shah, are referred to Mohammadzais. Other prominent Pashtuns include the 17th-century poets Khushal Khan Khattak and Rahman Baba, and in contemporary era Afghan Astronaut Abdul Ahad Mohmand, former U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, and Ashraf Ghani among many others.

Many Pashtuns of Pakistan and India have adopted non-Pashtun cultures, mainly by abandoning Pashto and using languages such as Urdu, Punjabi, and Hindko.[186] These include Ghulam Mohammad (first Finance Minister, from 1947 to 1951, and third Governor-General of Pakistan, from 1951 to 1955),[187][188][189][190][191] Ayub Khan, who was the second President of Pakistan, Zakir Husain who was the third President of India and Abdul Qadeer Khan, father of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program.

Many more held high government posts, such as Fazal-ur-Rehman, Asfandyar Wali Khan, Mahmood Khan Achakzai, Sirajul Haq, and Aftab Ahmad Sherpao, who are presidents of their respective political parties in Pakistan. Others became famous in sports (e.g., Imran Khan, Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, Younis Khan, Shahid Afridi, Irfan Pathan, Jahangir Khan, Jansher Khan, Hashim Khan, Rashid Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Misbah Ul Haq, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Mohammad Wasim) and literature (e.g., Ghani Khan, Hamza Shinwari, and Kabir Stori). Malala Yousafzai, who became the youngest Nobel Peace Prize recipient in 2014, is a Pakistani Pashtun.

Many of the Bollywood film stars in India have Pashtun ancestry; some of the most notable ones are Aamir Khan, Shahrukh Khan, Salman Khan, Feroz Khan, Madhubala, Kader Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Soha Ali Khan, Sara Ali Khan, and Zarine Khan. In addition, one of India's former presidents, Zakir Husain, belonged to the Afridi tribe.[192][193][194] Mohammad Yunus, India's former ambassador to Algeria and advisor to Indira Gandhi, is of Pashtun origin and related to the legendary Bacha Khan.[195][196][197][198]

In the late 1990s, Pashtuns were the primary ethnic group in the ruling regime i.e. Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (Taliban regime)[199].[200][failed verification] The Northern Alliance that was fighting against the Taliban also included a number of Pashtuns. Among them were Abdullah Abdullah, Abdul Qadir and his brother Abdul Haq, Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, Asadullah Khalid, Hamid Karzai and Gul Agha Sherzai. The Taliban regime was ousted in late 2001 during the US-led War in Afghanistan and replaced by the Karzai administration.[201] This was followed by the Ghani administration and the reconquest of Afghanistan by the Taliban (Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan).

The long wars in Afghanistan have led to Pashtuns gaining a reputation for being exceptional fighters.[202] Some activists and intellectuals are trying to rebuild Pashtun intellectualism and its pre-war culture.[203]

Genetics

According to a study from 2012 called "Afghanistan from a Y-chromosome perspective", the study from a sample size of 190 showed R1a1a-M198 to be the most dominant haplogroup in Pashtuns at 67.4%. In the north, it peaks at 50% while in the south, it peaks at 65.8%.[204] R1a-Z2125 occurs at a frequency of 40% in Pashtuns from Northern Afghanistan.[205] This subclade is also predominantly present among Tajik, Turkmen, Uzbek, and Bashkir ethnic groups,[205] as well as in some populations in the Caucasus and Iran.[206]

Haplogroup G-M201 reaches 14.7% in Afghan Pashtuns and is the second most frequent haplogroup in Pashtuns from southern Afghanistan. It is virtually absent from all other Afghan populations. This haplogroup is reported at high frequencies in the Caucasus and is thought to be associated with the Neolithic expansion throughout the region.[204][207]

Haplogroup L-M20 exhibits substantial disparity in its distribution on either side of the Hindu Kush range, with 25% of Pashtuns from northern Afghanistan belonging to this lineage, compared with only 4.8% of males from the south. Paragroup L3*-M357 accounts for the majority of L-M20 chromosomes among Afghan Pashtuns in both the north and south.[204]

According to a Mitochondrial DNA analysis of four ethnic groups of Afghanistan, the majority of mtDNA among Afghan Pashtuns belongs to West Eurasian lineages, and share a greater affinity with West Eurasian and Central Asian populations rather than to populations of South Asia or East Asia. The haplogroup analysis indicates the Pashtuns and Tajiks share some sort of ancestral heritage. The study also states that among the studied ethnic groups, the Pashtuns have the greatest HVS-I sequence diversity.[208]

Definitions

The most prominent views amongst Pashtuns as to who exactly qualifies as a Pashtun are:[209]

  1. Those who use Pashto as their first language. The Pashto language is "one of the primary markers of ethnic identity" amongst Pashtuns.[210]
  2. Adherence to the code of Pashtunwali.[209][211] The cultural definition requires Pashtuns to adhere to Pashtunwali codes.[212]
  3. Belonging to a Pashtun tribe through patrilineal descent, based on an important orthodox law of Pashtunwali which mainly requires that only those who have a Pashtun father are Pashtun. This definition places less emphasis on the language.[213]

Tribes

Main article: Pashtun tribes
 
A map of Pashtun tribes[214]

A prominent institution of the Pashtun people is the intricate system of tribes.[215] The tribal system has several levels of organisation: the tribe they are in is from four 'greater' tribal groups: the Sarbani, the Bettani, the Gharghashti, and the Karlani.[216] The tribe is then divided into kinship groups called khels, which in turn is divided into smaller groups (pllarina or plarganey), each consisting of several extended families called kahols.[217]

Durrani and Ghilji Pashtuns

Main articles: Durrani and Ghilji

The Durranis and Ghiljis (or Ghilzais) are the two largest groups of Pashtuns, with approximately two-thirds of Afghan Pashtuns belonging to these confederations.[218] The Durrani tribe has been more urban and politically successful, while the Ghiljis are more numerous, more rural, and reputedly tougher. In the 18th century, the groups collaborated at times and at other times fought each other. With a few gaps, Durranis ruled modern Afghanistan continuously until the Saur Revolution of 1978; the new communist rulers were Ghilji.[219]

Tribal allegiances are stronger among the Ghilji, while governance of the Durrani confederation is more to do with cross-tribal structures of land ownership.[218]

Language

Main article: Pashto
See also: Pashto alphabet, Pashto dialects, and Pashto grammar
Further information: Pashto phonology, Wanetsi, Languages of Afghanistan, and Languages of Pakistan

Pashto is the mother tongue of most Pashtuns.[220][221][222] It is one of the two national languages of Afghanistan.[223][224] In Pakistan, although being the second-largest language being spoken,[225] it is often neglected officially in the education system.[226][227][228][229][230][231] This has been criticised as adversely impacting the economic advancement of Pashtuns,[232][233] as students do not have the ability to comprehend what is being taught in other languages fully.[234] Robert Nichols remarks:[235]

The politics of writing Pashto language textbooks in a nationalist environment promoting integration through Islam and Urdu had unique effects. There was no lesson on any twentieth century Pakhtun, especially Abdul Ghaffar Khan, the anti-British, pro-Pakhtun nationalist. There was no lesson on the Pashtun state-builders in nineteenth and twentieth century Afghanistan. There was little or no sampling of original Pashto language religious or historical material.

— Language Policy and Language Conflict in Afghanistan and Its Neighbors, Chapter 8, page 278

Pashto is categorised as an Eastern Iranian language,[236] but a remarkably large number of words are unique to Pashto.[237][238] Pashto morphology in relation to verbs is complex compared to other Iranian languages.[239] In this respect MacKenzie states:[240]

If we compare the archaic structure of Pashto with the much simplified morphology of Persian, the leading modern Iranian language, we see that it stands to its ‘second cousin’ and neighbour in something like the same relationship as Icelandic does to English.

— David Neil MacKenzie

Pashto has a large number of dialects: generally divided into Northern, Southern and Central groups;[241] and also Tarino or Waṇetsi as distinct group.[242][243] As Elfenbein notes: "Dialect differences lie primarily in phonology and lexicon: the morphology and syntax are, again with the exception of Wanetsi, quite remarkably uniform".[244] Ibrahim Khan provides the following classification on the letter ښ: the Northern Western dialect (e.g. spoken by the Ghilzai) having the phonetic value /ç+/, the North Eastern (spoken by the Yusafzais etc.) having the sound /x/, the South Western (spoken by the Abdalis etc.) having /ʂ/ and the South Eastern (spoken by the Kakars etc.) having /ʃ/.[245] He illustrates that the Central dialects, which are spoken by the Karlāṇ tribes, can also be divided on the North /x/ and South /ʃ/ distinction but provides that in addition these Central dialects have had a vowel shift which makes them distinct: for instance /ɑ/ represented by aleph the non-Central dialects becoming /ɔː/ in Banisi dialect.[246]

The first Pashto alphabet was developed by Pir Roshan in the 16th century.[247] In 1958, a meeting of Pashtun scholars and writers from both Afghanistan and Pakistan, held in Kabul, standardised the present Pashto alphabet.[248]

Culture

Main article: Pashtun culture
Further information: Culture of Afghanistan and Culture of Pakistan
See also: Pashtun cuisine and Pashtun clothing
 
Pashtuns prefer wearing their traditional clothes

Pashtun culture is based on Pashtunwali, Islam and the understanding of Pashto language. The Kabul dialect is used to standardize the present Pashto alphabet.[248] Poetry is also an important part of Pashtun culture and it has been for centuries.[249] Pre-Islamic traditions, dating back to Alexander's defeat of the Persian Empire in 330 BC, possibly survived in the form of traditional dances, while literary styles and music reflect influence from the Persian tradition and regional musical instruments fused with localised variants and interpretation. Like other Muslims, Pashtuns celebrate Islamic holidays. Contrary to the Pashtuns living in Pakistan, Nowruz in Afghanistan is celebrated as the Afghan New Year by all Afghan ethnicities.

Pashtunwali

Main article: Pashtunwali

Pashtunwali (Pashto: پښتونولي) refers to an ancient self-governing tribal system that regulates nearly all aspects of Pashtun life ranging from community to personal level. One of the better known tenets is Melmastyā́ (Pashto: مېلمستيا), hospitality and asylum to all guests seeking help. Perceived injustice calls for Badál (Pashto: بدل), swift revenge. Many aspects promote peaceful co-existence, such as Nənawā́te (Pashto: ننواتې), the humble admission of guilt for a wrong committed, which should result in automatic forgiveness from the wronged party. These and other basic precepts of Pashtunwali continue to be followed by many Pashtuns, especially in rural areas.

Another prominent Pashtun institution is the lóya jirgá (Pashto: لويه جرګه) or 'grand council' of elected elders.[250] Most decisions in tribal life are made by members of the jirgá (Pashto: جرګه), which has been the main institution of authority that the largely egalitarian Pashtuns willingly acknowledge as a viable governing body.[251]

Islam

Main articles: Religion in Afghanistan and Religion in Pakistan
 
The tomb of Ahmad Shah Durrani in Kandahar City, which also serves as the Congregational Mosque and contains the sacred cloak that the Islamic prophet Muhammad wore.

The overwhelming majority of Pashtuns adhere to Sunni Islam and belong to the Hanafi school of thought. Small Shia communities exist in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Paktia. The Shias belong to the Turi tribe while the Bangash tribe is approximately 50% Shia and the rest Sunni, who are mainly found in and around Parachinar, Kurram, Hangu, Kohat and Orakzai.[252]

 
Men doing Islamic salat (praying) outside in the open in the Kunar Province of Afghanistan

A legacy of Sufi activity may be found in some Pashtun regions, especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as evident in songs and dances. Many Pashtuns are prominent Ulema, Islamic scholars, such as Maulana Aazam an author of more than five hundred books including Tafasee of the Quran as Naqeeb Ut Tafaseer, Tafseer Ul Aazamain, Tafseer e Naqeebi and Noor Ut Tafaseer etc., as well as Muhammad Muhsin Khan who has helped translate the Noble Quran, Sahih Al-Bukhari and many other books to the English language.[253] A number of Pashtuns are involved in Dawah activities in the United States. One of them is Sheikh Uthman Ibn Farooq, who belongs to the Yusufzai Pashtun tribe. Jamal-al-Din al-Afghani was a 19th-century Islamic ideologist and one of the founders of Islamic modernism. Although his ethnicity is disputed by some, he is widely accepted in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region as well as in the Arab world, as a Pashtun from the Kunar Province of Afghanistan. Like other non Arabic-speaking Muslims, many Pashtuns are able to read the Quran but not understand the Arabic language implicit in the holy text itself. Translations, especially in English, are scarcely understood or distributed. This paradox has contributed to the spread of different versions of religious practices and Wahabism, as well as political Islamism (including movements such as the Taliban) having a key presence in Pashtun society. In order to counter radicalization, the United States began spreading its influence in Pashtun areas.[254][failed verification][255][failed verification] Many Pashtuns want to reclaim their identity from being lumped in with the Taliban and international terrorism, which is not directly linked with Pashtun culture and history.[256]

Lastly, little information is available on non-Muslim as there is limited data regarding irreligious groups and minorities, especially since many of the Hindu and Sikh Pashtuns migrated from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after the partition of India and later, after the rise of the Taliban.[24][257]

There are also Hindu Pashtuns, sometimes known as the Sheen Khalai, who have moved predominantly to India.[258][259] A small Pashtun Hindu community, known as the Sheen Khalai meaning 'blue skinned' (referring to the color of Pashtun women's facial tattoos), migrated to Unniara, Rajasthan, India after partition.[25] Prior to 1947, the community resided in the Quetta, Loralai and Maikhter regions of the British Indian province of Baluchistan.[260][25][26] They are mainly members of the Pashtun Kakar tribe. Today, they continue to speak Pashto and celebrate Pashtun culture through the Attan dance.[260][25]

There is also a minority of Pashtun Sikhs in Tirah, Orakzai, Kurram, Malakand, and Swat. Due to the ongoing insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, some Pashtun Sikhs were internally displaced from their ancestral villages to settle in cities like Peshawar and Nankana Sahib.[27][261][262]

Pashto literature and poetry

Main article: Pashto literature and poetry
 
Mahmud Tarzi, son of Ghulam Muhammad Tarzi, became the pioneer of Afghan journalism for publishing the first newspaper Seraj al Akhbar.[263]

The majority of Pashtuns use Pashto as their native tongue, believed to belong to the Indo-Iranian language family,[264] and is spoken by up to 60 million people.[265][266] It is written in the Pashto-Arabic script and is divided into two main dialects, the southern "Pashto" and the northern "Pukhto". The language has ancient origins and bears similarities to extinct languages such as Avestan and Bactrian.[267] Its closest modern relatives may include Pamir languages, such as Shughni and Wakhi, and Ossetic.[268] Pashto may have ancient legacy of borrowing vocabulary from neighbouring languages including such as Persian and Vedic Sanskrit. Modern borrowings come primarily from the English language.[269]

Fluency in Pashto is often the main determinant of group acceptance as to who is considered a Pashtun. Pashtun nationalism emerged following the rise of Pashto poetry that linked language and ethnic identity. Pashto has national status in Afghanistan and regional status in neighboring Pakistan. In addition to their native tongue, many Pashtuns are fluent in Persian, English and Urdu. Throughout their history, poets, prophets, kings and warriors have been among the most revered members of Pashtun society. Early written records of Pashto began to appear around the 16th century.

The earliest describes Sheikh Mali's conquest of Swat.[270] Pir Roshan is believed to have written a number of Pashto books while fighting with the Mughals. Pashtun scholars such as Abdul Hai Habibi and others believe that the earliest Pashto work dates back to Amir Kror Suri, and they use the writings found in Pata Khazana as proof. Amir Kror Suri, son of Amir Polad Suri, was an 8th-century folk hero and king from the Ghor region in Afghanistan.[271][272] However, this is disputed by several European experts due to lack of strong evidence.

The advent of poetry helped transition Pashto to the modern period. Pashto literature gained significant prominence in the 20th century, with poetry by Ameer Hamza Shinwari who developed Pashto Ghazals.[273] In 1919, during the expanding of mass media, Mahmud Tarzi published Seraj-al-Akhbar, which became the first Pashto newspaper in Afghanistan. In 1977, Khan Roshan Khan wrote Tawarikh-e-Hafiz Rehmatkhani which contains the family trees and Pashtun tribal names. Some notable poets include Abdul Ghani Khan, Afzal Khan Khattak, Ahmad Shah Durrani, Ajmal Khattak, Ghulam Muhammad Tarzi, Hamza Shinwari, Hanif Baktash, Khushal Khan Khattak, Nazo Tokhi, Pareshan Khattak, Rahman Baba, Shuja Shah Durrani, and Timur Shah Durrani.[274][275]

Recently, Pashto literature has received increased patronage, but many Pashtuns continue to rely on oral tradition due to relatively low literacy rates and education. Pashtun society is also marked by some matriarchal tendencies.[276] Folktales involving reverence for Pashtun mothers and matriarchs are common and are passed down from parent to child, as is most Pashtun heritage, through a rich oral tradition that has survived the ravages of time.

Media and arts

Further information: Pashto media, Pashto music, and Pashto cinema
 
Khattak dance in Swat District

Pashto media has expanded in the last decade, with a number of Pashto TV channels becoming available. Two of the popular ones are the Pakistan-based AVT Khyber and Pashto One. Pashtuns around the world, particularly those in Arab countries, watch these for entertainment purposes and to get latest news about their native areas.[277] Others are Afghanistan-based Shamshad TV, Radio Television Afghanistan, and Lemar TV, which has a special children's show called Baghch-e-Simsim. International news sources that provide Pashto programs include BBC Pashto and Voice of America.

Producers based in Peshawar have created Pashto-language films since the 1970s.

Pashtun performers remain avid participants in various physical forms of expression including dance, sword fighting, and other physical feats. Perhaps the most common form of artistic expression can be seen in the various forms of Pashtun dances. One of the most prominent dances is Attan, which has ancient roots. A rigorous exercise, Attan is performed as musicians play various native instruments including the dhol (drums), tablas (percussions), rubab (a bowed string instrument), and toola (wooden flute). With a rapid circular motion, dancers perform until no one is left dancing, similar to Sufi whirling dervishes. Numerous other dances are affiliated with various tribes notably from Pakistan including the Khattak Wal Atanrh (eponymously named after the Khattak tribe), Mahsood Wal Atanrh (which, in modern times, involves the juggling of loaded rifles), and Waziro Atanrh among others. A sub-type of the Khattak Wal Atanrh known as the Braghoni involves the use of up to three swords and requires great skill. Young women and girls often entertain at weddings with the Tumbal (Dayereh) which is an instrument.[278]

Sports

Further information: Sport in Afghanistan and Sport in Pakistan
 
Shahid Afridi, former captain of the Pakistan national cricket team

Both the Afghanistan national cricket team and the Pakistan national cricket team have Pashtun players.[279] One of the most popular sports among Pashtuns is cricket, which was introduced to South Asia during the early 18th century with the arrival of the British. Many Pashtuns have become prominent international cricketers, including Imran Khan, Shahid Afridi, Majid Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Younis Khan,[280] Umar Gul,[281] Junaid Khan,[282] Fakhar Zaman,[283] Mohammad Rizwan,[284] Usman Shinwari, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Wasim and Yasir Shah.[285] Australian cricketer Fawad Ahmed is of Pakistani Pashtun origin who has played for the Australian national team.[286]

Football (soccer) is also one of the most popular sports among Pashtuns. The former captain and now the current assistant coach of the Pakistan national football team, Muhammad Essa, is an ethnic Pashtun. Other sports popular among Pashtuns may include polo, field hockey, volleyball, handball, basketball, golf, track and field, bodybuilding, weightlifting, wrestling, kayaking, horse racing, martial arts, boxing, taekwondo, kick boxing, skateboarding, bowling and chess.

Jahangir Khan and Jansher Khan became professional squash players. Although now retired, they are engaged in promoting the sport through the Pakistan Squash Federation. Maria Toorpakai Wazir is the first female Pashtun squash player. Pakistan also produced other world champions of Pashtun origin: Hashim Khan, Roshan Khan, Azam Khan, Mo Khan and Qamar Zaman.In recent decades Hayatullah Khan Durrani, Pride of Performance legendary caver from Quetta, has been promoting mountaineering, rock climbing and Caving in Balochistan, Pakistan. Mohammad Abubakar Durrani International Canoeing shining star of Pakistan.

Snooker and billiards are played by young Pashtun men, mainly in urban areas where snooker clubs are found. Several prominent international recognized snooker players are from the Pashtun area, including Saleh Mohammed. Although traditionally very less involved in sports than boys, Pashtun girls sometimes play volleyball, basketball, football, and cricket, especially in urban areas.

