Pashtuns 

(/ˈpʌʃˌtʊn/, /ˈpɑːʃˌtʊn/ or /ˈpæʃˌtuːn/; Pashto: ‫پښ تانه‬, Pəx̌tānə́;[23] or Pathans[a]), historically

known as Afghans,[b] are an Iranian ethnic group[32] native to Central and South Asia.[33][34]

The ethnic group's native language is Pashto, an Iranian language on the Indo-Iranian branch, itself a
branch of the larger Indo-European language family. Additionally, ethnic Pashtuns
in Afghanistan speak the Dari[35] dialect of Persian as a second language,[36][37] while those in
the Indian subcontinent use Hindi-Urdu as a second langauge.[38][39] However a signifcant minorty
speaks Persian or Hindi-Urdu as their first language.[40]

The total number of Pashtuns is estimated to be around 63 million; however, this figure is disputed
because of the lack of an official census in Afghanistan since 1979.[41]

Pashtuns are native to the land comprising southern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan (which

is occasionally referred to as the Pashtunistan region), which is where the majority of the population
resides. Significant and historical communities of the Pashtun diaspora exist in
the Sindh and Punjab provinces of Pakistan (particularly in the cities of Karachi and Lahore) and in
the Rohilkhand region of the Uttar Pradesh state in India (as well as in major cities such
as Delhi and Mumbai). A recent diaspora has formed in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf (primarily
in the United Arab Emirates) as part of the larger South Asian diaspora.[42]

Pashtuns are the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan, constituting around 48% of the country's total
population.[43] They have been the dominant ethnolinguistic group in Afghanistan since the nation's
founding. Additionally, Pashtuns are the second-largest ethnic group in Pakistan,[44] forming 15% to
18% of the country's total population,[45] and are considered one of the five major ethnolinguistic
groups of the nation.[46]

Pashtuns are the 26th-largest ethnic group in the world, and the largest segmentary lineage group.
There are an estimated 350–400 Pashtun tribes and clans.[47][48]

Prominent Pashtun figures include Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Abdul Ghani Khan, Ahmad Shah

Abdali, Alauddin Khalji, Ayub Khan, Bahlul Lodi,Daoud Khan, Imran Khan, Khushal
Khan, Madhubala, Malala Yousafzai, Malalai, Mirwais Hotak, Pir Roshan, Rahman Baba, Salman
Khan, Shahid Afridi, Sher Shah Suri, Zakir Hussain [49]

Contents

 1Geographic distribution

o 1.1Traditional homeland

o 1.2Indian subcontinent

o 1.3Iran

o 1.4In other regions

o 1.5Tribes

 2History and origins

o 2.1Linguistic origin

o 2.2Ancient historical references: Pashtun

 o 2.3Middle historical references: Afghan

o 2.4Anthropology and oral traditions

 2.4.1Theory of Pashtun descent from Israelites

 2.4.2Other theories of descent

 3Modern era

 4Genetics

 5Definitions

o 5.1Ethnic

o 5.2Cultural

o 5.3Ancestral

 6Language

 7Culture

o 7.1Pashtunwali

o 7.2Pashto literature and poetry

o 7.3Media and arts

o 7.4Sports

 8Religion

o 8.1Pre-Islamic period

o 8.2Modern era

 9Women

 10Notable people

 11See also

 12Notes

 13References

 14Further reading

 15External links

Geographic distribution

Part of a series on

Pashtuns

 Art
  Culture

 Diaspora

 Land

 Language

 Tribes

Kingdoms

 Lodi

 Suri

 Hotaki

 Durrani

 Barakzai

 Karrani dynasty

 Azad khan Afghan

 v

 t

 e

Further information:  Pashtunistan  and  Durand Line

Traditional homeland

Pashtun children in Afghanistan

The majority of Pashtuns are found in the native Pashtun homeland, located south of the river Amu
Darya which is in Afghanistan and west of the Indus River in Pakistan. This includes Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa and northern Balochistan. Metropolitan centres within this area
[50]
include Jalalabad, Quetta, Kandahar, Mardan, Mingora and Peshawar.