Makha is a traditional archery sport in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, played with a long arrow (gheshai) having a saucer shaped metallic plate at its distal end, and a long bow.[287] In Afghanistan, some Pashtuns still participate in the ancient sport of buzkashi in which horse riders attempt to place a goat or calf carcass in a goal circle.[288][289][290]

Women

Further information: Women in Afghanistan and Women in Pakistan
 
Queen Soraya of Afghanistan

In Pashtun society there are three levels of women's leadership and legislative authority: the national level, the village level, and the family level. The national level includes women such as Nazo Tokhi, Zarghona Anaa and Malalai of Maiwand. Tokhi was a 17th-century Pashto poet who eventually became the "Mother of Afghan Nationalism" after gaining authority through her poetry and adhering to Pashtunwali. She used Pashtunwali to unite Pashtuns against the Safavids. Her cause was picked up in the early 18th century by Zarghona Anaa.[291]

The lives of Pashtun women vary from those who reside in the ultra-conservative rural areas to those found in urban centres.[292] At the village level, the female village leader is called "qaryadar". Her duties may include witnessing women's ceremonies, mobilising women to practice religious festivals, preparing the female dead for burial, and performing services for deceased women. She also arranges marriages for her own family and arbitrates conflicts for men and women.[291] Though many Pashtun women remain tribal and illiterate, some have completed universities and joined the regular employment world.[292]

 
Madhubala, Indian Bollywood actress and producer
 
Zarine Khan, Indian model and actress in Bollywood films
 
Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani activist for female education and the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize laureate

The decades of war and the rise of the Taliban caused considerable hardship among Pashtun women, as many of their rights have been curtailed by a rigid interpretation of Islamic law. The difficult lives of Afghan female refugees gained considerable notoriety with the iconic image Afghan Girl (Sharbat Gula) depicted on the June 1985 cover of National Geographic magazine.[293]

Modern social reform for Pashtun women began in the early 20th century, when Queen Soraya Tarzi of Afghanistan made rapid reforms to improve women's lives and their position in the family. She was the only woman to appear on the list of rulers in Afghanistan. Credited with having been one of the first and most powerful Afghan and Muslim female activists. Her advocacy of social reforms for women led to a protest and contributed to the ultimate demise of King Amanullah's reign in 1929.[294] In 1942, Madhubala (Mumtaz Jehan), the Marilyn Monroe of India, entered the Bollywood film industry. Bollywood blockbusters of the 1970s and 1980s starred Parveen Babi, who hailed from the lineage of Gujarat's historical Pathan community: the royal Babi Dynasty. Other Indian actresses and models, such as Zarine Khan, continue to work in the industry.[45] Civil rights remained an important issue during the 1970s, as feminist leader Meena Keshwar Kamal campaigned for women's rights and founded the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) in the 1977.[295]

Pashtun women these days vary from the traditional housewives who live in seclusion to urban workers, some of whom seek or have attained parity with men.[292] But due to numerous social hurdles, the literacy rate remains considerably lower for them than for males.[296] Abuse against women is present and increasingly being challenged by women's rights organisations which find themselves struggling with conservative religious groups as well as government officials in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. According to a 1992 book, "a powerful ethic of forbearance severely limits the ability of traditional Pashtun women to mitigate the suffering they acknowledge in their lives."[297]

Despite obstacles, many Pashtun women have begun a process of slow change. A rich oral tradition and resurgence of poetry has inspired many Pashtun women seeking to learn to read and write.[276] Further challenging the status quo, Vida Samadzai was selected as Miss Afghanistan in 2003, a feat that was received with a mixture of support from those who back the individual rights of women and those who view such displays as anti-traditionalist and un-Islamic. Some have attained political office in Afghanistan and Pakistan.[298] A number of Pashtun women are found as TV hosts, journalists and actors.[56] Nigar Johar is a three-star general in the Pakistan Army. Khatol Mohammadzai served as brigadier general in the Afghan Army, another Pashtun female became a fighter pilot in the Pakistan Air Force.[299] Some other notable Pashtun women include Aisha Uqbah Malik, Armeena Khan, Fauzia Gailani, Ghazala Javed, Gulalai Ismail, Gul Panra, Humaira Begum, Laila Khan, Malala Yousafzai, Naghma, Najiba Faiz, Nilofar Bakhtiar, Sana Safi, Bushra Gohar, Shinkai Karokhail, Shukria Barakzai, Suhaila Seddiqi, Tabassum Adnan, Zartaj Gul, Zeenat Karzai, Marina Khan, Neelum Muneer and Mahira Khan.

Pashtun women often have their legal rights curtailed in favour of their husbands or male relatives. For example, though women are officially allowed to vote in Pakistan, some have been kept away from ballot boxes by males.[300] Another tradition that persists is swara (a form of child marriage), which was declared illegal in Pakistan in 2000 but continues in some parts.[301] Substantial work remains for Pashtun women to gain equal rights with men, who remain disproportionately dominant in most aspects of Pashtun society. Human rights organisations continue to struggle for greater women's rights, such as the Afghan Women's Network and the Aurat Foundation in Pakistan which aims to protect women from domestic violence.

Notable people

Main article: List of Pashtun People

Explanatory notes

  1. ^ From Hindi: पठान / Urdu: پٹھان (paṭhān)[30][31][32]
  2. ^ From Persian: افغان (Afğân) or Bactrian: αβγανο (Abgân)[35][36][37][38][39]
  • Note: population statistics for Pashtuns (including those without a notation) in foreign countries were derived from various census counts, the UN, the CIA's The World Factbook and Ethnologue.

References

  1. ^ a b Lewis, Paul M. (2009). "Pashto, Northern". SIL International. Dallas, TX: Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Sixteenth edition. Retrieved 18 September 2010. Ethnic population: 49,529,000 possibly total Pashto in all countries.
  2. ^ "South Asia :: Pakistan – The World Factbook – Central Intelligence Agency". cia.gov. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
  3. ^ "Afghanistan". 11 April 2023.
  4. ^ "Pashto – Worldwide distribution".
  5. ^ a b Ali, Arshad (15 February 2018). "Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan's great granddaughter seeks citizenship for 'Phastoons' in India". Daily News and Analysis. Retrieved 21 February 2019. Interacting with mediapersons on Wednesday, Yasmin, the president of All India Pakhtoon Jirga-e-Hind, said that there were 32 lakh Phastoons in the country who were living and working in India but were yet to get citizenship.
  6. ^ "Frontier Gandhi's granddaughter urges Centre to grant citizenship to Pathans". The News International. 16 February 2018. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  7. ^ Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. "LANGUAGE INDIA, STATES AND UNION TERRITORIES (Table C-16)" (PDF). Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022. Retrieved 31 December 2018. AFGHANI/KABULI/PASHTO 21,677{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ a b c . The Hindu. 20 July 1954. Archived from the original on 9 December 2004. Retrieved 28 November 2012. Over a lakh Pakhtoons living in Jammu and Kashmir as nomad tribesmen without any nationality became Indian subjects on July 17. Batches of them received certificates to this effect from the Kashmir Prime Minister, Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed, at village Gutligabh, 17 miles from Srinagar.
  9. ^ "United Arab Emirates: Demography" (PDF). Encyclopædia Britannica World Data. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022. Retrieved 15 March 2008.
  10. ^ 42% of 200,000 Afghan Americans = 84,000 and 15% of 363,699 Pakistani Americans = 54,554. Total Afghan and Pakistani Pashtuns in USA = 138,554.
  11. ^ a b "Ethnologue report for Southern Pashto: Iran (1993)". SIL International. Ethnologue: Languages of the World. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
  12. ^ Maclean, William (10 June 2009). "Support for Taliban dives among British Pashtuns". Reuters. Retrieved 6 August 2009.
  13. ^ Relations between Afghanistan and Germany 16 January 2017 at the Wayback Machine: Germany is now home to almost 90,000 people of Afghan origin. 42% of 90,000 = 37,800
  14. ^ "Knowledge of languages by age and gender: Canada, provinces and territories, census divisions and census subdivisions". Census Profile, 2021 Census. Statistics Canada Statistique Canada. 7 May 2021. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  15. ^ . perepis2002.ru (in Russian). Archived from the original on 16 January 2017. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
  16. ^ "20680-Ancestry (full classification list) by Sex – Australia" (Microsoft Excel download). 2006 Census. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 2 June 2008. Total responses: 25,451,383 for total count of persons: 19,855,288.
  17. ^ "Pashtuns in malaysia". Northern Pashtuns in Malaysia.
  18. ^ "Väestö 31.12. muuttujina Maakunta, Kieli, Ikä, Sukupuoli, Vuosi ja Tiedot". Tilastokeskuksen PX-Web tietokannat.[permanent dead link]
  19. ^ a b Green, Nile (2017). Afghanistan's Islam: From Conversion to the Taliban. University of California Press. p. 18. ISBN 978-0-520-29413-4. Many of the communities of ethnic Pashtuns (known as Pathans in India) that had emerged in India over the previous centuries lived peaceably among their Hindu neighbors. Most of these Indo-Afghans lost the ability to speak Pashto and instead spoke Hindi and Punjabi.
  20. ^ a b Hakala, Walter N. (2012). "Languages as a Key to Understanding Afghanistan's Cultures" (PDF). National Geographic. Retrieved 13 March 2018. In the 1980s and '90s, at least three million Afghans--mostly Pashtun--fled to Pakistan, where a substantial number spent several years being exposed to Hindi- and Urdu-language media, especially Bollywood films and songs, and being educated in Urdu-language schools, both of which contributed to the decline of Dari, even among urban Pashtuns.
  21. ^ a b Krishnamurthy, Rajeshwari (28 June 2013). "Kabul Diary: Discovering the Indian connection". Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations. Retrieved 13 March 2018. Most Afghans in Kabul understand and/or speak Hindi, thanks to the popularity of Indian cinema in the country.
  22. ^ Williams, Victoria; Taylor, Ken (2017). Etiquette and Taboos around the World: A Geographic Encyclopedia of Social and cultural customs. ABC CLIO. p. 231. ISBN 978-1440838200.
  23. ^ Nyrop, Richard F; Seekins, Donald M (1986). Afghanistan: A Country Study by United States Department of the Army. United States Department of the Army, American University. p. 105. ISBN 9780160239298.
  24. ^ a b Ali, Tariq (2003). The clash of fundamentalisms: crusades, jihads and modernity. Verso. p. 20. ISBN 978-1-85984-457-1. Retrieved 20 April 2008. The friends from Peshawar would speak of Hindu and Sikh Pashtuns who had migrated to India. In the tribal areas – the no man's land between Afghanistan and Pakistan – quite a few Hindus stayed on and were protected by the tribal codes. The same was true in Afghanistan itself (till the mujahidin and the Taliban arrived).
  25. ^ a b c d Haider, Suhasini (3 February 2018). "Tattooed 'blue-skinned' Hindu Pushtuns look back at their roots". The Hindu. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  26. ^ a b Khan, Naimat (30 June 2020). "70 years on, one Pashtun town still safeguards its old Hindu-Muslim brotherhood". Arab News. The meat-eating Hindu Pashtuns are a little known tribe in India even today, with a distinct culture carried forward from Afghanistan and Balochistan which includes blue tattoos on the faces of the women, traditional Pashtun dancing and clothes heavily adorned with coins and embroidery.
  27. ^ a b Eusufzye, Khan Shehram (2018). "Two identities, twice the pride: The Pashtun Sikhs of Nankana Saheb". Pakistan Today. Retrieved 31 May 2020. One can sense a diminutive yet charming cultural amalgamation in certain localities within the town with the settling of around 250 Pashtun Sikh families in the city.
    Ruchi Kumar, The decline of Afghanistan's Hindu and Sikh communities, Al Jazeera, 2017-01-01, "the culture among Afghan Hindus is predominantly Pashtun"
    Beena Sarwar, Finding lost heritage, Himal, 2016-08-03, "Singh also came across many non turban-wearing followers of Guru Nanak in Pakistan, all of Pashtun origin and from the Khyber area."
    Sonia Dhami, Sikh Religious Heritage – My visit to Lehenda Punjab, Indica News, 2020-01-05, "Nankana Sahib is also home to the largest Sikh Pashtun community, many of whom have migrated from the North West Frontier Provinces, renamed Khyber-Pakhtunwa."
    Neha, Pak misusing Durand Line to facilitate terrorists, says Pashtun, Siasat Daily, 2019-09-20, "The members of the Pashtun and Afghan Sikh community living in Europe and UK have gathered in Geneva"
    Sabrina Toppa, Despite border tensions, Indian Sikhs celebrate festival in Pakistan, TRT World, 2019-04-16, "Hasanabdal is home to around 200 Sikh families that have primarily moved from Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, including Pakistan's former tribal areas. The majority are Pashtun Sikhs who abandoned their homes and took refuge near Sikhism's historical sites."
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  30. ^ James William Spain (1963). The Pathan Borderland. Mouton. p. 40. Retrieved 1 January 2012. The most familiar name in the west is Pathan, a Hindi term adopted by the British, which is usually applied only to the people living east of the Durand.
  31. ^ Pathan. World English Dictionary. Retrieved 1 January 2012. Pathan (pəˈtɑːn) — n a member of the Pashto-speaking people of Afghanistan, Western Pakistan, and elsewhere, most of whom are Muslim in religion [C17: from Hindi]
  32. ^ von Fürer-Haimendorf, Christoph (1985). Tribal populations and cultures of the Indian subcontinent. Handbuch der Orientalistik/2,7. Leiden: E. J. Brill. p. 126. ISBN 90-04-07120-2. OCLC 240120731. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
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  41. ^ Tyler, John A. (10 October 2021). Afghanistan Graveyard of Empires: Why the Most Powerful Armies of Their Time Found Only Defeat or Shame in This Land Of Endless Wars. Aries Consolidated LLC. ISBN 978-1-387-68356-7. The largest ethnic group in Afghanistan is that of Pashtuns, who were historically known as the Afghans. The term Afghan is now intended to indicate people of other ethnic groups as well.
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  43. ^ Chiovenda, Andrea (12 November 2019). Crafting Masculine Selves: Culture, War, and Psychodynamics in Afghanistan. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-007355-8. Niamatullah knew Persian very well, as all the educated Pashtuns generally do in Afghanistan
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  45. ^ a b Dalal, Mangal (8 January 2010). . The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 11 February 2010. Retrieved 23 August 2013. She's a Pathan girl who speaks Hindi and Urdu well and was spectacular in the screen test. It was pure luck.
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  60. ^ George Morton-Jack (24 February 2015). The Indian Army on the Western Front South Asia Edition. Cambridge University Press. pp. 3–. ISBN 978-1-107-11765-5. 'Pathan', an Urdu and a Hindi term, was usually used by the British when speaking in English. They preferred it to 'Pashtun', 'Pashtoon', 'Pakhtun' or 'Pukhtun', all Pashtu versions of the same word, which the frontier tribesmen would have used when speaking of themselves in their own Pashtu dialects.
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  82. ^ "ḠILZĪ – Encyclopaedia Iranica". www.iranicaonline.org. Retrieved 4 April 2021. Nāder Shah also defeated the last independent Ḡalzay ruler of Qandahār, Shah Ḥosayn Hotak, Shah Maḥmūd's brother in 1150/1738. Shah Ḥosayn and large numbers of the Ḡalzī were deported to Mazandarān (Marvī, pp. 543-52; Lockhart, 1938, pp. 115-20). The remnants of this once sizable exiled community, although assimilated, continue to claim Ḡalzī Pashtun descent.
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  109. ^ "Pashtun | people". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 3 November 2020. Pashtun...bore the exclusive name of Afghan before that name came to denote any native of the present land area of Afghanistan.
  110. ^ * "The name Afghan has evidently been derived from Asvakan, the Assakenoi of Arrian... " (Megasthenes and Arrian, p 180. See also: Alexander's Invasion of India, p 38; J.W. McCrindle).
    • "Even the name Afghan is Aryan being derived from Asvakayana, an important clan of the Asvakas or horsemen who must have derived this title from their handling of celebrated breeds of horses" (See: Imprints of Indian Thought and Culture Abroad, p 124, Vivekananda Kendra Prakashan).
    • cf: "Their name (Afghan) means "cavalier" being derived from the Sanskrit, Asva, or Asvaka, a horse, and shows that their country must have been noted in ancient times, as it is at the present day, for its superior breed of horses. Asvaka was an important tribe settled north to Kabul river, which offered a gallant resistance but ineffectual resistance to the arms of Alexander "(Ref: Scottish Geographical Magazine, 1999, p 275, Royal Scottish Geographical Society).
    • "Afghans are Assakani of the Greeks; this word being the Sanskrit Ashvaka meaning 'horsemen'" (Ref: Sva, 1915, p 113, Christopher Molesworth Birdwood).
    • Cf: "The name represents Sanskrit Asvaka in the sense of a cavalier, and this reappears scarcely modified in the Assakani or Assakeni of the historians of the expedition of Alexander" (Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian words and phrases, and of kindred terms, etymological..by Henry Yule, AD Burnell).
  111. ^ Majumdar, Ramesh Chandra (1977) [1952]. Ancient India (Reprinted ed.). Motilal Banarsidass. p. 99. ISBN 978-8-12080-436-4.
  112. ^ Indische Alterthumskunde, Vol I, fn 6; also Vol II, p 129, et al.
  113. ^ "The name Afghan has evidently been derived from Asvakan, the Assakenoi of Arrian... " (Megasthenes and Arrian, p 180. See also: Alexander's Invasion of India, p 38; J. W. McCrindle).
  114. ^ Etude Sur la Geog Grecque & c, pp 39-47, M. V. de Saint Martin.
  115. ^ The Earth and Its Inhabitants, 1891, p 83, Élisée Reclus - Geography.
  116. ^ "Even the name Afghan is Aryan being derived from Asvakayana, an important clan of the Asvakas or horsemen who must have derived this title from their handling of celebrated breeds of horses" (See: Imprints of Indian Thought and Culture abroad, p 124, Vivekananda Kendra Prakashan).
  117. ^ cf: "Their name (Afghan) means "cavalier" being derived from the Sanskrit, Asva, or Asvaka, a horse, and shows that their country must have been noted in ancient times, as it is at the present day, for its superior breed of horses. Asvaka was an important tribe settled north to Kabul river, which offered a gallant resistance but ineffectual resistance to the arms of Alexander "(Ref: Scottish Geographical Magazine, 1999, p 275, Royal Scottish Geographical Society).
  118. ^ "Afghans are Assakani of the Greeks; this word being the Sanskrit Ashvaka meaning 'horsemen' " (Ref: Sva, 1915, p 113, Christopher Molesworth Birdwood).
  119. ^ Cf: "The name represents Sanskrit Asvaka in the sense of a cavalier, and this reappears scarcely modified in the Assakani or Assakeni of the historians of the expedition of Alexander" (Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian words and phrases, and of kindred terms, etymological..by Henry Yule, AD Burnell).
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August 22, 2023
pashtuns, pathan, pakhtoon, redirect, here, other, uses, pathan, disambiguation, pashtun, language, pashto, this, article, needs, attention, from, expert, afghanistan, specific, problem, flurry, messy, edits, contested, information, wikiproject, afghanistan, a. Pathan and Pakhtoon redirect here For other uses see Pathan disambiguation For the Pashtun language see Pashto This article needs attention from an expert in Afghanistan The specific problem is Flurry of messy edits and contested information WikiProject Afghanistan may be able to help recruit an expert January 2023 Pashtuns ˈ p ʌ ʃ ˌ t ʊ n ˈ p ɑː ʃ ˌ t ʊ n ˈ p ae ʃ ˌ t uː n Pashto پښتانه pex tane 28 also known as Pakhtuns 29 Pashteens or Pathans a are an Eastern Iranian ethnic group 29 primarily residing in southern and eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan 33 34 They historically were also referred to as Afghans b until the 1970s 40 after the term s meaning had become a demonym for members of all ethnic groups in Afghanistan 40 41 PashtunsپښتانهPashtun men in southern AfghanistanTotal populationc 65 million 1 Regions with significant populations Pakistan40 097 131 2023 2 Afghanistan21 012 000 2023 3 4 India3 200 000 2018 5 6 7 8 United Arab Emirates338 315 2009 9 United States138 554 2010 10 Iran110 000 1993 11 United Kingdom100 000 2009 12 Germany37 800 2012 13 Canada31 700 2021 14 Russia9 800 2002 15 Australia8 154 2006 16 Malaysia6 000 2008 17 Tajikistan4 000 1970 11 Finland1 181 18 LanguagesPashtoAdditional Dari Persian in Afghanistan and Hindi Urdu in Pakistan and India 19 20 21 ReligionMajority Islam Sunni majority Shia minority 22 23 Minority Hinduism Sheenkhalai 24 25 26 Sikhism 27 Related ethnic groupsOther Iranian peoplesThe group s native language is Pashto an Iranian language in the Indo Iranian branch of the Indo European language family Additionally Dari serves as the second language of Pashtuns in Afghanistan 42 43 44 while those in the Indian subcontinent speak Urdu and Hindi as their second language 20 21 19 45 Pashtuns are the 26th largest ethnic group in the world and the largest segmentary lineage society there are an estimated 350 400 Pashtun tribes and clans with a variety of origin theories 46 47 48 The total population of the Pashtun people worldwide is estimated to be around 49 million 1 although this figure is disputed due to the lack of an official census in Afghanistan since 1979 49 They are the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan and the second largest ethnic group in Pakistan 50 constituting around 42 percent of the total Afghan population and around 18 24 percent of the total Pakistani population 51 52 53 54 In India significant and historical communities of the Pashtun diaspora exist in the northern region of Rohilkhand as well as in major Indian cities such as Delhi and Mumbai 55 56 8 A more recent Pashtun diaspora has formed in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf primarily in the United Arab Emirates as part of the larger Afghan and Pakistani diaspora in that region 57 Contents 1 Geographic distribution 1 1 Afghanistan and Pakistan 1 2 India 1 3 Iran 1 4 In other regions 2 Etymology 2 1 Ancient historical references Pashtun 2 2 Middle historical references Afghan 3 History and origins 3 1 Linguistic origin 3 2 Hephthalite White Hun theory 3 3 Anthropology and oral traditions 3 3 1 Theory of Pashtun descent from Israelites 3 3 2 Other theories of descent 4 Modern era 5 Genetics 6 Definitions 6 1 Tribes 6 1 1 Durrani and Ghilji Pashtuns 7 Language 8 Culture 8 1 Pashtunwali 8 2 Islam 8 3 Pashto literature and poetry 8 4 Media and arts 8 5 Sports 8 6 Women 9 Notable people 10 Explanatory notes 11 References 12 Further readingGeographic distributionFurther information Pashtun diaspora Pathans of Kashmir Pathans of Punjab and Pathans of Sindh Afghanistan and Pakistan See also Ethnic groups in Afghanistan and Ethnic groups in Pakistan Pashtun inhabited areas in Pakistan and Afghanistan including the southern borders of the former Soviet Union the northeastern borders of Iran and the northwestern borders of India disputed with Pakistan in the early 1980s Pashtuns are found all over Afghanistan and Pakistan especially between south of the Hindu Kush the Indus River or around the Sulaiman Mountains 33 Big cities with a Pashtuns majority include Jalalabad Kandahar Khost Kohat Lashkar Gah Mardan Mingora Peshawar Quetta among others Pashtuns also live in Abbottabad Farah Ghazni Herat Islamabad Kabul Karachi Kunduz Lahore Mazar i Sharif Multan Rawalpindi and several other cities The city of Karachi in Pakistan is home to the world s largest urban community of Pashtuns 58 India Main article Pathans in IndiaFurther information Pathans of Kashmir Pathans of Punjab Pathans of Rajasthan Pathans of Gujarat Pathans of Uttar Pradesh Pathans of Bihar Pathans of Madhya Pradesh Pathans of Tamil Nadu and Pathans of Sri Lanka Pashtuns in India are often commonly referred to as Pathans the Hindustani word for Pashtun both by themselves and other ethnic groups of the subcontinent 59 60 61 62 Some Indians claim descent from Pashtun soldiers who settled in India by marrying local women during the Muslim conquest in the Indian subcontinent 63 Many Pathans chose to live in the Republic of India after the partition of India and Khan Mohammad Atif a professor at the University of Lucknow estimates that The population of Pathans in India is twice their population in Afghanistan 64 Historically Pashtuns have settled in various cities of India before and during the British Raj in colonial India These include Bombay now called Mumbai Delhi Calcutta Rohilkhand Jaipur and Bangalore 55 56 8 The settlers are descended from both Pashtuns of present day Afghanistan and Pakistan British India before 1947 In some regions in India they are sometimes referred to as Kabuliwala 65 In India significant Pashtun diaspora communities exist 66 63 While speakers of Pashto in the country only number 21 677 as of 2011 estimates of the ethnic or ancestral Pashtun population in India range from 3 200 000 5 67 68 to 11 482 000 69 to as high as double their population in Afghanistan approximately 30 million 70 The Rohilkhand region of Uttar Pradesh is named after the Rohilla community of Pashtun ancestry They also live in the states of Maharashtra in central India and West Bengal in eastern India that each have a population of over a million with Pashtun ancestry 71 both Bombay and Calcutta were primary locations of Pashtun migrants from Afghanistan during the colonial era 72 There are also populations over 100 000 each in the cities of Jaipur in Rajasthan and Bangalore in Karnataka 71 Bombay now called Mumbai and Calcutta both have a Pashtun population of over 1 million whilst Jaipur and Bangalore have an estimate of around 100 000 The Pashtuns in Bangalore include the khan siblings Feroz Sanjay and Akbar Khan whose father settled in Bangalore from Ghazni 73 During the 19th century when the British were accepting peasants from British India as indentured servants to work in the Caribbean South Africa and other places Rohillas who had lost their empire and were unemployed and restless were sent to places as far as Trinidad Surinam Guyana and Fiji to work with other Indians on the sugarcane fields and perform manual labour 74 Many of these immigrants stayed there and formed unique communities of their own Some of them assimilated with the other South Asian Muslim nationalities to form a common Indian Muslim community in tandem with the larger Indian community losing their distinctive heritage Some Pashtuns travelled as far as Australia during the same era 75 Today the Pashtuns are a collection of diversely scattered communities present across the length and breadth of India with the largest populations principally settled in the plains of northern and central India 76 77 78 Following the partition of India in 1947 many of them migrated to Pakistan 76 The majority of Indian Pashtuns are Urdu speaking communities 79 who have assimilated into the local society over the course of generations 79 Pashtuns have influenced and contributed to various fields in India particularly politics the entertainment industry and sports 78 Iran Pashtuns are also found in smaller numbers in the eastern and northern parts of Iran 80 Records as early as the mid 1600s report Durrani Pashtuns living in the Khorasan Province of Safavid Iran 81 After the short reign of the Ghilji Pashtuns in Iran Nader Shah defeated the last independent Ghilji ruler of Kandahar Hussain Hotak In order to secure Durrani control in southern Afghanistan Nader Shah deported Hussain Hotak and large numbers of the Ghilji Pashtuns to the Mazandaran Province in northern Iran The remnants of this once sizable exiled community although assimilated continue to claim Pashtun descent 82 During the early 18th century in the course of a very few years the number of Durrani Pashtuns in Iranian Khorasan greatly increased 83 Later the region became part of the Durrani Empire itself The second Durrani king of Afghanistan Timur Shah Durrani was born in Mashhad 84 Contemporary to Durrani rule in the east Azad Khan Afghan an ethnic Ghilji Pashtun formerly second in charge of Azerbaijan during Afsharid rule gained power in the western regions of Iran and Azerbaijan for a short period 85 According to a sample survey in 1988 75 percent of all Afghan refugees in the southern part of the Iranian Khorasan Province were Durrani Pashtuns 86 In other regions Further information Afghan diaspora and Overseas Pakistani Indian and Pakistani Pashtuns have utilised the British Commonwealth links of their respective countries and modern communities have been established starting around the 1960s mainly in the United Kingdom Canada Australia but also in other commonwealth countries and the United States Some Pashtuns have