Indian subcontinent

Pashtuns of the Indian subcontinent, outside the traditional homeland, are referred to

as Pathans (the Hindustani word for Pashtun) both by themselves and other ethnic groups of the
subcontinent.[51]

Historically, Pashtuns have settled in various cities east of the Indus River before and during
the British Raj. These include Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Bombay (now
called Mumbai), Delhi, Calcutta, Rohilkhand, Jaipur and Bangalore. 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.[52]

In India significant Pashtun diaspora communities exist.[53][54][55] 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;[56] both Bombay and Calcutta were primary locations of Pashtun
migrants from Afghanistan during the colonial era.[57] There are also populations over 100,000 each
in the cities of Jaipur in Rajasthan and Bangalore in Karnataka.[56] 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,[58] Karachi is
home to the largest community of Pashtuns outside of the native homeland (with estimates of
around 7 million).[59][60]

Iran

Outside of South and Central Asia, Pashtuns are also found in smaller numbers in the eastern and
northern parts of Iran.[61] Records as early as the mid 1600s report Durrani Pashtuns living in
the Khorasan Province of Safavid Iran.[62] 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. [63] During the early 18th
century, in the course of a very few years, the number of Durrani Pashtuns in Iranian Khorasan,
greatly increased.[64] Later the region became part of the Durrani Empire itself. The second Durrani
king of Afghanistan , Timur Shah Durrani was born in Mashhad.[65] 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.[66] 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.[67]

In other regions

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.[68]

Due to the multiple wars in Afghanistan since the late 1970s, various waves of refugees (Afghan
Pashtuns, but also a sizeable number of Tajiks, Hazara, Uzbek, Turkmen and Afghan Sikhs) have left
the country as asylum seekers.[69]

There are 1.3 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan and 1 million in Iran. Others have claimed asylum
in the United Kingdom, United States and European Union countries through Pakistan. [70]

Tribes

Main article:  Pashtun tribes

A prominent institution of the Pashtun people is the intricate system of tribes.[71] The Pashtuns
remain a predominantly tribal people, but the trend of urbanisation has begun to alter Pashtun
society as cities such as Kandahar, Peshawar, Quetta and Kabul have grown rapidly due to the influx
of rural Pashtuns. Despite this, many people still identify themselves with various clans.

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, the tabar (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.[72]

History and origins

Main article:  Theories of Pashtun origin

Further information:  History of Afghanistan,  History of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and  History of

Balochistan

Tents of Afghan nomads in Badghis Province who are known in Pashto language as Kuchian. They

migrate from region to region depending on the season (transhumance).[73]

Excavations of prehistoric sites suggest that early humans were living in what is now Afghanistan at
least 50,000 years ago.[74] Since the 2nd millennium BC, cities in the region now inhabited by
Pashtuns have seen invasions and migrations, including by Ancient Indian peoples, Ancient Iranian
peoples, the Medes, Persians, and Ancient Macedonians in
antiquity, Kushans, Hephthalites, Arabs, Turks, Mongols, and others. In recent times, people of the
Western world have explored the area as well.[74][75][76]

The early precursors to modern-day Pashtuns may have been old Iranian tribes that spread
throughout the eastern Iranian plateau.[77][78]
According to Yu. V. Gankovsky:[79]

"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."

— Gankvosky, History of Afganistan

Gankovsky proposes Ephthalite origin for Pashtuns[79][80] but others draw a different

conclusion. Ghilji tribe has been connected to the Khalaj people.[81] According to Abdul Hai Habibi,
some oriental scholars hold that the second largest Pasthun tribe, the Ghiljis, are the descendants of
a mixed race of Hephthalite and Pakhtas who have been living in Afghanistan since the Vedic Aryan
period.[73] But according to Sims-Williams, archaeological documents do not support the suggestion
that the Khalaj were the Hephthalites' successors.[82] According to Georg Morgenstierne,
the Durrani tribe who were known as the "Abdali" before the formation of the Afghan Empire 1747,
[83]
 might be connected to with the Hephthalites;[84] Aydogdy Kurbanov endorses this view who
proposes that after the collapse of the Hephthalite confederacy, Hephthalite likely assimilated into
different local populations.[85]

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,[86]
[87]
 who may be their early ancestors. However, there are many conflicting theories amongst
historians and the Pashtuns themselves.[34]

Mohan Lal states:

"... 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."[88]

Willem Vogelsang states:

"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."[89]

Pashtuns are tied to the history of modern Afghanistan, Pakistan and northern India:
following Muslim conquests from the 7th to 11th centuries, many Pashtun warriors invaded and
conquered much of the northern parts of South Asia during the periods of the Suris and Durranis.[90]

Linguistic origin

Head of a Saka warrior

Pashto is generally classified as an Eastern Iranian language.[91][92][93] It shares features with the Munji

language, which is the closest existing language to the extinct Bactrian,[94] but also shares features
with the Sogdian language, as well as Khwarezmian, Shughni, Sanglechi, and Khotanese Saka.[95] It is
suggested by some that Pashto may have originated in the Badakhshan region and is connected to
a Saka language akin to Khotanese.[96] 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.
[97][98]
 Furthemore Pashto and Ossetian, another Scythian-descending language, share cognates in
their vocabulary which other Eastern Iranian languages lack[99] 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.[100] Others
however have suggested a much older Iranic ancestor given the affinity to Old Avestan.[101]