also settled in the Middle East such as in the Arabian Peninsula For example about 300 000 Pashtuns migrated to the Persian Gulf countries between 1976 and 1981 representing 35 of Pakistani immigrants 87 The Pakistani and Afghan diaspora around the world includes Pashtuns EtymologyAncient historical references Pashtun Pactyans present day Pashtunistan The Oriental Empires about 600 B C Historical Atlas by William Shepherd 1923 26 88 89 A tribe called Pakthas one of the tribes that fought against Sudas in the Dasarajna or Battle of the Ten Kings are mentioned in the seventh mandala of the Rigveda a text of Vedic Sanskrit hymns dated between c 1500 and 1200 BCE 90 91 Together came the Pakthas पक थ स the Bhalanas the Alinas the Sivas the Visanins Yet to the Trtsus came the Arya s Comrade through love of spoil and heroes war to lead them Rigveda Book 7 Hymn 18 Verse 7 Heinrich Zimmer connects them with a tribe mentioned by Herodotus Pactyans in 430 BCE in the Histories 92 93 94 Other Indians dwell near the town of Caspatyrus Kaspatyrῳ and the Pactyic Paktyikῇ country north of the rest of India these live like the Bactrians they are of all Indians the most warlike and it is they who are sent for the gold for in these parts all is desolate because of the sand Herodotus The Histories Book III Chapter 102 Section 1 These Pactyans lived on the eastern frontier of the Achaemenid Arachosia Satrapy as early as the 1st millennium BCE present day Afghanistan 95 Herodotus also mentions a tribe of known as Aparytai Ἀparytai 96 Thomas Holdich has linked them with the Afridi tribe 97 98 99 The Sattagydae Gandarii Dadicae and Aparytae Ἀparytai paid together a hundred and seventy talents this was the seventh province Herodotus The Histories Book III Chapter 91 Section 4 Joseph Marquart made the connection of the Pashtuns with names such as the Parsietai Parsiῆtai Parsioi Parsioi that were cited by Ptolemy 150 CE 100 101 The northern regions of the country are inhabited by the Bolitai the western regions by the Aristophyloi below whom live the Parsioi Parsioi The southern regions are inhabited by the Parsietai Parsiῆtai the eastern regions by the Ambautai The towns and villages lying in the country of the Paropanisadai are these Parsiana Zarzaua Barzaura Artoarta Baborana Kapisa niphanda Ptolemy 150 CE 6 18 3 4 Strabo the Greek geographer in the Geographica written between 43 BC to 23 AD makes mention of the Scythian tribe Pasiani Pasianoi which has also been identified with Pashtuns given that Pashto is an Eastern Iranian language much like the Scythian languages 102 103 104 105 106 Most of the Scythians each separate tribe has its peculiar name All or the greatest part of them are nomades The best known tribes are those who deprived the Greeks of Bactriana the Asii Pasiani Tochari and Sacarauli who came from the country on the other side of the Iaxartes Syr Darya Strabo The Geography Book XI Chapter 8 Section 2 This is considered a different rendering of Ptolemy s Parsioi Parsioi 105 Johnny Cheung 107 reflecting on Ptolemy s Parsioi Parsioi and Strabo s Pasiani Pasianoi states Both forms show slight phonetic substitutions viz of y for i and the loss of r in Pasianoi is due to perseveration from the preceding Asianoi They are therefore the most likely candidates as the linguistic ancestors of modern day Pashtuns 108 Middle historical references Afghan Further information Afghan ethnonym In the Middle Ages until the advent of modern Afghanistan in the 18th century the Pashtuns were often referred to as Afghans 109 The etymological view supported by numerous noted scholars is that the name Afghan evidently derives from Sanskrit Asvakan or the Assakenoi of Arrian which was the name used for ancient inhabitants of the Hindu Kush 110 Asvakan literally means horsemen horse breeders or cavalrymen from asva or aspa the Sanskrit and Avestan words for horse 111 This view was propounded by scholars like Christian Lassen 112 J W McCrindle 113 M V de Saint Martin 114 and E Reclus 115 116 117 118 119 120 Bactrian document in the Greek script from the 4th century mentioning the word Afghan abganano To Ormuzd Bunukan from Bredag Watanan the chief of the Afghans The earliest mention of the name Afghan Abgan is by Shapur I of the Sassanid Empire during the 3rd century CE 121 In the 4th century the word Afghans Afghana abganano as a reference to a particular people is mentioned in the Bactrian documents found in Northern Afghanistan 122 123 To Ormuzd Bunukan from Bredag Watanan greetings and homage from the sotang of Parpaz under the glorious yabghu of Hephthal the chief of the Afghans the judge of Tukharistan and Gharchistan Moreover a letter has come hither from you so I have heard how you have written to me concerning my health I arrived in good health and afterwards I heard that a message was sent thither to you saying thus look after the farming but the order was given to you thus You should hand over the grain and then request it from the citizens store I will not order so I Myself order And I in Respect of winter sends men thither to you then look after the farming To Ormuzd Bunukan Greetings the Bactrian documents 4th century because you pl the clan of the Afghans said thus to me And you should not have denied the men of Rob 124 that the Afghans took away the horses the Bactrian documents 4th century Sims Williams 2007b pp 90 91 To bid the Afghan Moreover they are in War nu because of the Afghans so you should impose a penalty on Nat Kharagan lord of Warnu with the Afghan the Bactrian documents 4th century Sims Williams 2007b pp 90 91 The name Afghan is later recorded in the 6th century CE in the form of Avagaṇa अवग ण 125 by the Indian astronomer Varaha Mihira in his Brihat samhita 126 127 It would be unfavourable to the people of Chola the Afghans Avagaṇa the white Huns and the Chinese 127 Varaha Mihira 6th century CE chapt 11 verse 61 The word Afghan also appeared in the 982 Ḥudud al ʿAlam where a reference is made to a village Saul which was probably located near Gardez Afghanistan 128 Saul a pleasant village on a mountain In it live Afghans 128 The same book also speaks of a king in Ninhar Nangarhar who had Muslim Afghan and Hindu wives 129 In the 11th century Afghans are mentioned in Al Biruni s Tarikh ul Hind History of the Indus which describes groups of rebellious Afghans in the tribal lands west of the Indus River in what is today Pakistan 128 130 Al Utbi the Ghaznavid chronicler in his Tarikh i Yamini recorded that many Afghans and Khiljis possibly the modern Ghilji enlisted in the army of Sabuktigin after Jayapala was defeated 131 Al Utbi further stated that Afghans and Ghiljis made a part of Mahmud Ghaznavi s army and were sent on his expedition to Tocharistan while on another occasion Mahmud Ghaznavi attacked and punished a group of opposing Afghans as also corroborated by Abulfazl Beyhaqi 132 It is recorded that Afghans were also enrolled in the Ghurid Kingdom 1148 1215 133 By the beginning of the Khilji dynasty in 1290 Afghans have been well known in northern India Ibn Battuta when visiting Afghanistan following the era of the Khilji dynasty also wrote about the Afghans We travelled on to Kabul formerly a vast town the site of which is now occupied by Afghans They hold mountains and defiles and possess considerable strength and are mostly highwaymen Their principal mountain is called Kuh Sulayman It is told that the prophet Sulayman Solomon ascended this mountain and having looked out over India which was then covered with darkness returned without entering it 134 Ibn Battuta 1333 Ferishta a 16th century Muslim historian writing about the history of Muslim rule in the subcontinent stated He Khalid bin Abdullah son of Khalid bin Walid retired therefore with his family and a number of Arab retainers into the Sulaiman Mountains situated between Multan and Peshawar where he took up his residence and gave his daughter in marriage to one of the Afghan chiefs who had become a proselyte to Mahomedism From this marriage many children were born among whom were two sons famous in history The one Lodhi the other Sur who each subsequently became head of the tribes which to this day bear their name I have read in the Mutla ul Anwar a work written by a respectable author and which I procured at Burhanpur a town of Khandesh in the Deccan that the Afghans are Copts of the race of the Pharaohs and that when the prophet Moses got the better of that infidel who was overwhelmed in the Red Sea many of the Copts became converts to the Jewish faith but others stubborn and self willed refusing to embrace the true faith leaving their country came to India and eventually settled in the Sulimany mountains where they bore the name of Afghans 38 History and originsMain article Theories of Pashtun origin Further information History of Afghanistan History of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa History of Balochistan and History of Indian subcontinent The Arachosia Satrapy and the Pactyan people during the Achaemenid Empire in 500 BCEThe ethnogenesis of the Pashtun ethnic group is unclear but historians have come across references to various ancient peoples called Pakthas Pactyans between the 2nd and the 1st millennium BC 135 136 who may be their early ancestors and old Iranian tribes that spread throughout the eastern Iranian plateau 137 138 However there are many conflicting theories amongst historians and the Pashtuns themselves 34 Mohan Lal stated in 1846 that the origin of the Afghans is so obscure that no one even among the oldest and most clever of the tribe can give satisfactory information on this point 139 Others have suggested that a single origin of the Pashtuns is unlikely but rather they are a tribal confederation Looking for the origin of Pashtuns and the Afghans is something like exploring the source of the Amazon Is there one specific beginning And are the Pashtuns originally identical with the Afghans Although the Pashtuns nowadays constitute a clear ethnic group with their own language and culture there is no evidence whatsoever that all modern Pashtuns share the same ethnic origin In fact it is highly unlikely 128 Vogelsang 2002 Linguistic origin Sculpture of a Saka warrior in Termez UzbekistanPashto is generally classified as an Eastern Iranian language 140 141 142 It shares features with the Munji language which is the closest existing language to the extinct Bactrian 143 but also shares features with the Sogdian language as well as Khwarezmian Shughni Sanglechi and Khotanese Saka 144 It is suggested by some that Pashto may have originated in the Badakhshan region and is connected to a Saka language akin to Khotanese 145 In fact major linguist Georg Morgenstierne has described Pashto as a Saka dialect and many others have observed the similarities between Pashto and other Saka languages as well suggesting that the original Pashto speakers might have been a Saka group 146 147 Furthermore Pashto and Ossetian another Scythian descending language share cognates in their vocabulary which other Eastern Iranian languages lack 148 Cheung suggests a common isogloss between Pashto and Ossetian which he explains by an undocumented Saka dialect being spoken close to reconstructed Old Pashto which was likely spoken north of the Oxus at that time 149 Others however have suggested a much older Iranic ancestor given the affinity to Old Avestan 150 Hephthalite White Hun theory Yu V Gankovsky a Soviet historian proposes an Ephthalite origin for the Pashtuns 151 152 The Pashtuns began as a union of largely East Iranian tribes which became the initial ethnic stratum of the Pashtun ethnogenesis dates from the middle of the first millennium CE and is connected with the dissolution of the Epthalite White Huns confederacy Of the contribution of the Epthalites White Huns to the ethnogenesis of the Pashtuns we find evidence in the ethnonym of the largest of the Pashtun tribe unions the Abdali Durrani after 1747 associated with the ethnic name of the Epthalites Abdal The Siah posh the Kafirs Nuristanis of the Hindu Kush called all Pashtuns by a general name of Abdal still at the beginning of the 19th century Gankovsky History of Afganistan According to Georg Morgenstierne the Durrani tribe who were known as the Abdali before the formation of the Durrani Empire 1747 153 might be connected to with the Hephthalites 154 Aydogdy Kurbanov endorses this view who proposes that after the collapse of the Hephthalite confederacy Hephthalite likely assimilated into different local populations 155 Others draw different conclusions Ghilji tribe has been connected to the Khalaj people 156 Following al Khwarizmi Josef Markwart claimed the Khalaj to be remnants of the Hephthalite confederacy 157 The Hephthalites may have been Indo Iranian 157 although the view that they were of Turkic Gaoju origin 158 seems to be most prominent at present 159 The Khalaj may originally have been Turkic speaking and only federated with Iranian Pashto speaking tribes in Medieval times 160 However according to linguist Sims Williams archaeological documents do not support the suggestion that the Khalaj were the successors of the Hephthalites 161 while according to historian V Minorsky the Khalaj were perhaps only politically associated with the Hephthalites 162 Anthropology and oral traditions Theory of Pashtun descent from Israelites Main article Theory of Pashtun descent from Israelites Some anthropologists lend credence to the oral traditions of the Pashtun tribes themselves For example according to the Encyclopaedia of Islam the theory of Pashtun descent from Israelites is traced to Nimat Allah al Harawi who compiled a history for Khan e Jehan Lodhi in the reign of Mughal Emperor Jehangir in the 17th century 163 The 13th century Tabaqat i Nasiri discusses the settlement of immigrant Bani Israel at the end of the 8th century CE in the Ghor region of Afghanistan settlement attested by Jewish inscriptions in Ghor Historian Andre Wink suggests that the story may contain a clue to the remarkable theory of the Jewish origin of some of the Afghan tribes which is persistently advocated in the Persian Afghan chronicles 164 These references to Bani Israel agree with the commonly held view by Pashtuns that when the twelve tribes of Israel were dispersed the tribe of Joseph among other Hebrew tribes settled in the Afghanistan region 165 This oral tradition is widespread among the Pashtun tribes There have been many legends over the centuries of descent from the Ten Lost Tribes after groups converted to Christianity and Islam Hence the tribal name Yusufzai in Pashto translates to the son of Joseph A similar story is told by many historians including the 14th century Ibn Battuta and 16th century Ferishta 38 However the similarity of names can also be traced to the presence of Arabic through Islam 166 One conflicting issue in the belief that the Pashtuns descend from the Israelites is that the Ten Lost Tribes were exiled by the ruler of Assyria while Maghzan e Afghani says they were permitted by the ruler to go east to Afghanistan This inconsistency can be explained by the fact that Persia acquired the lands of the ancient Assyrian Empire when it conquered the Empire of the Medes and Chaldean Babylonia which had conquered Assyria decades earlier But no ancient author mentions such a transfer of Israelites further east or no ancient extra Biblical texts refer to the Ten Lost Tribes at all 167 Some Afghan historians have maintained that Pashtuns are linked to the ancient Israelites Mohan Lal quoted Mountstuart Elphinstone who wrote The Afghan historians proceed to relate that the children of Israel both in Ghore and in Arabia preserved their knowledge of the unity of God and the purity of their religious belief and that on the appearance of the last and greatest of the prophets Muhammad the Afghans of Ghore listened to the invitation of their Arabian brethren the chief of whom was Khauled if we consider the easy way with which all rude nations receive accounts favourable to their own antiquity I fear we much class the descents of the Afghans from the Jews with that of the Romans and the British from the Trojans and that of the Irish from the Milesians or Brahmins 168 Mountstuart Elphinstone 1841 This theory has been criticised for not being substantiated by historical evidence 166 Dr Zaman Stanizai criticises this theory 166 The mythified misconception that the Pashtuns are the descendants of the lost tribes of Israel is a fabrication popularized in 14th century India A claim that is full of logical inconsistencies and historical incongruities and stands in stark contrast to the conclusive evidence of the Indo Iranian origin of Pashtuns supported by the incontrovertible DNA sequencing that the genome analysis revealed scientifically 166 According to genetic studies Pashtuns have a greater R1a1a M198 modal halogroup than Jews 169 Our study demonstrates genetic similarities between Pathans from Afghanistan and Pakistan both of which are characterized by the predominance of haplogroup R1a1a M198 gt 50 and the sharing of the same modal haplotype Although Greeks and Jews have been proposed as ancestors to Pathans their genetic origin remains ambiguous Overall Ashkenazi Jews exhibit a frequency of 15 3 for haplogroup R1a1a M198 Afghanistan from a Y chromosome perspective European Journal of Human Genetics Other theories of descent Some Pashtun tribes claim descent from Arabs including some claiming to be Sayyids 170 Some groups from Peshawar and Kandahar believe to be descended from Greeks who arrived with Alexander the Great 171 According to Firasat et al 2007 only a small proportion of Pashtuns may descend from Greeks but they also suggest that Greek ancestry may also have come from Greek slaves brought by Xerxes I 172 One historical account connects the Pashtuns to a possible Ancient Egyptian past but this lacks supporting evidence 173 Henry Walter Bellew 1864 was of the view that the Pashtuns likely have mixed Greek and Rajput roots 174 175 176 Following Alexander s brief occupation the successor state of the Seleucid Empire expanded influence on the Pashtuns until 305 BCE when they gave up dominating power to the Indian Maurya Empire as part of an alliance treaty 177 Modern eraSee also Pashtun nationalism Mahmud Hotak the second ruler of the Hotak dynasty Leader of the non violent Khudai Khidmatgar also referred to as the Red shirts movement Bacha Khan standing with Mohandas Gandhi Afghan Amir Sher Ali Khan in the center with his son and his delegation in Ambala near Lahore in 1869Their modern past stretches back to the Delhi Sultanate Khalji and Lodi dynasty the Hotak dynasty and the Durrani Empire The Hotak rulers rebelled against the Safavids and seized control over much of Persia from 1722 to 1729 178 This was followed by the conquests of Ahmad Shah Durrani who was a former high ranking military commander under Nader Shah and founder of the Durrani Empire which covered most of what is now Afghanistan Pakistan Kashmir Indian Punjab as well as the Kohistan and Khorasan provinces of Iran 179 After the decline of the Durrani dynasty in the first half of the 19th century under Shuja Shah Durrani the Barakzai dynasty took control of the empire Specifically the Mohamedzais held Afghanistan s monarchy from around 1826 to the end of Zahir Shah s reign in 1973 The Pashtuns in Afghanistan resisted British designs upon their territory and kept the Russians at bay during the so called Great Game By playing the two superpowers against each other Afghanistan remained an independent sovereign state and maintained some autonomy see the Siege of Malakand During the reign of Abdur Rahman Khan 1880 1901 Pashtun regions were politically divided by the Durand Line and what is today western Pakistan fell within British India as a result of the border In the 20th century many politically active Pashtun leaders living under British rule of undivided India supported Indian independence including Ashfaqulla Khan 180 181 Abdul Samad Khan Achakzai Ajmal Khattak Bacha Khan and his son Wali Khan both members of the Khudai Khidmatgar and were inspired by Mohandas Gandhi s non violent method of resistance 182 183 Many Pashtuns also worked in the Muslim League to fight for an independent Pakistan through non violent resistance including Yusuf Khattak and Abdur Rab Nishtar who was a close associate of Muhammad Ali Jinnah 184 The Pashtuns of Afghanistan attained complete independence from British political intervention during the reign of Amanullah Khan following the Third Anglo Afghan War By the 1950s a popular call for Pashtunistan began to be heard in Afghanistan and the new state of Pakistan This led to bad relations between the two nations The Afghan monarchy ended when President Daoud Khan seized control of Afghanistan from his cousin Zahir Shah in 1973 which opened doors for a proxy war by neighbors and the rise of Marxism In April 1978 Daoud Khan was assassinated along with his family and relatives Afghan mujahideen commanders began being recruited in neighboring Pakistan for a guerrilla warfare against the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan the Marxist government was also dominated by Pashtun Khalqists In 1979 the Soviet Union invaded its southern neighbor Afghanistan in order to defeat a rising insurgency The Afghan mujahideen were funded by the United States Saudi Arabia China and others and included some Pashtun commanders such as Abdul Rasul Sayyaf Gulbuddin Hekmatyar Jalaluddin Haqqani Mohammad Nabi Mohammadi and Mohammad Yunus Khalis In the meantime millions of Pashtuns joined the Afghan diaspora in Pakistan and Iran and from there tens of thousands proceeded to Europe North America Oceania and other parts of the world 185 American diplomat Zalmay Khalilzad with Taliban officials Abdul Ghani Baradar Abdul Hakim Ishaqzai Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai and Suhail Shaheen President Hamid Karzai and Abdul Rahim Wardak From left to right Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai Anwar ul Haq Ahady and Abdullah Abdullah Imran Khan Pakistani cricketer turned politician and former Prime Minister belongs to the Niazi tribe Manzoor Pashteen leader of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement PTM Many high ranking government officials in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan were Pashtuns including Abdul Rahim Wardak Abdul Salam Azimi Anwar ul Haq Ahady Amirzai Sangin Ghulam Farooq Wardak Hamid Karzai Mohammad Ishaq Aloko Omar Zakhilwal Sher Mohammad Karimi Zalmay Rasoul Yousef Pashtun The list of current governors of Afghanistan also include large percentage of Pashtuns Mullah Yaqoob serves as acting Defense Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani as acting Interior Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi as acting Foreign Minister Gul Agha Ishakzai as acting Finance Minister and Hasan Akhund as acting Prime Minister A number of other ministers are also Pashtuns The Afghan royal family which was represented by King Zahir Shah are referred to Mohammadzais Other prominent Pashtuns include the 17th century poets Khushal Khan Khattak and Rahman Baba and in contemporary era Afghan Astronaut Abdul Ahad Mohmand former U S Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and Ashraf Ghani among many others Many Pashtuns of Pakistan and India have adopted non Pashtun cultures mainly by abandoning Pashto and using languages such as Urdu Punjabi and Hindko 186 These include Ghulam Mohammad first Finance Minister from 1947 to 1951 and third Governor General of Pakistan from 1951 to 1955 187 188 189 190 191 Ayub Khan who was the second President of Pakistan Zakir Husain who was the third President of India and Abdul Qadeer Khan father of Pakistan s nuclear weapons program Many more held high government posts such as Fazal ur Rehman Asfandyar Wali Khan Mahmood Khan Achakzai Sirajul Haq and Aftab Ahmad Sherpao who are presidents of their respective political parties in Pakistan Others became famous in sports e g Imran Khan Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi Younis Khan Shahid Afridi Irfan Pathan Jahangir Khan Jansher Khan Hashim Khan Rashid Khan Shaheen Afridi Naseem Shah Misbah Ul Haq Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Mohammad Wasim and literature e g Ghani Khan Hamza Shinwari and Kabir Stori Malala Yousafzai who became the youngest Nobel Peace Prize recipient in 2014 is a Pakistani Pashtun Many of the Bollywood film stars in India have Pashtun ancestry some of the most notable ones are Aamir Khan Shahrukh Khan Salman Khan Feroz Khan Madhubala Kader Khan Saif Ali Khan Soha Ali Khan Sara Ali Khan and Zarine Khan In addition one of India s former presidents Zakir Husain belonged to the Afridi tribe 192 193 194 Mohammad Yunus India s former ambassador to Algeria and advisor to Indira Gandhi is of Pashtun origin and related to the legendary Bacha Khan 195 196 197 198 In the late 1990s Pashtuns were the primary ethnic group in the ruling regime i e Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan Taliban regime 199 200 failed verification The Northern Alliance that was fighting against the Taliban also included a number of Pashtuns Among them were Abdullah Abdullah Abdul Qadir and his brother Abdul Haq Abdul Rasul Sayyaf Asadullah Khalid Hamid Karzai and Gul Agha Sherzai The Taliban regime was ousted in late 2001 during the US led War in Afghanistan and replaced by the Karzai administration 201 This was followed by the Ghani administration and the reconquest of Afghanistan by the Taliban Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan The long wars in Afghanistan have led to Pashtuns gaining a reputation for being exceptional fighters 202 Some activists and intellectuals are trying to rebuild Pashtun intellectualism and its pre war culture 203 GeneticsAccording to a study from 2012 called Afghanistan from a Y chromosome perspective the study from a sample size of 190 showed R1a1a M198 to be the most dominant haplogroup in Pashtuns at 67 4 In the north it peaks at 50 while in the south it peaks at 65 8 204 R1a Z2125 occurs at a frequency of 40 in Pashtuns from Northern Afghanistan 205 This subclade is also predominantly present among Tajik Turkmen Uzbek and Bashkir ethnic groups 205 as well as in some populations in the Caucasus and Iran 206 Haplogroup G M201 reaches 14 7 in Afghan Pashtuns and is the second most frequent haplogroup in Pashtuns from southern Afghanistan It is virtually absent from all other Afghan populations This haplogroup is reported at high frequencies in the Caucasus and is thought to be associated with the Neolithic expansion throughout the region 204 207 Haplogroup L M20 exhibits substantial disparity in its distribution on either side of the Hindu Kush range with 25 of Pashtuns from northern Afghanistan belonging to this lineage compared with only 4 8 of males from the south Paragroup L3 M357 accounts for the majority of L M20 chromosomes among Afghan Pashtuns in both the north and south 204 According to a Mitochondrial DNA analysis of four ethnic groups of Afghanistan the majority of mtDNA among Afghan Pashtuns belongs to West Eurasian lineages and share a greater affinity with West Eurasian and Central Asian populations rather than to populations of South Asia or East Asia The haplogroup analysis indicates the Pashtuns and Tajiks share some sort of ancestral heritage The study also states that among the studied ethnic groups the Pashtuns have the greatest HVS I sequence diversity 208 DefinitionsThe most prominent views amongst Pashtuns as to who exactly qualifies as a Pashtun are 209 Those who use Pashto as their first language The Pashto language is one of the primary markers of ethnic identity amongst Pashtuns 210 Adherence to the code of Pashtunwali 209 211 The cultural definition requires Pashtuns to adhere to Pashtunwali codes 212 Belonging to a Pashtun tribe through patrilineal descent based on an important orthodox law of Pashtunwali which mainly requires that only those who have a Pashtun father are Pashtun This definition places less emphasis on the language 213 Tribes Main article Pashtun tribes A map of Pashtun tribes 214 A prominent institution of the Pashtun people is the intricate system of tribes 215 The tribal system has several levels of organisation the tribe they are in is from four greater tribal groups the Sarbani the Bettani the Gharghashti and the Karlani 216 The tribe is then divided into kinship groups called khels which in turn is divided into smaller groups pllarina or plarganey each consisting of several extended families called kahols 217 Durrani and Ghilji Pashtuns Main articles Durrani and Ghilji The Durranis and Ghiljis or Ghilzais are the two largest groups of Pashtuns with approximately two thirds of Afghan Pashtuns belonging to these confederations 218 The Durrani tribe has been more urban and politically successful while the Ghiljis are more numerous more rural and reputedly tougher In the 18th century the groups collaborated at times and at other times fought each other With a few gaps Durranis ruled modern Afghanistan continuously until the Saur Revolution of 1978 the new communist rulers were Ghilji 219 Tribal allegiances are stronger among the Ghilji while governance of the Durrani confederation is more to do with cross tribal structures of land ownership 218 LanguageMain article Pashto See also Pashto alphabet Pashto dialects and Pashto grammar Further information Pashto phonology Wanetsi Languages of Afghanistan and Languages of Pakistan Pashto is the mother tongue of most Pashtuns 220 221 222 It is one of the two national languages of Afghanistan 223 224 In Pakistan although being the second largest language being spoken 225 it is often neglected officially in the education system 226 227 228 229 230 231 This has been criticised as adversely impacting the economic advancement of Pashtuns 232 233 as students do not have the ability to comprehend what is being taught in other languages fully 234 Robert Nichols remarks 235 The politics of writing Pashto language textbooks in a nationalist environment promoting integration through Islam and Urdu had unique effects There was no lesson on any twentieth century Pakhtun especially Abdul Ghaffar Khan the anti British pro Pakhtun nationalist There was no lesson on the Pashtun state builders in nineteenth and twentieth century Afghanistan There was little or no sampling of original Pashto language religious or historical material Language Policy and Language Conflict in Afghanistan and Its Neighbors Chapter 8 page 278 Pashto is categorised as an Eastern Iranian language 236 but a remarkably large number of words are unique to Pashto 237 238 Pashto morphology in relation to verbs is complex compared to other Iranian languages 239 In this respect MacKenzie states 240 If we compare the archaic structure of Pashto with the much simplified morphology of Persian the leading modern Iranian language we see that it stands to its second cousin and neighbour in something like the same relationship as Icelandic does to English David Neil MacKenzie Pashto has a large number of dialects generally divided into Northern Southern and Central groups 241 and also Tarino or Waṇetsi as distinct group 242 243 As Elfenbein notes Dialect differences lie primarily in phonology and lexicon the morphology and syntax are again with the exception of Wanetsi quite remarkably uniform 244 Ibrahim Khan provides the following classification on the letter ښ the Northern Western dialect e g spoken by the Ghilzai having the phonetic value c the North Eastern spoken by the Yusafzais etc having the sound x the South Western spoken by the Abdalis etc having ʂ and the South Eastern spoken by the Kakars etc having ʃ 245 He illustrates that the Central dialects which are spoken by the Karlaṇ tribes can also be divided on the North x and South ʃ distinction but provides that in addition these Central dialects have had a vowel shift which makes them distinct for instance ɑ represented by aleph the non Central dialects becoming ɔː in Banisi dialect 246 The first Pashto alphabet was developed by Pir Roshan in the 16th century 247 In 1958 a meeting of Pashtun scholars and writers from both Afghanistan and Pakistan held in Kabul standardised the present Pashto alphabet 248 CultureMain article Pashtun culture Further information Culture of Afghanistan and Culture of Pakistan See also Pashtun cuisine and Pashtun clothing Pashtuns prefer wearing their traditional clothesPashtun culture is based on Pashtunwali Islam and the understanding of Pashto language The Kabul dialect is used to standardize the present Pashto alphabet 248 Poetry is also an important part of Pashtun culture and it has been for centuries 249 Pre Islamic traditions dating back to Alexander s defeat of the Persian Empire in 330 BC possibly survived in the form of traditional dances while literary styles and music reflect influence from the Persian tradition and regional musical instruments fused with localised variants and interpretation Like other Muslims Pashtuns celebrate Islamic holidays Contrary to the Pashtuns living in Pakistan Nowruz in Afghanistan is celebrated as the Afghan New Year by all Afghan ethnicities Pashtunwali Main article Pashtunwali Pashtunwali Pashto پښتونولي refers to an ancient self governing tribal system that regulates nearly all aspects of Pashtun life ranging from community to personal level One of the better known tenets is Melmastya Pashto مېلمستيا hospitality and asylum to all guests seeking help Perceived injustice calls for Badal Pashto بدل swift revenge Many aspects promote peaceful co existence such as Nenawa te Pashto ننواتې the humble admission of guilt for a wrong committed which should result in automatic forgiveness from the wronged party These and other basic precepts of Pashtunwali continue to be followed by many Pashtuns especially in rural areas Another prominent Pashtun institution is the loya jirga Pashto لويه جرګه or grand council of elected elders 250 Most decisions in tribal life are made by members of the jirga Pashto جرګه which has been the main institution of authority that the largely egalitarian Pashtuns willingly acknowledge as a viable governing body 251 Islam Main articles Religion in Afghanistan and Religion in Pakistan The tomb of Ahmad Shah Durrani in Kandahar City which also serves as the Congregational Mosque and contains the sacred cloak that the Islamic prophet Muhammad wore The overwhelming majority of Pashtuns adhere to Sunni Islam and belong to the Hanafi school of thought Small Shia communities exist in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Paktia The Shias belong to the Turi tribe while the Bangash tribe is approximately 50 Shia and the rest Sunni who are mainly found in and around Parachinar Kurram Hangu Kohat and Orakzai 252 Men doing Islamic salat praying outside in the open in the Kunar Province of AfghanistanA legacy of Sufi activity may be found in some Pashtun regions especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as evident in songs and dances Many Pashtuns are prominent Ulema Islamic scholars such as Maulana Aazam an author of more than five hundred books including Tafasee of the Quran as Naqeeb Ut Tafaseer Tafseer Ul Aazamain Tafseer e Naqeebi and Noor Ut Tafaseer etc as well as Muhammad Muhsin Khan who has helped translate the Noble Quran Sahih Al Bukhari and many other books to the English language 253 A number of Pashtuns are involved in Dawah activities in the United States One of them is Sheikh Uthman Ibn Farooq who belongs to the Yusufzai Pashtun tribe Jamal al Din al Afghani was a 19th century Islamic ideologist and one of the founders of Islamic modernism Although his ethnicity is disputed by some he is widely accepted in the Afghanistan Pakistan region as well as in the Arab world as a Pashtun from the Kunar Province of Afghanistan Like other non Arabic speaking Muslims many Pashtuns are able to read the Quran but not understand the Arabic language implicit in the holy text itself Translations especially in English are scarcely understood or distributed This paradox has contributed to the spread of different versions of religious practices and Wahabism as well as political Islamism including movements such as the Taliban having a key presence in Pashtun society In order to counter radicalization the United States began spreading its influence in Pashtun areas 254 failed verification 255 failed verification Many Pashtuns want to reclaim their identity from being lumped in with the Taliban and international terrorism which is not directly linked with Pashtun culture and history 256 Lastly little information is available on non Muslim as there is limited data regarding irreligious groups and minorities especially since many of the Hindu and Sikh Pashtuns migrated from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after the partition of India and later after the rise of the Taliban 24 257 There are also Hindu Pashtuns sometimes known as the Sheen Khalai who have moved predominantly to India 258 259 A small Pashtun Hindu community known as the Sheen Khalai meaning blue skinned referring to the color of Pashtun women s facial tattoos migrated to Unniara Rajasthan India after partition 25 Prior to 1947 the community resided in the Quetta Loralai and Maikhter regions of the British Indian province of Baluchistan 260 25 26 They are mainly members of the Pashtun Kakar tribe Today they continue to speak Pashto and celebrate Pashtun culture through the Attan dance 260 25 There is also a minority of Pashtun Sikhs in Tirah Orakzai Kurram Malakand and Swat Due to the ongoing insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa some Pashtun Sikhs were internally displaced from their ancestral villages to settle in cities like Peshawar and Nankana Sahib 27 261 262 Pashto literature and poetry Main article Pashto literature and poetry Mahmud Tarzi son of Ghulam Muhammad Tarzi became the pioneer of Afghan journalism for publishing the first newspaper Seraj al Akhbar 263 The majority of Pashtuns use Pashto as their native tongue believed to belong to the Indo Iranian language family 264 and is spoken by up to 60 million people 265 266 It is written in the Pashto Arabic script and is divided into two main dialects the southern Pashto and the northern Pukhto The language has ancient origins and bears similarities to extinct languages such as Avestan and Bactrian 267 Its closest modern relatives may include Pamir languages such as Shughni and Wakhi and Ossetic 268 Pashto may have ancient legacy of borrowing vocabulary from neighbouring languages including such as Persian and Vedic Sanskrit Modern borrowings come primarily from the English language 269 Fluency in Pashto is often the main determinant of group acceptance as to who is considered a Pashtun Pashtun nationalism emerged following the rise of Pashto poetry that linked language and ethnic identity Pashto has national status in Afghanistan and regional status in neighboring Pakistan In addition to their native tongue many Pashtuns are fluent in Persian English and Urdu Throughout their history poets prophets kings and warriors have been among the most revered members of Pashtun society Early written records of Pashto began to appear around the 16th century The earliest describes Sheikh Mali s conquest of Swat 270 Pir Roshan is believed to have written a number of Pashto books while fighting with the Mughals Pashtun scholars such as Abdul Hai Habibi and others believe that the earliest Pashto work dates back to Amir Kror Suri and they use the writings found in Pata Khazana as proof Amir Kror Suri son of Amir Polad Suri was an 8th century folk hero and king from the Ghor region in Afghanistan 271 272 However this is disputed by several European experts due to lack of strong evidence The advent of poetry helped transition Pashto to the modern period Pashto literature gained significant prominence in the 20th century with poetry by Ameer Hamza Shinwari who developed Pashto Ghazals 273 In 1919 during the expanding of mass media Mahmud Tarzi published Seraj al Akhbar which became the first Pashto newspaper in Afghanistan In 1977 Khan Roshan Khan wrote Tawarikh e Hafiz Rehmatkhani which contains the family trees and Pashtun tribal names Some notable poets include Abdul Ghani Khan Afzal Khan Khattak Ahmad Shah Durrani Ajmal Khattak Ghulam Muhammad Tarzi Hamza Shinwari Hanif Baktash Khushal Khan Khattak Nazo Tokhi Pareshan Khattak Rahman Baba Shuja Shah Durrani and Timur Shah Durrani 274 275 Recently Pashto literature has received increased patronage but many Pashtuns continue to rely on oral tradition due to relatively low literacy rates and education Pashtun society is also marked by some matriarchal tendencies 276 Folktales involving reverence for Pashtun mothers and matriarchs are common and are passed down from parent to child as is most Pashtun heritage through a rich oral tradition that has survived the ravages of time Media and arts Further information Pashto media Pashto music and Pashto cinema Khattak dance in Swat DistrictPashto media has expanded in the last decade with a number of Pashto TV channels becoming available Two of the popular ones are the Pakistan based AVT Khyber and Pashto One Pashtuns around the world particularly those in Arab countries watch these for entertainment purposes and to get latest news about their native areas 277 Others are Afghanistan based Shamshad TV Radio Television Afghanistan and Lemar TV which has a special children s show called Baghch e Simsim International news sources that provide Pashto programs include BBC Pashto and Voice of America Producers based in Peshawar have created Pashto language films since the 1970s Pashtun performers remain avid participants in various physical forms of expression including dance sword fighting and other physical feats Perhaps the most common form of artistic expression can be seen in the various forms of Pashtun dances One of the most prominent dances is Attan which has ancient roots A rigorous exercise Attan is performed as musicians play various native instruments including the dhol drums tablas percussions rubab a bowed string instrument and toola wooden flute With a rapid circular motion dancers perform until no one is left dancing similar to Sufi whirling dervishes Numerous other dances are affiliated with various tribes notably from Pakistan including the Khattak Wal Atanrh eponymously named after the Khattak tribe Mahsood Wal Atanrh which in modern times involves the juggling of loaded rifles and Waziro Atanrh among others A sub type of the Khattak Wal Atanrh known as the Braghoni involves the use of up to three swords and requires great skill Young women and girls often entertain at weddings with the Tumbal Dayereh which is an instrument 278 Sports Further information Sport in Afghanistan and Sport in Pakistan Shahid Afridi former captain of the Pakistan national cricket teamBoth the Afghanistan national cricket team and the Pakistan national cricket team have Pashtun players 279 One of the most popular sports among Pashtuns is cricket which was introduced to South Asia during the early 18th century with the arrival of the British Many Pashtuns have become prominent international cricketers including Imran Khan Shahid Afridi Majid Khan Misbah ul Haq Younis Khan 280 Umar Gul 281 Junaid Khan 282 Fakhar Zaman 283 Mohammad Rizwan 284 Usman Shinwari Naseem Shah Shaheen Afridi Iftikhar Ahmed Mohammad Wasim and Yasir Shah 285 Australian cricketer Fawad Ahmed is of Pakistani Pashtun origin who has played for the Australian national team 286 Football soccer is also one of the most popular sports among Pashtuns The former captain and now the current assistant coach of the Pakistan national football team Muhammad Essa is an ethnic Pashtun Other sports popular among Pashtuns may include polo field hockey volleyball handball basketball golf track and field bodybuilding weightlifting wrestling kayaking horse racing martial arts boxing taekwondo kick boxing skateboarding bowling and chess Jahangir Khan and Jansher Khan became professional squash players Although now retired they are engaged in promoting the sport through the Pakistan Squash Federation Maria Toorpakai Wazir is the first female Pashtun squash player Pakistan also produced other world champions of Pashtun origin Hashim Khan Roshan Khan Azam Khan Mo Khan and Qamar Zaman In recent decades Hayatullah Khan Durrani Pride of Performance legendary caver from Quetta has been promoting mountaineering rock climbing and Caving in Balochistan Pakistan Mohammad Abubakar Durrani International Canoeing shining star of Pakistan Snooker and billiards are played by young Pashtun men mainly in urban areas where snooker clubs are found Several prominent international recognized snooker players are from the Pashtun area including Saleh Mohammed Although traditionally very less involved in sports than boys Pashtun girls sometimes play volleyball basketball football and cricket especially in urban areas Makha is a traditional archery sport in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa played with a long arrow gheshai having a saucer shaped metallic plate at its distal end and a long bow 287 In Afghanistan some Pashtuns still participate in the ancient sport of buzkashi in which horse riders attempt to place a goat or calf carcass in a goal circle 288 289 290 Women Further information Women in Afghanistan and Women in Pakistan Queen Soraya of AfghanistanIn Pashtun society there are three levels of women s leadership and legislative authority the national level the village level and the family level The national level includes women such as Nazo Tokhi Zarghona Anaa and Malalai of Maiwand Tokhi was a 17th century Pashto poet who eventually became the Mother of Afghan Nationalism after gaining authority through her poetry and adhering to Pashtunwali She used Pashtunwali to unite Pashtuns against the Safavids Her cause was picked up in the early 18th century by Zarghona Anaa 291 The lives of Pashtun women vary from those who reside in the ultra conservative rural areas to those found in urban centres 292 At the village level the female village leader is called qaryadar Her duties may include witnessing women s ceremonies mobilising women to practice religious festivals preparing the female dead for burial and performing services for deceased women She also arranges marriages for her own family and arbitrates conflicts for men and women 291 Though many Pashtun women remain tribal and illiterate some have completed universities and joined the regular employment world 292 Madhubala Indian Bollywood actress and producer Zarine Khan Indian model and actress in Bollywood films Malala Yousafzai Pakistani activist for female education and the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize laureateThe decades of war and the rise of the Taliban caused considerable hardship among Pashtun women as many of their rights have been curtailed by a rigid interpretation of Islamic law The difficult lives of Afghan female refugees gained considerable notoriety with the iconic image Afghan Girl Sharbat Gula depicted on the June 1985 cover of National Geographic magazine 293 Modern social reform for Pashtun women began in the early 20th century when Queen Soraya Tarzi of Afghanistan made rapid reforms to improve women s lives and their position in the family She was the only woman to appear on the list of rulers in Afghanistan Credited with having been one of the first and most powerful Afghan and Muslim female activists Her advocacy of social reforms for women led to a protest and contributed to the ultimate demise of King Amanullah s reign in 1929 294 In 1942 Madhubala Mumtaz Jehan the Marilyn Monroe of India entered the Bollywood film industry Bollywood blockbusters of the 1970s and 1980s starred Parveen Babi who hailed from the lineage of Gujarat s historical Pathan community the royal Babi Dynasty Other Indian actresses and