Ancient historical references: Pashtun

Pactyans, present day Pashtunistan. The Oriental Empires about 600 B.C., Historical Atlas by William
Shepherd (1923-26)[102][103]

There is mention of the tribe called Pakthās who were one of the tribes that fought against Sudas in
the Dasarajna - the Battle of the Ten Kings - of the Rigveda (RV 7.18.7) dated between c. 1500 and
1200 BCE.[104] The Pakthās are mentioned:[105]

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), and

with Pashtuns in Afghanistan and Pakistan.[106][107]

Herodutus in 430 BCE mentions in the Histories:[108]

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.[109] Herodotus also mentions a tribe of known as Aparytai
(Ἀπαρύται)[110] Thomas Holdich[111] has linked them with the Pashtun tribe: Afridis[112] as all these
tribes have been placed in the Indus valley. Herodotus states:[113]

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.[114] The text from Ptolemy:[115]

"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 Pasiani (Πασιανοὶ), this has been identified with Pashtuns given that Pashto is an Eastern-
Iranian language[116] and Pashtuns reside in the area[117] once termed Ariana.[118][119] Strabo states:[120]

"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).[119] Johnny Cheung,

[121]
 reflecting on Ptolemy's Parsioi (Πάρσιοι) and Strabo's Pasiani (Πασιανοὶ) 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.".[122]

Middle historical references: Afghan

Further information:  Afghan (ethnonym)

Heads of two males, discovered in Hadda (Pashto: ‫ )هډه‬10km south of Jalalabad, Afghanistan. Dated

3-4th century CE.[123]

In the Middle Ages until the advent of modern Afghanistan in the 18th century and the division of
Pashtun territory by the 1893 Durand Line, Pashtuns were often referred to as ethnic "Afghans".[124]

The earliest mention of the name Afghan (Abgân - αβγανο)[125] is by Shapur I of the Sassanid

Empire during the 3rd century CE.[28][29][126][127] In the 4th century the word "Afghans/Afghana"
(αβγανανο) as a reference to the Pashtun people is mentioned in the Bactrian documents, they
mention an Afghan chief named Bredag Watanan in connection with the Hephtalites and in the
context of some stolen horses. Interestingly the documents mention the Afghans far in the north of
Afghanistan around modern Kunduz, Baghlan and Samangan in historical Bactria[128][129]
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"

"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

Other reference from the same documents :

"because [you] (pl.), the clan of the Afghans, said thus to me:...And you should not have denied? the
men of Rob[130] [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][131] by
the Indian astronomer Varāha Mihira in his Brihat-samhita.[132][133]

"It would be unfavourable to the people of Chola, the Afghans (Avagāṇa), the white Huns and the
Chinese."[133]

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

Xuanzang, a Chinese Buddhist pilgrim, visiting the Afghanistan region several times between 630 and
644 CE also speaks about them.[28][134] In Shahnameh 1–110 and 1–116, it is written as Awgaan.
[28]
 According to several scholars such as V. Minorsky, the name "Afghan" is documented several
times in the 982 CE Hudud-al-Alam.[126]

"Saul, a pleasant village on a mountain. In it live Afghans".[89]

— Hudud ul-'alam, 982 CE

Hudud ul-'alam also speaks of a king in Ninhar (Nangarhar), who had Muslim, Afghan and Hindu
wives.[135] Al-Biruni wrote about Afghans in the 11th century as various tribes living in the western
mountains of India and extending to the region of Sind. It was reported that between 1039 and 1040
CE Mas'ud I of the Ghaznavid Empire sent his son to subdue a group of rebel Afghans near Ghazni.
An army of Arabs, Afghans, Khiljis and others was assembled by Arslan Shah Ghaznavid in 1119 CE.
Another army of Afghans and Khiljis was assembled by Bahram Shah Ghaznavid in 1153
CE. Muhammad of Ghor, ruler of the Ghorids, also had Afghans in his army along with others.[136] A
famous Moroccan travelling scholar, Ibn Battuta, visiting Afghanistan following the era of the Khalji
dynasty in early 1300s gives his description of the Afghans.

"We travelled on to Kabul, formerly a vast town, the site of which is now occupied by a village
inhabited by a tribe of Persians called Afghans. They hold mountains and defiles and possess
considerable strength, and are mostly highwaymen. Their principle mountain is called Kuh Sulayman.
It is told that the prophet Sulayman (Solomon), Sulemani ascended this mountain and having looked
out over India, which was then covered with darkness, returned without entering it."[137]

— Ibn Battuta, 1333

Muhammad Qasim Hindu Shah (Ferishta), writes about Afghans and their country
called Afghanistan in the 16th century.