models such as Zarine Khan continue to work in the industry 45 Civil rights remained an important issue during the 1970s as feminist leader Meena Keshwar Kamal campaigned for women s rights and founded the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan RAWA in the 1977 295 Pashtun women these days vary from the traditional housewives who live in seclusion to urban workers some of whom seek or have attained parity with men 292 But due to numerous social hurdles the literacy rate remains considerably lower for them than for males 296 Abuse against women is present and increasingly being challenged by women s rights organisations which find themselves struggling with conservative religious groups as well as government officials in both Pakistan and Afghanistan According to a 1992 book a powerful ethic of forbearance severely limits the ability of traditional Pashtun women to mitigate the suffering they acknowledge in their lives 297 Despite obstacles many Pashtun women have begun a process of slow change A rich oral tradition and resurgence of poetry has inspired many Pashtun women seeking to learn to read and write 276 Further challenging the status quo Vida Samadzai was selected as Miss Afghanistan in 2003 a feat that was received with a mixture of support from those who back the individual rights of women and those who view such displays as anti traditionalist and un Islamic Some have attained political office in Afghanistan and Pakistan 298 A number of Pashtun women are found as TV hosts journalists and actors 56 Nigar Johar is a three star general in the Pakistan Army Khatol Mohammadzai served as brigadier general in the Afghan Army another Pashtun female became a fighter pilot in the Pakistan Air Force 299 Some other notable Pashtun women include Aisha Uqbah Malik Armeena Khan Fauzia Gailani Ghazala Javed Gulalai Ismail Gul Panra Humaira Begum Laila Khan Malala Yousafzai Naghma Najiba Faiz Nilofar Bakhtiar Sana Safi Bushra Gohar Shinkai Karokhail Shukria Barakzai Suhaila Seddiqi Tabassum Adnan Zartaj Gul Zeenat Karzai Marina Khan Neelum Muneer and Mahira Khan Pashtun women often have their legal rights curtailed in favour of their husbands or male relatives For example though women are officially allowed to vote in Pakistan some have been kept away from ballot boxes by males 300 Another tradition that persists is swara a form of child marriage which was declared illegal in Pakistan in 2000 but continues in some parts 301 Substantial work remains for Pashtun women to gain equal rights with men who remain disproportionately dominant in most aspects of Pashtun society Human rights organisations continue to struggle for greater women s rights such as the Afghan Women s Network and the Aurat Foundation in Pakistan which aims to protect women from domestic violence Notable peopleMain article List of Pashtun People Abdul Ahad Momand first Afghan cosmonaut and 4th Muslim to go outer space He made Pashto the 4th language spoken in space Abdul Ghaffar Khan independence activist against British rule in India known as Badshah Khan Bacha Khan and Frontier Gandhi Abdul Ghafoor Breshna painter music composer poet and film director Composed the national anthem of the Republic of Afghanistan 302 Abdul Ghani Khan philosopher poet artist writer and politician Abdul Qadeer Khan father of Pakistani nuclear bomb Abdul Qayyum Khan Prominent figure of All India Muslim league who played a role in the merger of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with Pakistan Abdul Waheed Kakar Chief of Army Staff COAS Pakistan Army from Peshawar Abdur Rab Nishtar one of the founding fathers of the Pakistan from Peshawar played a key role during the Pakistan Movement Ahmad Faraz Urdu poet scriptwriter and lecturer Ahmad Shah Durrani founder of the Durrani Empire Defeated the Maratha Empire at the Third Battle of Panipat Considered the founder of modern day Afghanistan 303 Ahmad Zahir Afghan singer dubbed the Elvis of Afghanistan He sang mostly in Persian albeit he also made many songs in Pashto Russian English and Urdu 304 305 306 Aimal Wali Khan President of Pakistan s Awami National Party Akbar Khan 1st Chief of General Staff of Pakistan Army belonged to Charsadda who played a key role in liberation of Azad Kashmir during first Indo Pakistan war 1947 Akhtar Abdur Rehman Khan Pakistani general from Peshawar who served as chief of ISI and Chairman Joint Chief of the Staff Akram Khan Durrani 20th Deputy Speaker of National Assembly of Pakistan from Durrani tribe of Bannu Alam Khattak Pakistani general from Nowshera Ali Amin Gandapur Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs of Pakistan from Dera Islmail Khan Ali Jan Aurakzai Pakistani general from Orakzai Ali Quli Khan Khattak Pakistani general from Karak who served as Chief of General of Staff CGS of Pakistan Army Ali Muhammad Khan Federal Parliamentary Minister of Pakistan from Mardan Amanullah Khan King of Afghanistan in early 20th century Amjad Khan Niazi the Chief of Naval Staff of Pakistan Navy Muhammad Arif Bangash Pakistani general from Hangu Asad Durrani Pashtun of Durrani tribe who served as Director General of Pakistan s premier intelligence agency ISI Mufti Asad Mehmood Federal Communication Minister of Pakistan and Deputy leader of JUIF Asghar Khan first air chief of Pakistan Air Force from Abbottabad Mohammad Ashraf Ghani President of Afghanistan from 2014 to 2021 Asif Durrani diplomat of the Foreign Service of Pakistan from Quetta Muhammad Aslam Khan Khattak Pakistani politician and diplomat from Karak Ayub Khan Chief of Army Staff COAS of Pakistan Army and President of Pakistan from Haripur Azad Khan Afghan military commander famous for conquering parts of Central and Western Iran as well as Kurdistan and Gilan Azam Khan Pakistani civil servant from Mardan who served as the Principal Secretary to the PM of Pakistan Azam Khan Swati Federal Minister for the Railways of Pakistan from Mardan Aziz Khan Pakistani general served as Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Bahlul Lodi founder and 15th century ruler of the Lodi dynasty Bashir Jehangiri Chief Justice of Supreme Court of Pakistan from Swat Ehsan ul Haq general of Pakistan Military served as Chairman Joint Chief of Staff of Pakistan Armed Forces Fakhar Zaman Pakistani cricketer from Mardan Fawad Khan Pakistani actor producer screenwriter and model Fazal Ur Rehman Emir of Jamiat Ulema Islam F and leader of Pakistan Democratic Movement from Tank Fazle Haq Pakistani general from Mardan and Governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ghulam Faruque Khan Governor of East Pakistan and business tycoon of Pakistan Ghulam Ishaq Khan prominent civil servant from Bannu and latter President of Pakistan Gohar Ayub Khan 1st speaker of National Assembly of Pakistan from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Gul Hassan Khan Pakistani general and chief of the Pakistan Army from Quetta Gul Panra Pakistani singer from Peshawar Habibullah Khan Khattak general of the Pakistan Army from Karak Habibullah Khan Marwat 1st chairman of Senate of Pakistan Hafizullah Amin Afghan politician Hamid Gul Chief of Inter Services Intelligence of Pakistan who played key role in birth of Afghan Mujahideen Hamid Karzai head of the Popalzai tribe and served as President of Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014 Hamza Shinwari prominent Pashto amp Urdu poet He is considered a bridge between classic Pashto literature and modern literature Haris Rauf Pakistani cricketer and fast bowler from Mansehra Ibrahim Lodi last Sultan of the Delhi Sultanate Iftikhar Ahmed Pakistani cricketer and all rounder from Peshawar Imran Khan Pakistani cricketer turned politician who served as the 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan Imranullah Khan military general of Pakistan Army who commanded X Corps and served as Governor of Balochistan Jahangir Khan Pakistani squash player Jamal Khan Mandokhail Justice of Supreme Court of Pakistan from Balochistan Jansher Khan Pakistani squash player Javed Afridi Pakistani business tycoon owner of Peshawar Zalmi Josh Malihabadi prominent Urdu language poet of British Indian era Karnal Sher Khan Pakistani military captain and recipient of Nishan e Haider for his role in the Kargil War one of the only eleven holders of the highest military award Khalilullah Khalili Pashtun poet of the Persian language Khan Abdul Jabbar Khan 1st chief minister of West Pakistan Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri Foreign Minister of Pakistan Khushal Khattak warrior and Pashto poet Khushdil Khan Afridi Military general of Pakistani Army and Governor of Balochistan Madhubala Indian film actress known as the Marilyn Monroe of Bollywood Mahmud Hotak second ruler of the Hotaki dynasty and Shah of Persia He Invaded Persia and overthrew the Safavid dynasty Muhammad Amir Khan major of Inter Service Intelligence from Swabi who played a major role in Afghan affairs of ISI Malala Yousafzai Pakistani female education activist awarded the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize at age 17 the first Pashtun to receive a Nobel Prize Malalai of Maiwand national folk hero of Afghanistan Rallied Pashtun fighters to defeat the British during the Second Anglo Afghan war Malik Ghulam Muhammad third Governor General of Pakistan Marina Khan Pakistani television actress from Peshawar Masood Khan Pakistani diplomat who served as Pakistani representative to UN and President of Azad Kashmir Masood Sharif Khan Khattak chief of the Intelligence Bureau of the Pakistan Mirwais Azizi prominent Afghan entrepreneur possibly the richest person in Afghanistan Mirwais Hotak revolted against Safavid Iran and established the Hotak dynasty Mirza Mazhar Jan e Janaan Hanafi Maturidi Naqshbandi Sufi poet distinguished as one of the four pillars of Urdu poetry Mirza Muhammad Afridi Deputy Chairman of Senate of Pakistan Mohammad Daoud Khan Afghan politician Mohammad Haris Pakistani cricketer and batsman from Peshawar Mohammad Najibullah Afghan politician Muhammad Rizwan Pakistani cricketer and batsman from Peshawar Muhammad Waseem Wazir Pakistani cricketer and fast bowler from Waziristan Mohammad Zahir Shah last king of Afghanistan Mohammed Sadiq diplomat of the Foreign Service of Pakistan from Swabi Monowar Khan Afridi a Pakistani military general and malariologist and Vice Chancellor of University of Peshawar Mufti Shakoor Federal Minister for Religious Affairs of Pakistan from Lakki Marwat Munir Ahmed Khan Pakistani nuclear scientist and chairman of Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission a Kakazai Pashtun Murad Saeed Federal Communication Minister of Pakistan from Swat Naseem Shah Pakistani cricketer and fast bowler from Dir Naseerullah Babar Interior Minister of Pakistan and military general of Pakistan Nasir Durrani Police Chief of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Nasirul Mulk Chief Justice of Supreme Court of Pakistan from Swat Nazo Tokhi Pashto poet writer and woman warrior She was the mother Afghan king Mirwais Hotak founder of Hotak dynasty Neelam Muneer Pakistani actress from Mardan Nigar Johar first female Lt General of Pakistan Army served as first female Surgeon General of Pakistan Armed Forces Noman Bashir the Chief of Naval Staff of Pakistan Navy Obaidullah Khan Khattak Pakistani military general from Kohat who served as Commander Army Strategic Force Command Omar Ayub Khan Federal Minister of Energy of Pakistan from Haripur Pareshan Khattak Pakistani Vice Chancellor writer and poet Pervez Khattak Federal Defence Minister of Pakistan from Nowshera Pir Roshan warrior poet Sufi and revolutionary leader Created the first known Pashto alphabet He s also the founder of the Roshani movement the enlightened movement Qasim Khan Suri 19th Deputy Speaker of National Assembly of Pakistan belonging to Suri tribe of Quetta Rahim Shah Pakistani singer from Peshawar Rahman Baba Pashto poet and Sufi Dervish Rashid Khan Afghan cricketer Roedad Khan Pakistani civil servant from Mardan who played a key role in cold war Safwat Ghayur Commandant of Frontier Constabulary and high ranking official of Police Service of Pakistan who embraced martyrdom and received Hilal e Shujaat Salahuddin Khan Mehsud Police Service of Pakistan official who was Inspector General of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police and the Commandant of Frontier Constabulary Salahuddin Tirmizi General of Pakistan Army from Kaghan who served as President of National Defence University Saleem Safi Pakistani journalist host news anchor and political analyst Salman Bashir diplomat of the Foreign Service of Pakistan and Foreign Secretary of Pakistan Sanaulllah Khan Niazi General of Pakistan Army who embraced martyrdom in Pakistan s War on Terror Sania Nishtar Prominent Pakistani technocrat author doctor and politician from Peshawar served as Federal Minister for the Poverty Alleviation Sartaj Aziz Pakistani economist strategist senator former deputy chairman of the Planning Commission Minister for Foreign Affairs as well as the National Security Advisor Shaheen Afridi Pakistani cricketer from Khyber Shahid Afridi Pakistani cricketer and captain of Pakistani cricket team from Khyber Shahzad Khan Bangash Prominent Pakistani civil servant who has served as Chief Secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sharbat Gula subject of notable 1985 cover photograph of Afghan Girl on National Geographic magazine Shehryar Afridi Federal Interior Minister of Pakistan from Kohat Shehzad Arbab Prominent Pakistani civil servant from Peshawar who served as Chief Secretary and Establishment Secretary of Pakistan Sher Shah Suri founder and 16th century ruler of the Sur Empire Defeated the Mughal Empire at the Battle of Chausa Sikandar Lodi Sultan of the Lodi dynasty He gained control of Bihar and founded the modern city of Agra 307 Siraj ul Haq 5th Emir of Jamaat e Islami and ex Minister of Finance of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Taimur Khan Jhaghra Prominent member of Jhaghra family of Pakhtunkhwa who has served as Finance Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Tanvir Ahmad Khan diplomat of Foreign Service of Pakistan served as 19th Foreign Secretary of Pakistan Tariq Khan Pakistani general from Tank who served as commander central command Pakistan Army Timur Shah Durrani second ruler of the Durrani Empire defeated Sikhs and took back Multan Wajahat Saeed Khan Pakistani journalist host news anchor and defence analyst Wazir Akbar Khan Afghan prince general and emir Famous for his role in the First Anglo Afghan War particularly for the massacre of Elphinstone s army Yahya Afridi Justice of Supreme Court of Pakistan who is due to become Chief Justice of Pakistan by 2030 Yahya Khan military general who served as the third President of Pakistan Yasir Shah Pakistani cricketer and leg spinner Younis Khan Pakistani cricketer from Mardan Zakir Husain Indian educationist and politician who served as the third president of India Zartaj Gul Wazir 1st female Climate Change Minister in the world from Waziristan Zeb Bangash Pakistani singer from Peshawar Sher Ali Khan Pataudi Chief of General Staff CGS of Pakistan Army Musarrat Hilali Second female Justice in the history of Supreme Court of Pakistan Junaid Khan Pakistani international cricketer Mohammad Shafiq Pakistani military general from Kohat who served as Corps Commander XXXI corps and Governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Abrar Ahmed Pakistani cricketer from Mansehra who became Pakistani bowler to take a 5 wicket haul in the first session on Test debut Explanatory notes From Hindi पठ न Urdu پٹھان paṭhan 30 31 32 From Persian افغان Afgan or Bactrian abgano Abgan 35 36 37 38 39 Note population statistics for Pashtuns including those without a notation in foreign countries were derived from various census counts the UN the CIA sThe World FactbookandEthnologue References a b Lewis Paul M 2009 Pashto Northern SIL International Dallas TX Ethnologue Languages of the World Sixteenth edition Retrieved 18 September 2010 Ethnic population 49 529 000 possibly total Pashto in all countries South Asia Pakistan The World Factbook Central Intelligence Agency cia gov Retrieved 24 February 2019 Afghanistan 11 April 2023 Pashto Worldwide distribution a b Ali Arshad 15 February 2018 Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan s great granddaughter seeks citizenship for Phastoons in India Daily News and Analysis Retrieved 21 February 2019 Interacting with mediapersons on Wednesday Yasmin the president of All India Pakhtoon Jirga e Hind said that there were 32 lakh Phastoons in the country who were living and working in India but were yet to get citizenship Frontier Gandhi s granddaughter urges Centre to grant citizenship to Pathans The News International 16 February 2018 Retrieved 28 May 2020 Office of the Registrar General amp Census Commissioner India Ministry of Home Affairs Government of India LANGUAGE INDIA STATES AND UNION TERRITORIES Table C 16 PDF Office of the Registrar General amp Census Commissioner India Ministry of Home Affairs Government of India Archived PDF from the original on 9 October 2022 Retrieved 31 December 2018 AFGHANI KABULI PASHTO 21 677 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link a b c Pakhtoons in Kashmir The Hindu 20 July 1954 Archived from the original on 9 December 2004 Retrieved 28 November 2012 Over a lakh Pakhtoons living in Jammu and Kashmir as nomad tribesmen without any nationality became Indian subjects on July 17 Batches of them received certificates to this effect from the Kashmir Prime Minister Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed at village Gutligabh 17 miles from Srinagar United Arab Emirates Demography PDF Encyclopaedia Britannica World Data Encyclopaedia Britannica Online Archived PDF from the original on 9 October 2022 Retrieved 15 March 2008 42 of 200 000 Afghan Americans 84 000 and 15 of 363 699 Pakistani Americans 54 554 Total Afghan and Pakistani Pashtuns in USA 138 554 a b Ethnologue report for Southern Pashto Iran 1993 SIL International Ethnologue Languages of the World Retrieved 5 May 2012 Maclean William 10 June 2009 Support for Taliban dives among British Pashtuns Reuters Retrieved 6 August 2009 Relations between Afghanistan and Germany Archived 16 January 2017 at the Wayback Machine Germany is now home to almost 90 000 people of Afghan origin 42 of 90 000 37 800 Knowledge of languages by age and gender Canada provinces and territories census divisions and census subdivisions Census Profile 2021 Census Statistics Canada Statistique Canada 7 May 2021 Retrieved 3 January 2023 Perepis ru perepis2002 ru in Russian Archived from the original on 16 January 2017 Retrieved 22 October 2012 20680 Ancestry full classification list by Sex Australia Microsoft Excel download 2006 Census Australian Bureau of Statistics Retrieved 2 June 2008 Total responses 25 451 383 for total count of persons 19 855 288 Pashtuns in malaysia Northern Pashtuns in Malaysia Vaesto 31 12 muuttujina Maakunta Kieli Ika Sukupuoli Vuosi ja Tiedot Tilastokeskuksen PX Web tietokannat permanent dead link a b Green Nile 2017 Afghanistan s Islam From Conversion to the Taliban University of California Press p 18 ISBN 978 0 520 29413 4 Many of the communities of ethnic Pashtuns known as Pathans in India that had emerged in India over the previous centuries lived peaceably among their Hindu neighbors Most of these Indo Afghans lost the ability to speak Pashto and instead spoke Hindi and Punjabi a b Hakala Walter N 2012 Languages as a Key to Understanding Afghanistan s Cultures PDF National Geographic Retrieved 13 March 2018 In the 1980s and 90s at least three million Afghans mostly Pashtun fled to Pakistan where a substantial number spent several years being exposed to Hindi and Urdu language media especially Bollywood films and songs and being educated in Urdu language schools both of which contributed to the decline of Dari even among urban Pashtuns a b Krishnamurthy Rajeshwari 28 June 2013 Kabul Diary Discovering the Indian connection Gateway House Indian Council on Global Relations Retrieved 13 March 2018 Most Afghans in Kabul understand and or speak Hindi thanks to the popularity of Indian cinema in the country Williams Victoria Taylor Ken 2017 Etiquette and Taboos around the World A Geographic Encyclopedia of Social and cultural customs ABC CLIO p 231 ISBN 978 1440838200 Nyrop Richard F Seekins Donald M 1986 Afghanistan A Country Study by United States Department of the Army United States Department of the Army American University p 105 ISBN 9780160239298 a b Ali Tariq 2003 The clash of fundamentalisms crusades jihads and modernity Verso p 20 ISBN 978 1 85984 457 1 Retrieved 20 April 2008 The friends from Peshawar would speak of Hindu and Sikh Pashtuns who had migrated to India In the tribal areas the no man s land between Afghanistan and Pakistan quite a few Hindus stayed on and were protected by the tribal codes The same was true in Afghanistan itself till the mujahidin and the Taliban arrived a b c d Haider Suhasini 3 February 2018 Tattooed blue skinned Hindu Pushtuns look back at their roots The Hindu Retrieved 9 February 2020 a b Khan Naimat 30 June 2020 70 years on one Pashtun town still safeguards its old Hindu Muslim brotherhood Arab News The meat eating Hindu Pashtuns are a little known tribe in India even today with a distinct culture carried forward from Afghanistan and Balochistan which includes blue tattoos on the faces of the women traditional Pashtun dancing and clothes heavily adorned with coins and embroidery a b Eusufzye Khan Shehram 2018 Two identities twice the pride The Pashtun Sikhs of Nankana Saheb Pakistan Today Retrieved 31 May 2020 One can sense a diminutive yet charming cultural amalgamation in certain localities within the town with the settling of around 250 Pashtun Sikh families in the city Ruchi Kumar The decline of Afghanistan s Hindu and Sikh communities Al Jazeera 2017 01 01 the culture among Afghan Hindus is predominantly Pashtun Beena Sarwar Finding lost heritage Himal 2016 08 03 Singh also came across many non turban wearing followers of Guru Nanak in Pakistan all of Pashtun origin and from the Khyber area Sonia Dhami Sikh Religious Heritage My visit to Lehenda Punjab Indica News 2020 01 05 Nankana Sahib is also home to the largest Sikh Pashtun community many of whom have migrated from the North West Frontier Provinces renamed Khyber Pakhtunwa Neha Pak misusing Durand Line to facilitate terrorists says Pashtun Siasat Daily 2019 09 20 The members of the Pashtun and Afghan Sikh community living in Europe and UK have gathered in Geneva Sabrina Toppa Despite border tensions Indian Sikhs celebrate festival in Pakistan TRT World 2019 04 16 Hasanabdal is home to around 200 Sikh families that have primarily moved from Pakistan s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province including Pakistan s former tribal areas The majority are Pashtun Sikhs who abandoned their homes and took refuge near Sikhism s historical sites David Anne Boyle 1 January 2014 Descriptive Grammar of Pashto and its Dialects De Gruyter Mouton p 76 ISBN 978 1 61451 231 8 a b Minahan James B 30 August 2012 Ethnic Groups of South Asia and the Pacific An Encyclopedia An Encyclopedia ABC CLIO ISBN 9781598846607 via Google Books James William Spain 1963 The Pathan Borderland Mouton p 40 Retrieved 1 January 2012 The most familiar name in the west is Pathan a Hindi term adopted by the British which is usually applied only to the people living east of the Durand Pathan World English Dictionary Retrieved 1 January 2012 Pathan peˈtɑːn n a member of the Pashto speaking people of Afghanistan Western Pakistan and elsewhere most of whom are Muslim in religion C17 from Hindi von Furer Haimendorf Christoph 1985 Tribal populations and cultures of the Indian subcontinent Handbuch der Orientalistik 2 7 Leiden E J Brill p 126 ISBN 90 04 07120 2 OCLC 240120731 Retrieved 22 July 2019 a b Dan Caldwell 17 February 2011 Vortex of Conflict U S Policy Toward Afghanistan Pakistan and Iraq Stanford University Press p 36 ISBN 978 0 8047 7666 0 A majority of Pashtuns live south of the Hindu Kush the 500 mile mountain range that covers northwestern Pakistan to central and eastern Pakistan and with some Persian speaking ethnic groups a b Pashtun Encyclopaedia Britannica Retrieved 10 September 2010 Sims Williams Nicholas Bactrian Documents from Northern Afghanistan Vol II Letters and Buddhist Khalili Collectins 19 Afghan and Afghanistan Abdul Hai Habibi alamahabibi com 1969 Retrieved 24 October 2010 History of Afghanistan Encyclopaedia Britannica Online Retrieved 22 November 2010 a b c Muhammad Qasim Hindu Shah Firishta History of the Mohamedan Power in India Persian Literature in Translation Packard Humanities Institute Archived from the original on 11 February 2009 Retrieved 10 January 2007 Afghanistan Glossary British Library Retrieved 15 March 2008 a b Huang Guiyou 30 December 2008 The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Asian American Literature 3 volumes ABC CLIO ISBN 978 1 56720 736 1 In Afghanistan up until the 1970s the common reference to Afghan meant Pashtun The term Afghan as an inclusive term for all ethnic groups was an effort begun by the modernizing King Amanullah 1909 1921 Tyler John A 10 October 2021 Afghanistan Graveyard of Empires Why the Most Powerful Armies of Their Time Found Only Defeat or Shame in This Land Of Endless Wars Aries Consolidated LLC ISBN 978 1 387 68356 7 The largest ethnic group in Afghanistan is that of Pashtuns who were historically known as the Afghans The term Afghan is now intended to indicate people of other ethnic groups as well Bodetti Austin 11 July 2019 What will happen to Afghanistan s national languages The New Arab Chiovenda Andrea 12 November 2019 Crafting Masculine Selves Culture War and Psychodynamics in Afghanistan Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0 19 007355 8 Niamatullah knew Persian very well as all the educated Pashtuns generally do in Afghanistan Hindu Society and English Rule The Westminster Review The Leonard Scott Publishing Company 108 213 214 154 1877 Hindustani had arisen as a lingua franca from the intercourse of the Persian speaking Pathans with the Hindi speaking Hindus a b Dalal Mangal 8 January 2010 When men were men The Indian Express Archived from the original on 11 February 2010 Retrieved 23 August 2013 She s a Pathan girl who speaks Hindi and Urdu well and was spectacular in the screen test It was pure luck Romano Amy 2003 A Historical Atlas of Afghanistan The Rosen Publishing Group p 28 ISBN 0 8239 3863 8 Retrieved 17 October 2010 Syed Saleem Shahzad 20 October 2006 Profiles of Pakistan s Seven Tribal Agencies Jamestown Retrieved 22 April 2010 Who Are the Pashtun People of Afghanistan and Pakistan ThoughtCo Retrieved 14 August 2022 Hybrid Census to Generate Spatially disaggregated Population Estimate United Nations world data form Archived from the original on 17 May 2020 Retrieved 2 August 2020 Pakistan The World Factbook www cia gov Retrieved 19 January 2021 Afghanistan The World Factbook www cia gov Retrieved 19 January 2021 South Asia Pakistan The World Factbook Central Intelligence Agency cia gov Retrieved 24 February 2019 What Languages Are Spoken In Pakistan World atlas 30 July 2019 Ethnic groups Afghanistan Archived from the original on 14 October 2013 Retrieved 3 February 2023 a b Canfield Robert L Rasuly Paleczek Gabriele 4 October 2010 Ethnicity Authority and Power in Central Asia New Games Great and Small Routledge p 148 ISBN 978 1 136 92750 8 By the late eighteenth century perhaps 100 000 Afghan or Puthan migrants had established several generations of political control and economic consolidation within numerous Rohilkhand communities a b c Haleem Safia 24 July 2007 Study of the Pathan Communities in Four States of India Khyber org Archived from the original on 29 February 2020 Retrieved 1 July 2020 Northern Pashtun in United Arab Emirates Joshua project Siddiqui Niloufer A 2022 Under the Gun Cambridge University Press p 186 ISBN 9781009242523 Pashtun Encyclopaedia Britannica Retrieved 29 May 2020 Pashtun also spelled Pushtun or Pakhtun Hindustani Pathan Persian Afghan Pashto speaking people residing primarily in the region that lies between the Hindu Kush in northeastern Afghanistan and the northern stretch of the Indus River in Pakistan George Morton Jack 24 February 2015 The Indian Army on the Western Front South Asia Edition Cambridge University Press pp 3 ISBN 978 1 107 11765 5 Pathan an Urdu and a Hindi term was usually used by the British when speaking in English They preferred it to Pashtun Pashtoon Pakhtun or Pukhtun all Pashtu versions of the same word which the frontier tribesmen would have used when speaking of themselves in their own Pashtu dialects Memons Khojas Cheliyas Moplahs How Well Do You Know Them Islamic Voice Archived from the original on 17 October 2006 Retrieved 18 January 2007 Pathan Houghton Mifflin Company Retrieved 7 November 2007 a b Study of the Pathan Communities in Four States of India Khyber org Archived from the original on 14 May 2008 Retrieved 30 January 2008 Alavi Shams Ur Rehman 11 December 2008 Indian Pathans to broker peace in Afghanistan Hindustan Times The Kabuliwala Afghans of Kolkata BBC News 23 May 2015 Abstract of speakers strength of languages and mother tongues 2001 Census of India 2001 Archived from the original on 1 February 2008 Retrieved 17 March 2008 Frontier Gandhi s granddaughter urges Centre to grant citizenship to Pathans The News International 16 February 2018 Retrieved 28 May 2020 Bhattacharya Ravik 15 February 2018 Frontier Gandhi s granddaughter urges Centre to grant citizenship to Pathans The Indian Express Retrieved 28 May 2020 Pashtun in India Joshua Project Alavi Shams Ur Rehman 11 December 2008 Indian Pathans to broker peace in Afghanistan Hindustan Times Pathans are now scattered across the country and have pockets of influence in parts of UP Bihar and other states They have also shone in several fields especially Bollywood and sports The three most famous Indian Pathans are Dilip Kumar Shah Rukh Khan and Irfan Pathan The population of Pathans in India is twice their population in Afghanistan and though we no longer have ties with that country we have a common ancestry and feel it s our duty to help put an end to this menace Atif added Academicians social activists writers and religious scholars are part of the initiative The All India Muslim Majlis All India Minorities Federation and several other organisations have joined the call for peace and are making preparations for the jirga a b Pashtun Pathan in India Joshua Project Finnigan Christopher 29 October 2018 The Kabuliwala represents a dilemma between the state and migratory history of the world Shah Mahmoud Hanifi London School of Economics Bollywood actor Firoz Khan dies at 70 Dawn 27 April 2009 Retrieved 6 June 2020 Afghans of Guyana Wahid Momand Afghanland com Archived from the original on 5 November 2006 Retrieved 18 January 2007 Northern Pashtuns in Australia Joshua Project a b Jasim Khan 27 December 2015 Being Salman Penguin Books Limited pp 34 35 37 38 ISBN 978 81 8475 094 2 Superstar Salman Khan is a Pashtun from the Akuzai clan One has to travel roughly forty five kilometres from Mingora towards Peshawar to reach the nondescript town of Malakand This is the place where the forebears of Salman Khan once lived They belonged to the Akuzai clan of the Pashtun tribe Swarup Shubhangi 27 January 2011 The Kingdom of Khan Open Archived from the original on 4 June 2020 Retrieved 6 June 2020 a b Alavi Shams Ur Rehman 11 December 2008 Indian Pathans to broker peace in Afghanistan Hindustan Times Pathans are now scattered across the country and have pockets of influence in parts of UP Bihar and other states They have also shone in several fields especially Bollywood and sports The three most famous Indian Pathans are Dilip Kumar Shah Rukh Khan and Irfan Pathan The population of Pathans in India is twice their population in Afghanistan and though we no longer have ties with that country we have a common ancestry and feel it s our duty to help put an end to this menace Atif added Academicians social activists writers and religious scholars are part of the initiative The All India Muslim Majlis All India Minorities Federation and several other organisations have joined the call for peace and are making preparations for the jirga a b Nile Green 2017 Afghanistan s Islam From Conversion to the Taliban Univ of California Press pp 18 ISBN 978 0 520 29413 4 Windfuhr Gernot 13 May 2013 Iranian Languages Routledge pp 703 731 ISBN 978 1 135 79704 1 DORRANi Encyclopaedia Iranica iranicaonline org Retrieved 4 April 2021 ḠILZi Encyclopaedia Iranica www iranicaonline org Retrieved 4 April 2021 Nader Shah also defeated the last independent Ḡalzay ruler of Qandahar Shah Ḥosayn Hotak Shah Maḥmud s brother in 1150 1738 Shah Ḥosayn and large numbers of the Ḡalzi were deported to Mazandaran Marvi pp 543 52 Lockhart 1938 pp 115 20 The remnants of this once sizable exiled community although assimilated continue to claim Ḡalzi Pashtun descent DORRANi Encyclopaedia Iranica iranicaonline org Retrieved 4 April 2021 raided in Khorasan and in the course of a very few years greatly increased in numbers Dalrymple William Anand Anita 2017 Koh i Noor The History of the World s Most Infamous Diamond Bloomsbury Publishing ISBN 978 1 4088 8885 8 AZAD KHAN AFḠAN iranicaonline org Retrieved 4 April 2021 DORRANi Encyclopaedia Iranica iranicaonline org Retrieved 4 April 2021 According to a sample survey in 1988 nearly 75 percent of all Afghan refugees in the southern part of Persian Khorasan were Dorrani that is about 280 000 people Papoli Yazdi p 62 Jaffrelot Christophe 2002 Pakistan nationalism without a nation Zed Books p 27 ISBN 1 84277 117 5 Retrieved 22 August 2010 Historical Atlas by William R Shepherd Perry Castaneda Map Collection UT Library Online legacy lib utexas edu Retrieved 3 November 2020 Shepherd William Robert 16 October 2018 Historical Atlas Creative Media Partners LLC ISBN 978 0 343 39398 4 p 2 Some Aspects of Ancient Indian Culture By D R Bhandarkar Rig Veda Rig Veda Book 7 HYMN XVIII Indra www sacred texts com Retrieved 2 November 2020 Macdonell A A and Keith A B 1912 The Vedic Index of Names and Subjects Map of the Median Empire showing Pactyans territory in what is now Afghanistan and Pakistan Link Herodotus The Histories Book 3 chapter 102 section 1 www perseus tufts edu Retrieved 2 November 2020 The History of Herodotus Chapter 7 Written 440 B C E Translated by George Rawlinson Piney com Archived from the original on 5 February 2012 Retrieved 21 September 2012 The History of Herodotus Book 3 Chapter 91 Verse 4 Written 440 B C E Translated by G C Macaulay sacred texts com Retrieved 21 February 2015 Herodotus The Histories Book 3 chapter 91 section 4 www perseus tufts edu Retrieved 3 November 2020 Dani Ahmad Hasan 2007 History of Pakistan Pakistan through ages Sang e Meel Publications p 77 ISBN 978 969 35 2020 0 Holdich Thomas 12 March 2019 The Gates of India Being an Historical Narrative Creative Media Partners LLC pp 28 31 ISBN 978 0 530 94119 6 Ptolemy Humbach Helmut Ziegler Susanne 1998 Geography book 6 Middle East Central and North Asia China Part 1 Text and English German translations in Greek Reichert p 224 ISBN 978 3 89500 061 4 Marquart Joseph Untersuchungen zur geschichte von Eran II 1905 in German p 177 Strabo Geography BOOK XI CHAPTER VIII section 2 www perseus tufts edu Retrieved 7 November 2020 Sagar Krishna Chandra 1 January 1992 Foreign Influence on Ancient India Northern Book Centre p 91 ISBN 9788172110284 According to Strabo c 54 B C A D 24 who refers to the authority of Apollodorus of Artemia sic the Greeks of Bactria became masters of Ariana a vague term roughly indicating the eastern districts of the Persian empire and of India Sinor Denis ed 1990 The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia Cambridge Cambridge University Press p 117 doi 10 1017 CHOL9780521243049 ISBN 978 0 521 24304 9 All contemporary historians archeologists and linguists are agreed that since the Scythian and Sarmatian tribes were of the Iranian linguistic group a b Humbach Helmut Faiss Klaus 2012 Herodotus s Scythians and Ptolemy s Central Asia Semasiological and Onomasiological Studies Reichert Verlag p 21 ISBN 978 3 89500 887 0 Alikuzai Hamid Wahed October 2013 A Concise History of Afghanistan in 25 Volumes Trafford Publishing p 142 ISBN 978 1 4907 1441 7 Cheung Johnny Cheung2017 On the Origin of the Terms Afghan amp Pashtun Again Gnoli Memorial Volume pdf 39 a href Template Cite journal html title Template Cite journal cite journal a Cite journal requires journal help Morano Enrico Provasi Elio Rossi Adriano Valerio 2017 On the Origin of Terms Afghan and Pashtun Studia Philologica Iranica Gherardo Gnoli Memorial Volume Scienze e lettere p 39 ISBN 978 88 6687 115 6 Pashtun people Encyclopedia Britannica Retrieved 3 November 2020 Pashtun bore the exclusive name of Afghan before that name came to denote any native of the present land area of Afghanistan The name Afghan has evidently been derived from Asvakan the Assakenoi of Arrian Megasthenes and Arrian p 180 See also Alexander s Invasion of India p 38 J W McCrindle Even the name Afghan is Aryan being derived from Asvakayana an important clan of the Asvakas or horsemen who must have derived this title from their handling of celebrated breeds of horses See Imprints of Indian Thought and Culture Abroad p 124 Vivekananda Kendra Prakashan cf Their name Afghan means cavalier being derived from the Sanskrit Asva or Asvaka a horse and shows that their country must have been noted in ancient times as it is at the present day for its superior breed of horses Asvaka was an important tribe settled north to Kabul river which offered a gallant resistance but ineffectual resistance to the arms of Alexander Ref Scottish Geographical Magazine 1999 p 275 Royal Scottish Geographical Society Afghans are Assakani of the Greeks this word being the Sanskrit Ashvaka meaning horsemen Ref Sva 1915 p 113 Christopher Molesworth Birdwood Cf The name represents Sanskrit Asvaka in the sense of a cavalier and this reappears scarcely modified in the Assakani or Assakeni of the historians of the expedition of Alexander Hobson Jobson A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo Indian words and phrases and of kindred terms etymological by Henry Yule AD Burnell Majumdar Ramesh Chandra 1977 1952 Ancient India Reprinted ed Motilal Banarsidass p 99 ISBN 978 8 12080 436 4 Indische Alterthumskunde Vol I fn 6 also Vol II p 129 et al The name Afghan has evidently been derived from Asvakan the Assakenoi of Arrian Megasthenes and Arrian p 180 See also Alexander s Invasion of India p 38 J W McCrindle Etude Sur la Geog Grecque amp c pp 39 47 M V de Saint Martin The Earth and Its Inhabitants 1891 p 83 Elisee Reclus Geography Even the name Afghan is Aryan being derived from Asvakayana an important clan of the Asvakas or horsemen who must have derived this title from their handling of celebrated breeds of horses See Imprints of Indian Thought and Culture abroad p 124 Vivekananda Kendra Prakashan cf Their name Afghan means cavalier being derived from the Sanskrit Asva orAsvaka a horse and shows that their country must have been noted in ancient times as it is at the present day for its superior breed of horses Asvaka was an important tribe settled north to Kabul river which offered a gallant resistance but ineffectual resistance to the arms of Alexander Ref Scottish Geographical Magazine 1999 p 275 Royal Scottish Geographical Society Afghans are Assakani of the Greeks this word being the Sanskrit Ashvaka meaning horsemen Ref Sva 1915 p 113 Christopher Molesworth Birdwood Cf The name represents Sanskrit Asvaka in the sense of acavalier and this reappears scarcely modified in the Assakani or Assakeni of the historians of the expedition of Alexander Hobson Jobson A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo Indian words and phrases and of kindred terms etymological by Henry Yule AD Burnell See few more references on Asvaka Afghan The Numismatic Chronicle 1893 p 100 Royal Numismatic Society Great Britain Awq 1983 p 5 Giorgio Vercellin Der Islam 1960 p 58 Carl Heinrich Becker Maymun ibn al Qasim Tabarani Journal of Indian History Golden Jubilee Volume 1973 p 470 Trivandrum India City University of Kerala Dept of History Literary History of Ancient India in Relation to Its Racial and Linguistic Affiliations 1970 p 17 Chandra Chakraberty Stile der Portugiesischen lyrik im 20 jahrhundert p 124 Winfried Kreutzen See Works 1865 p 164 Dr H H Wilson The Earth and Its Inhabitants 1891 p 83 Chants populaires des Afghans 1880 p clxiv James Darmesteter Nouvelle geographie universelle v 9 1884 p 59 Elisee Reclus Alexander the Great 2004 p 318 Lewis Vance Cummings Biography amp Autobiography Nouveau dictionnaire de geographie universelle contenant 1o La geographie physique 2o La 1879 Louis Rousselet Louis Vivien de Saint Martin An Ethnic Interpretation of Pauranika Personages 1971 p 34 Chandra Chakraberty Revue internationale 1803 p 803 Journal of Indian History Golden Jubilee Volume 1973 p 470 Trivandrum India City University of Kerala Dept of History Edinburgh University Publications 1969 p 113 University of Edinburgh Shi jie jian wen 1930 p 68 by Shi jie zhi shi chu ban she Cf also Advanced History of Medieval India 1983 p 31 Dr J L Mehta Asian Relations 1948 p 301 Asian Relations Organization Distributed in the United States by Institute of Pacific Relations New York Scottish Geographical Magazine 1892 p 275 Royal Scottish Geographical Society Geography The geographical dictionary of ancient and mediaeval India 1971 p 87 Nundo Lal Dey Nag Sen of Milind Paṅho 1996 p 64 P K Kaul Social Science The Sultanate of Delhi 1959 p 30 Ashirbadi Lal Srivastava Journal of Indian History 1965 p 354 University of Kerala Dept of History University of Allahabad Dept of Modern Indian History University of Travancore India Memoires sur les contrees occidentales 1858 p 313 fn 3 Stanislas Julien Xuanzang Buddhism Noelle Karimi Christine Conrad J Schetter Reinhard Schlagintweit 2002 Afghanistan a country without a state University of Michigan United States IKO p 18 ISBN 3 88939 628 3 Retrieved 24 September 2010 The earliest mention of the name Afghan Abgan is to be found in a Sasanid inscription from the 3rd century and it appears in India in the form of Avagana Balogh Daniel 12 March 2020 Hunnic Peoples in Central and South Asia Sources for their Origin and History Barkhuis p 144 ISBN 978 94 93194 01 4 To Ormuzd Bunukan greetings and homage from Pithe sot ang of Parpaz under the glorious yabghu of Heph thal the chief of the Afghans Sims Williams Nicholas 2000 Bactrian documents from northern Afghanistan Oxford The Nour Foundation in association with Azimuth Editions and Oxford University Press ISBN 1 874780 92 7 A small kingdom in Bactria Sanskritdictionary com Definition of avagaṇa sanskritdictionary com Archived from the original on 7 May 2020 Retrieved 18 November 2020 Afghan Ch M Kieffer Encyclopaedia Iranica Online Edition 15 December 1983 Retrieved 27 September 2010 a b Varahamihira Bhat M Ramakrishna 1981 Bṛhat Saṁhita of Varahamihira with english translation exhaustive notes and literary comments Motilal Banarsidass p 143 ISBN 978 81 208 0098 4 a b c d Vogelsang Willem 2002 The Afghans Wiley Blackwell p 18 ISBN 0 631 19841 5 Retrieved 22 August 2010 Minorsky V V Bosworth C E 31 January 2015 Hudud al Alam The Regions of the World A Persian Geography 372 A H 982 AD Gibb Memorial Trust p 91 ISBN 978 1 909724 75 4 Ninhar a place of which the king makes a show of Islam and has many wives namely over thirty Muslim Afghan and Hindu wives A Glossary Of The Tribes And Castes Of The Punjab And North West Frontier Province Vol 3 By H A Rose Denzil Ibbetson Sir Published by Atlantic Publishers amp Distributors 1997 Page 211 ISBN 81 85297 70 3 ISBN 978 81 85297 70 5 AMEER NASIR OOD DEEN SUBOOKTUGEEN Ferishta History of the Rise of Mohammedan Power in India Volume 1 Section 15 Packard Humanities Institute Archived from the original on 14 May 2013 Retrieved 31 December 2012 The Afghans and Khiljis who resided among the mountains having taken the oath of allegiance to Subooktugeen many of them were enlisted in his army after which he returned in triumph to Ghizny R Khanam Encyclopaedic ethnography of Middle East and Central Asia P Z Volume 3 Page 18 Houtsma M Th 1993 E J Brill s first encyclopaedia of Islam 1913 1936 BRILL pp 150 51 ISBN 90 04 09796 1 Retrieved 23 August 2010 Ibn Battuta 2004 Travels in Asia and Africa 1325 1354 reprint illustrated ed Routledge p 180 ISBN 0 415 34473 5 Retrieved 10 September 2010 Nath Samir 2002 Dictionary of Vedanta Sarup amp Sons p 273 ISBN 81 7890 056 4 Retrieved 10 September 2010 7 The History of Herodotus Translated by George Rawlinson The History Files 4 February 1998 original written 440 BC Archived from the original on 5 February 2012 Retrieved 25 May 2006 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint others link Old Iranian Online University of Texas at Austin Archived from the original on 24 September 2018 Retrieved 10 February 2007 Pashtun people Encyclopedia Britannica Retrieved 8 November 2020 though most scholars believe it more likely that they arose from an intermingling of ancient Aryans from the north or west with subsequent invaders Lal Mohan 1846 Life of the Amir Dost Mohammed Khan of Kabul Vol 1 Crabtree Publishing Company p 3 ISBN 0 7787 9335 4 Retrieved 10 September 2010 Encolypedia Iranica AFGHANISTAN vi Paṣ tō 69 Paṣ tō undoubtedly belongs to the Northeastern Iranic branch It shares with Munǰi the change of d gt l but this tendency extends also to Sogdian Comrie Bernard 2009 The World s Major Languages Pashto belongs to the North Eastern group within the Iranian Languages Afghanistan volume 28 Historical Society of Afghanistan 1975 Pashto originally belonged to the north eastern branch of the Iranic languages Waghmar Burzine Frye Richard N 2001 Bactrian History and Language An Overview Journal of the K R Cama Oriental Institute 64 40 48 Encolypedia Iranica AFGHANISTAN vi Paṣ tō It shares with Munǰi the change of d gt l but this tendency extends also to Sogdian The Waṇ dialect shares with Munǰi the change of t gt y 0 If we want to assume that this agreement points to some special connection and not to a secondary parallel development we should have to admit that one branch of pre Paṣ tō had already before the splitting off of Waṇ retained some special connection with Munǰi an assumption unsupported by any other facts Apart from l lt d the only agreement between Paṣ tō and Munǰi appears to be Pṣ t ze Munǰi zo a I Note also Pṣ t l but Munǰi x lt 8 Pṣ t plan wide cal w or four but Munǰi paҳey cfur Yidḡa csir lt ceҳfur Paṣ tō has dr wr lt 8r fr like Khotanese Saka see above 23 An isolated but important agreement with Sangl is the remarkable change of rs z gt Pṣ t ҳt ǧd Sangl ṣ t ẓ d obeҳta juniper Sangl weṣ t w uǧd long veẓ duk see above 25 But we find similar development also in Shugh ambaҳc vug j The most plausible explanation seems to be that rs with unvoiced r became ṣ s and with differentiation ṣ c and rz through ẓ z gt ẓ j from which Shugh ҳc g j Pṣ t and Sangl then shared a further differentiation into ṣ t ẓ d gt Pṣ t ҳt gd Encolypedia Iranica AFGHANISTAN vi Paṣ tō It is however possible that the original home of Paṣ tō may have been in Badaḵsan somewhere between Munǰi and Sangl and Shugh with some contact with a Saka dialect akin to Khotanese Indo Iranica Kolkata India Iran Society 1946 pp 173 174 and their language is most closely related to on the one hand with Saka on the other with Munji Yidgha Becka Jiri 1969 A Study in Pashto Stress Academia p 32 Pashto in its origin is probably a Saka dialect Cheung Jonny 2007 Etymological Dictionary of the Iranian Verb Leiden Indo European Etymological Dictionary Series Cheung Jonny 2007 Etymological dictionary of the Iranian verb Leiden Indo European Etymological Dictionary Series Enyclopedia Iranica AFGHANISTAN vi Paṣ tō But it seems that the Old Iranic ancestor dialect of Paṣ tō must have been close to that of the Gathas Gankovsky Yu V 1982 A History of Afghanistan Progress Publishers p 382 Quddus Syed Abdul 1987 The Pathans Moscow Ferozsons p 29 ISBN 9789690006813 Runion Meredith L 24 April 2017 The History of Afghanistan 2nd Edition ABC CLIO ISBN 9781610697781 Morgenstierne Georg 1979 The Linguistic Stratification of Afghanistan Afghan Studies 2 23 33 Kurbano Aydogdy THE HEPHTHALITES ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL ANALYSIS PDF Department of History and Cultural Studies of the Free University Berlin PhD Thesis 242 Archived PDF from the original on 9 October 2022 The Hephthalites may also have participated in the origin of the Afghans The Afghan tribe Abdal is one of the big tribes that has lived there for centuries Renaming the Abdals to Durrani occurred in 1747 when descendants from the Sadozai branch Zirak of this tribe Ahmad khan Abdali became the shah of Afghanistan In 1747 the tribe changed its name to Durrani when Ahmad khan became the first king of Afghanistan and accepted the title Dur i Duran the pearl of pearls from Arabian durr pearl Minorsky V The Khalaj West of the Oxus Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies University of London 10 2 417 437 doi 10 1017 S0041977X00087607 S2CID 162589866 Archived from the original on 13 June 2011 The fact is that the important Ghilzai tribe occupies now the region round Ghazni where the Khalaj used to live and that historical data all point to the transformation of the Turkish Khalaj into Afghan Ghilzai a b ḴALAJ i TRIBE Encyclopaedia Iranica December 15 2010 Pierre Oberling de la Vaissiere 2003 pp 119 137 sfn error no target CITEREFde la Vaissiere2003 help Rezakhani 2017 p 135harvnb error no target CITEREFRezakhani2017 help The suggestion that the Hephthalites were originally of Turkic origin and only later adopted Bactrian as their administrative and possibly native language de la Vaissiere 2007 122 seems to be most prominent at present Foundation Encyclopaedia Iranica Welcome to Encyclopaedia Iranica iranicaonline org Bonasli Sonel 2016 The Khalaj and their language Endangered Turkic Languages II A Aralik 273 275 Minorsky V The Khalaj West of the Oxus excerpts from The Turkish Dialect of the Khalaj Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies University of London Vol 10 No 2 pp 417 437 Khyber ORG Archived from the original on 13 June 2011 Retrieved 10 January 2007 Houtsma Martijn Theodoor 1987 E J Brill s first encyclopaedia of Islam 1913 1936 Vol 2 BRILL p 150 ISBN 90 04 08265 4 Retrieved 24 September 2010 Wink Andre 2002 Al Hind the Making of the Indo Islamic World Early Medieval India and the Expansion of Islam 7th 11th Centuries Vol 1 Brill pp 95 96 ISBN 978 0391041738 Retrieved 6 November 2016 Oreck Alden The Virtual Jewish History Tour Afghanistan Jewish Virtual Library Retrieved 10 January 2007 a b c d Stanizai Zaman 9 October 2020 Are Pashtuns the Lost Tribe of Israel doi 10 33774 coe 2020 vntk7 v4 S2CID 234658271 a href Template Cite journal html title Template Cite journal cite journal a Cite journal requires journal help McCarthy Rory 17 January 2010 Pashtun clue to lost tribes of Israel The Observer Life of the Amir Dost Mohammed Khan of Kabul Volume 1 By Mohan Lal 1846 pg 5 Lacau Harlette Gayden Tenzin Regueiro Maria Chennakrishnaiah Shilpa Bukhari Areej Underhill Peter A Garcia Bertrand Ralph L Herrera Rene J October 2012 Afghanistan from a Y chromosome perspective European Journal of Human Genetics 20 10 1063 1070 doi 10 1038 ejhg 2012 59 PMC 3449065 PMID 22510847 Caroe Olaf 1984 The Pathans 500 B C A D 1957 Oxford in Asia Historical Reprints Oxford University Press Mansoor A Mazhar K Khaliq S et al April 2004 Investigation of the Greek ancestry of populations from northern Pakistan Hum Genet 114 5 484 90 doi 10 1007 s00439 004 1094 x PMID 14986106 S2CID 5715518 Firasat Sadaf Khaliq Shagufta Mohyuddin Aisha Papaioannou Myrto Tyler Smith Chris Underhill Peter A Ayub Qasim January 2007 Y chromosomal evidence for a limited Greek contribution to the Pathan population of Pakistan European Journal of Human Genetics 15 1 121 126 doi 10 1038 sj ejhg 5201726 PMC 2588664 PMID 17047675 Barmazid Theory of Coptic origin of Pashtuns Ahmad Khaled 31 August 2009 Pathans and Hindu Rajputs Khyber Retrieved 24 March 2018 In a nutshell Bellew s thesis is that all Afghan tribal names can be traced to Greek and Rajput names which posits the further possibility of a great Greek mixing with the ancient border tribes of India Bellew Henry Walter 1864 A general report on the Yusufzais Sang e Meel Publications Ahmed Khaled Daily Times Leading News Resource of Pakistan Daily Times Retrieved 1 December 2012 Nancy Hatch Dupree Aḥmad ʻAli Kuhzad 1972 An Historical Guide to Kabul The Name Strabo 64 BC 24 AD American International School of Kabul Archived from the original on 30 August 2010 Retrieved 18 September 2010 Alexander took these away from the Aryans and established settlements of his own but Seleucus Nicator gave them to Sandrocottus Chandragupta upon terms of intermarriage and of receiving in exchange 500 elephants Edward G Browne M A M B A Literary History of Persia Volume 4 Modern Times 1500 1924 Chapter IV An Outline Of The History Of Persia During The Last Two Centuries A D 1722 1922 London Packard Humanities Institute Archived from the original on 26 July 2013 Retrieved 9 September 2010 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link Louis Dupree Nancy Hatch Dupree et al Last Afghan empire Encyclopaedia Britannica Online Retrieved 10 September 2010 Thakurta R N Guha 1978 The Contemporary Volume 22 National Galvanizing Pvt Limited Rajesh K Guru Sarfarosh A Naadi Exposition of the Lives of Indian Revolutionaries Notion Press p 524 ISBN 9789352061730 Ashfaqullah s father Shafeequlla Khan was a member of a Pathan military family Abdul Ghaffar Khan Encyclopaedia Britannica Online Retrieved 24 September 2008 Abdul Ghaffar Khan I Love India Retrieved 24 September 2008 Mohammad Yousaf Khan Khattak Pakpost gov pk Archived from the original on 18 January 2017 Retrieved 14 December 2021 Young Afghan refugees and asylum seekers in the UK UN university 18 June 2018 Hakala Walter N 2012 Languages as a Key to Understanding Afghanistan s Cultures PDF National Geographic Retrieved 13 March 2018 In the 1980s and 90s at least three million Afghans mostly Pashtun fled to Pakistan where a substantial number spent several years being exposed to Hindustani language media especially Bollywood films and songs and being educated in Urdu language schools both of which contributed to the decline of Dari even among urban Pashtuns Rahi Arwin 25 February 2020 Why Afghanistan should leave Pakistani Pashtuns alone The Express Tribune Archived from the original on 3 May 2020 Retrieved 26 June 2020 Malik Ghulam Muhammad Governor General of Pakistan Pakistan Herald 23 July 2017 Archived from the original on 23 July 2017 Retrieved 9 August 2020 Ex Gov Gen Ghulam Muhammad s 54th death anniversary today Samaa TV Retrieved 9 August 2020 Sheikh Majid 22 October 2017 The history of Lahore s Kakayzais DAWN COM Retrieved 28 February 2018 Kumarasingham H 2016 Bureaucratic Statism Constitution making in Asia Decolonisation and State Building in the Aftermath of the British Empire 1 ed U S Routledge ISBN 978 1 317 24509 4 Sharma Vishwamitra 2007 Famous Indians of the 21st century Pustak Mahal p 60 ISBN 978 81 223 0829 7 Retrieved 18 September 2010 Faruqi Z iaʼulḥasan 1999 Dr Zakir Hussain quest for truth by Ziaʼulḥasan Faruqi APH Publishing p 8 ISBN 81 7648 056 8 Johri P K 1999 Educational thought Anmol Publications PVT LTD p 267 ISBN 81 261 2175 0 To Islamabad and the Frontier The Hindu Chennai India 26 May 2003 Archived from the original on 3 July 2003 Retrieved 1 August 2007 Ruled now by parties of the religious right the Frontier province emerges soon after one proceeds westwards from Islamabad I was lucky to find Ajmal Khan Khattak in his humble home in Akora Khattak beyond the Indus Once Badshah Khan s young lieutenant Mr Khattak spent years with him in Afghanistan and offered a host of memories And I was able to meet Badshah Khan s surviving children Wali Khan the famous political figure of the NWFP and his half sister Mehr Taj whose husband Yahya Jan a schoolmaster who became a Minister in the Frontier was the brother of the late Mohammed Yunus who had made India his home Darbari Raj 1983 Commonwealth and Nehru Vision Books p 28 ISBN 81 261 2175 0 The Pathan unarmed opposition amp memory in the North West Frontier Khyber Pakhtunkhwa James Currey He was visiting his cousin Mohammed Yunus a Pathan who had chosen to move to Delhi at Partition and become a well known figure in the Congress regime Encyclopaedia of Muslim Biography A P H Pub Corp Mohammad Yunus is belong to a rich and distinguished Pathan family and son of Haji Ghulam Samdani 1827 1926 Watkins Andrew 17 August 2022 One Year Later Taliban Reprise Repressive Rule but Struggle to Build a State United States Institute of Peace Retrieved 27 February 2023 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint url status link Cruickshank Dan Afghanistan At the Crossroads of Ancient Civilisations BBC Retrieved 10 October 2006 Afghan Government 2009 PDF scis org Central Intelligence Agency CIA Archived from the original PDF on 28 July 2011 Leaving Afghanistan s Bagarm Airfield Was a Grave Military Mistake Trump Khaama Press 29 January 2023 Retrieved 29 January 2023 Redeeming the Pashtun the ultimate warriors Macleans ca Retrieved 14 December 2021 a b c Lacau Harlette Gayden Tenzin Reguerio Maria Underhill Peter October 2012 Afghanistan from a Y chromosome perspective European Journal of Human Genetics 20 October 2012 1063 70 doi 10 1038 ejhg 2012 59 PMC 3449065 PMID 22510847 a b Nagy Peter L Olasz Judit Neparaczki Endre Rouse Nicholas Kapuria Karan Cano Samantha Chen Huijie Di Cristofaro Julie Runfeldt Goran Ekomasova Natalia Maroti Zoltan Jeney Janos Litvinov Sergey Dzhaubermezov Murat Gabidullina Lilya Szentirmay Zoltan Szabados Gyorgy Zgonjanin Dragana Chiaroni Jacques Behar Doron M Khusnutdinova Elza Underhill Peter A Kasler Miklos January 2021 Determination of the phylogenetic origins of the Arpad Dynasty based on Y chromosome sequencing of Bela the Third European Journal of Human Genetics 29 1 164 172 doi 10 1038 s41431 020 0683 z PMC 7809292 PMID 32636469 Underhill Peter A Poznik G David Rootsi Siiri Jarve Mari Lin Alice A Wang Jianbin Passarelli Ben Kanbar Jad Myres Natalie M King Roy J Di Cristofaro Julie Sahakyan Hovhannes Behar Doron M Kushniarevich Alena Sarac Jelena Saric Tena Rudan Pavao Pathak Ajai Kumar Chaubey Gyaneshwer Grugni Viola Semino Ornella Yepiskoposyan Levon Bahmanimehr Ardeshir Farjadian Shirin Balanovsky Oleg Khusnutdinova Elza K Herrera Rene J Chiaroni Jacques Bustamante Carlos D Quake Stephen R Kivisild Toomas Villems Richard January 2015 The phylogenetic and geographic structure of Y chromosome haplogroup R1a European Journal of Human Genetics 23 1 124 131 doi 10 1038 ejhg 2014 50 PMC 4266736 PMID 24667786 Di Cristofaro Julie Pennarun Erwan Mazieres Stephane Myres Natalie M Lin Alice A Temori Shah Aga Metspalu Mait Metspalu Ene Witzel Michael King Roy J Underhill Peter A Villems Richard Chiaroni Jacques 2013 Afghan Hindu Kush Where Eurasian Sub Continent Gene Flows Converge PLOS ONE 8 10 e76748 Bibcode 2013PLoSO 876748D doi 10 1371 journal pone 0076748 PMC 3799995 PMID 24204668 Whale John William 2012 Mitochondrial DNA analysis of four ethnic groups of Afghanistan Thesis a b Schiffman Harold 9 December 2011 Language Policy and Language Conflict in Afghanistan and Its Neighbors The Changing Politics of Language Choice BRILL pp 55 56 ISBN 978 90 04 20145 3 Barfield 2007 11 depicts Pashtun identity as sort of Venn diagram where those claiming Pashtun descent belong to the largest circle those using the Pashto language appear as a smaller subset and those adhering to the Pashtun code of conduct are the most authentic Pashtun of all Hakala Walter 9 December 2011 Language Policy and Language Conflict in Afghanistan and Its Neighbors The Changing Politics of Language Choice Brill p 55 ISBN 978 90 04 21765 2 As is well known the Pashtun people place a great deal of pride upon their language as an identifier of their distinct ethnic and historical identity While it is clear that not all those who self identify as ethnically Pashtun themselves use Pashto as their primary language language does seem to be one of the primary markers of ethnic identity in contemporary Afghanistan Understanding Pashto University of Pennsylvania 2006 Archived from the original on 12 December 2006 Retrieved 18 January 2007 The Pashtun Code The New Yorker Archived from the original on 17 November 2006 Retrieved 18 January 2007 Shackle C 1980 Hindko in Kohat and Peshawar Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies University of London 43 3 482 510 doi 10 1017 S0041977X00137401 JSTOR 615737 S2CID 129436200 Afghanistan ethnic groups Library of Congress Retrieved 22 September 2021 Minority Rights Group Pashtuns Minority Rights Group 19 June 2015 Adebayo Akanmu G Benjamin Jesse J Lundy Brandon D 4 April 2014 Indigenous Conflict Management Strategies Global Perspectives Lexington Books p 203 ISBN 978 0 7391 8805 7 Wardak Ali 2003 Jirga A Traditional Mechanism of Conflict Resolution in Afghanistan PDF United Nations p 7 Archived from the original PDF on 7 October 2006 Retrieved 10 October 2006 a b Tribal Dynamics of the Afghanistan and Pakistan Insurgencies Combating Terrorism Center at West Point 15 August 2009 Archived from the original on 21 October 2021 Retrieved 14 December 2021 O Connell Aaron B 3 April 2017 Our Latest Longest War Losing Hearts and Minds in Afghanistan University of Chicago Press ISBN 9780226265650 Retrieved 14 December 2021 via Google Books Claus Peter J Diamond Sarah Ann Mills Margaret 2003 South Asian Folklore An Encyclopedia Afghanistan India Nepal Pakistan Sri Lanka Taylor amp Francis p 447 ISBN 9780415939195 Henderson Michael The Phonology of Pashto PDF Madison Wisconsin University of Wisconsin Archived from the original PDF on 4 October 2012 Retrieved 20 August 2012 Henderson Michael 1983 Four Varieties of Pashto Journal of the American Oriental Society 103 3 595 8 doi 10 2307 602038 JSTOR 602038 Pashto language Encyclopaedia Britannica Retrieved 7 December 2010 Modarresi Yahya Iran Afghanistan and Tadjikistan 1911 1916 In Sociolinguistics Vol 3 Part 3 Ulrich Ammon Norbert Dittmar Klaus J Mattheier Peter Trudgill eds Berlin De Gryuter 2006 p 1915 ISBN 3 11 018418 4 1 Population by Mother Tongue Archived 10 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine Population Census Pakistan Bureau of Statistics Government of Pakistan Hallberg Daniel 1992 Sociolinguistic Survey of Northern Pakistan PDF Vol 4 Quaid i Azam University amp Summer Institute of Linguistics p 36 to 37 ISBN 969 8023 14 3 Archived from the original PDF on 12 July 2018 Retrieved 6 October 2014 د کرښې پرغاړه په پاکستان کې د مورنیو ژبو حیثیت mashaalradio org 22 July 2014 Retrieved 18 July 2016 Hywel Coleman 2010 TEACHING AND LEARNING IN PAKISTAN THE ROLE OF LANGUAGE IN EDUCATION Report British Council Pakistan Archived from the original on 4 November 2010 Retrieved 24 September 2012 Mohmand Mureeb 27 April 2014 The decline of Pashto The Express Tribune because of the state s patronage Urdu is now the most widely spoken language in Pakistan But the preponderance of one language over all others eats upon the sphere of influence of other smaller languages which alienates the respective nationalities and fuels aversion towards the central leadership If we look to our state policies regarding the promotion of Pashto and the interests of the Pakhtun political elite it is clear that the future of the Pashto language is dark And when the future of a language is dark the future of the people is dark Carter Lynn Socio Economic Profile of Kurram Agency Planning and Development Department Peshawar NWFP 1991 82 Carter and Raza Socio Economic Profile of South Waziristan Agency Planning and Development Department Peshawar NWFP 1990 69 Sources say that this is mainly because the Pushto text books in use in the settled areas of N W F P are written in the Yusufzai dialect which is not the dialect in use in the Agency Education in Pashto language stressed www thenews com pk Retrieved 18 March 2021 Khpalwaak Pakhtunistan Ghurzang on Sunday demanded the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to introduce Pashto as a medium of instruction for the Pakhtun children as that was needed for their socio economic development Report Dawn 22 February 2021 Govt urged to declare Pashto as medium of instruction in schools DAWN COM Retrieved 18 March 2021 Besides Peshawar literary and cultural organisations in Swat Malakand Buner Swabi Mardan Nowshera Charsadda Dera Ismail Khan Bannu Karak and tribal districts organised events to mark the importance of mother tongue They were of the view that Pashto curriculum from 1st grade to 12th grade was already evolved but it was yet to be implemented Hallberg Daniel Sociolinguistic Survey of Northern Pakistan PDF National Institute of Pakistan Studies Quaid i Azam University and Summer Institute of Linguisitics 4 36 Archived PDF from the original on 9 October 2022 A brief interview with the principal of the high school in Madyan along with a number of his teachers helps to underscore the importance of Pashto in the school domain within Pashtoon territory He reported that Pashto is used by teachers to explain things to students all the way up through tenth class The idea he was conveying was that students do not really have enough ability in Urdu to operate totally in that language He also expressed the thought that Pashto speaking students in the area really do not learn Urdu very well in public school and that they are thus somewhat ill prepared to meet the expectation that they will know how to use Urdu and English when they reach the college level He likened the education system to a wall that has weak bricks at the bottom Language Policy and Language Conflict in Afghanistan and Its Neighbors The Changing Politics of Language Choice Brill 9 December 2011 p 278 ISBN 978 90 04 21765 2 AFGHANISTAN vi Paṧto G Morgenstierne Encyclopaedia Iranica Retrieved 10 October 2010 Paṧtō undoubtedly belongs to the Northeastern Iranic branch Carol Benson Kimmo Kosonen 13 June 2013 Language Issues in Comparative Education Inclusive Teaching and Learning in Non Dominant Languages and Cultures Springer Science amp Business Media p 64 ISBN 978 94 6209 218 1 Ehsan M Entezar 2008 Afghanistan 101 Understanding Afghan Culture Xlibris Corporation p 89 ISBN 978 1 4257 9302 9 David Anne Boyle 2014 Descriptive Grammar of Pashto and Its Dialects De Gruyter Mouton p 185 ISBN 978 1 61451 303 2 Pashto The Major Languages of South Asia the Middle East and Africa Routledge pp 116 130 2 September 2003 doi 10 4324 9780203412336 14 ISBN 978 0 203 41233 6 retrieved 17 February 2021 Lewis M Paul ed 2009 Language Family Trees Ethnologue Languages of the World Sixteenth edition Dallas Tex SIL International Waneci Glottolog wane1241 glottolog org Retrieved 20 March 2021 Waneci ISO 639 3 wne Ethnologue Retrieved 20 March 2021 Kaye Alan S 30 June 1997 Phonologies of Asia and Africa including the Caucasus Eisenbrauns p 736 ISBN 978 1 57506 019 4 Khan Barrister Ibrahim 7 September 2021 Tarino and Karlaṇi dialects Pashto 50 661 ISSN 0555 8158 Khan Barrister Ibrahim 7 September 2021 Tarino and Karaṇi dialects Pashto 50 661 ISSN 0555 8158 In most of the Karlaṇ dialects a regular vowel shift took place Corey Miller terms this as the Waziri Shift This affects other Karlaṇ varieties also My readings of the Formants show that Bani speaker s vowel is closer to the Farsi speaker s ɔː The first formant is 453 meaning it is articulated higher that is the tongue closer is to the roof of the mouth than ɒ As the second formant is close to the first formant F2 F1 difference i e 1086 541 608 it is a back vowel with the lips rounded Therefore Elfenbein was not wrong to assert that Bannuci mainly goes with N Waziri He points out that the vowel ɑ in dialects such as Kandahari and Yusafzai turns into ɔː in North Waziri and ɒː in South Waziri Siddique Abubakar 2014 The Pashtun Question The Unresolved Key to the Future of Pakistan and Afghanistan Hurst p 28 ISBN 978 1 84904 292 5 a b MacKenzie D N 1959 A Standard Pashto Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies University of London 22 1 3 231 235 JSTOR 609426 Pashto Center for Languages of the Central Asian Region Retrieved 14 December 2021 Q amp A What is a loya jirga BBC News 1 July 2002 Retrieved 11 May 2010 Q amp A on Afghanistan s Loya Jirga Process Human Rights Watch Retrieved 10 October 2006 Sunni Militants Claim Deadly Attack at Market in Pakistan The New York Times 13 December 2015 Retrieved 14 December 2015 Muhammad Muhsin Khan ed The Noble Quran in 9 VOLUMES Arabic English firstedition com my Archived from the original on 28 June 2006 Retrieved 18 January 2007 U S Embassy in Kabul flickr com 4 June 2011 110605 F BH761 037 flickr com Isafmedia 7 June 2011 Rashid Ahmed 2006 Pashtuns want an image change BBC News Trimbur John 10 August 2004 The call to write Pearson Longman ISBN 978 0 321 20305 2 Retrieved 20 April 2008 Sikh Pashtuns Haidar Suhasini 3 February 2018 Tattooed blue skinned Hindu Pushtuns look back at their roots The Hindu Himal The South Asian Magazine Himal Incorporated 2002 p 91 Most Hindus and Sikhs left Afghanistan during the 1992 1996 fighting a b India s Forgotten Links to Afghanistan thebetterindia 8 August 2018 Tirah Sikhs glad at getting status of tribal elders Dawn Pakistan 12 July 2015 The Frontier Singhs Newsline Publications Pvt Ltd October 2008 Archived from the original on 22 October 2009 Retrieved 7 June 2009 There is a small Sikh community in the largely ungoverned Orakzai tribal region while a few live in Kurram s regional headquarters of Parachinar They consider themselves sons of the soil Pashtuns to be more specific and are identified as such We are proud to be Pashtuns says Sahib Singh Pashto is our tongue our mother tongue and we are proud of it Chronology the reigns of Abdur Rahman Khan and Habibullah 1881 1919 Archived from the original on 15 July 2007 Retrieved 14 December 2021 Nicholas Sims Williams Eastern Iranian languages in Encyclopaedia Iranica Online Edition 2010 The Modern Eastern Iranian languages are even more numerous and varied Most of them are classified as North Eastern Ossetic Yaghnobi which derives from a dialect closely related to Sogdian the Shughni group Shughni Roshani Khufi Bartangi Roshorvi Sarikoli with which Yaz 1ghulami Sokolova 1967 and the now extinct Wanji J Payne in Schmitt p 420 are closely linked Ishkashmi Sanglichi and Zebaki Wakhi Munji and Yidgha and Pashto Penzl Herbert Sloan Ismail 2009 A Grammar of Pashto a Descriptive Study of the Dialect of Kandahar Afghanistan Ishi Press International p 210 ISBN 978 0 923891 72 5 Estimates of the number of Pashto speakers range from 40 million to 60 million Pashto language alphabet and pronunciation Omniglot Retrieved 18 January 2007 Avestan language Encyclopaedia Britannica Retrieved 18 February 2007 Minahan James 10 February 2014 Pamiri Ethnic Groups of North East and Central Asia An Encyclopedia Santa Barbara California ISBN 978 1 61069 018 8 OCLC 879947835 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint location missing publisher link Awde Nicholas and Asmatullah Sarwan 2002 Pashto Dictionary amp Phrasebook New York Hippocrene Books Inc ISBN 0 7818 0972 X Retrieved 18 February 2007 History of Pushto language UCLA Language Materials Project Retrieved 18 January 2007 a, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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