"The men of Kábul and Khilj also went home; and whenever they were questioned about
the Musulmáns of the Kohistán (the mountains), and how matters stood there, they said, "Don't call
it Kohistán, but Afghánistán; for there is nothing there but Afgháns and disturbances." Thus it is clear
that for this reason the people of the country call their home in their own language Afghánistán, and
themselves Afgháns. The people of India call them Patán; but the reason for this is not known. But it
occurs to me, that when, under the rule of Muhammadan sovereigns, Musulmáns first came to the
city of Patná, and dwelt there, the people of India (for that reason) called them Patáns—
but God knows!"[138]

— Ferishta, 1560–1620

Anthropology and oral traditions

Afghan Amir Sher Ali Khan (in the center with his son) and his delegation in Ambala, near Lahore, in
1869

Pashto is classified under the Eastern Iranian sub-branch of the Iranian branch of the Indo-European

language family. Those who speak a Southern dialect of Pashto refer to themselves as Pashtuns,
while those who speak Northern Dialect call themselves Pukhtuns. These native people compose the
core of ethnic Pashtuns who are found in southeastern Afghanistan and western Pakistan. The
Pashtuns have oral and written accounts of their family tree. Lineage is considered very important.

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.[139] 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."[140] 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.[141] 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.[30] However, the
similarity of names can also be traced to the presence of Arabic through Islam.[142]

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.[143]

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."[144]

— Mountstuart Elphinstone, 1841

This theory has been criticised by not being substantiated by historical evidence.[142] Dr. Zaman
Stanizai criticises this theory:[142]

"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."

— [142]

According to genetic studies Pashtuns have a greater R1a1a*-M198 modal halogroup than Jews:[145]

"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 (descendants
of Muhammad).[146] Some groups from Peshawar and Kandahar believe to be descended
from Greeks who arrived with Alexander the Great.[147] Some like the Ghilji[148] also claim Turkish
descent having settled in the Hindu Kush area and began to assimilate much of the culture and
language of the Pashtun tribes already present there.[149]

One historical account connects the Pashtuns to a possible Ancient Egyptian past but this lacks
supporting evidence.[150]

"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."
[30]

Henry Walter Bellew (1864) was of the view that the Pashtuns likely have mixed Greek and Rajput
roots.[151][152][153] 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.[154] Vogelsang (2002) suggests that a single
origin of the Pashtuns is unlikely but rather they are a tribal confederation.[89]

Modern era

See also:  Pashtun nationalism

Leader of the non-violent Khudai Khidmatgar, also referred to as "the Red shirts" movement, Bacha
Khan, standing with Mohandas Gandhi

Their modern past stretches back to the Delhi Sultanate, particularly the Hotak dynasty and
the Durrani Empire. The Hotaks were Ghilji tribesmen who rebelled against the Safavids and seized
control over much of Persia from 1722 to 1729.[155] This was followed by the conquests of Ahmad
Shah Durrani who was a former high-ranking military commander under Nader Shah. He created the
last Afghan empire that covered most of what is now Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kashmir, Indian Punjab,
as well as the Kohistan and Khorasan provinces of Iran.[156] 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 Mohamedzai subclan held Afghanistan's monarchy from around 1826 to the
end of Zahir Shah's reign in 1973. Former President Hamid Karzai is from the Popalzai tribe
of Kandahar.[157]

Malala Yousafzai, a Pashtana, recipient of 2014 Nobel Peace Prize

Zalmay Khalilzad with George W. Bush inside the White House

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 the current Prime Minister, belongs to
the Niazi tribe.

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 super powers against each other, Afghanistan
remained an independent sovereign state and maintained some autonomy (see the Siege of
Malakand). But during the reign of Abdur Rahman Khan (1880–1901), Pashtun
regions were politically divided by the Durand Line, and what is today western Pakistan was claimed
by British in 1893. In the 20th century, many politically active Pashtun leaders living under British
rule of undivided India supported Indian independence, including Ashfaqulla Khan,[158][159] 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.
[160][161]
 Some Pashtuns also worked in the Muslim League to fight for an independent Pakistan,
including Yusuf Khattak and Abdur Rab Nishtar who was a close associate of Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
[162]

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. Mujahideen commanders began being recruited in
neighboring Pakistan for a guerrilla warfare against the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. In 1979,
the Soviet Union invaded its southern neighbor Afghanistan in order to defeat a rising insurgency.
The mujahideen were funded by the United States, Saudi Arabia, Iran and others, and included some
Pashtun commanders such as Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Jalaluddin Haqqani, who are currently
waging an insurgency against the Islamic republic of Afghanistan and the US-led Resolute Support
Mission. In the meantime, millions of Pashtuns fled their native land to live among other Afghan
diaspora in Pakistan and Iran, and from there tens of thousands proceeded to North America,
the European Union, the Middle East, Australia and other parts of the world.[70]

In the late 1990s, Pashtuns became known for being the primary ethnic group comprised by
the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (Taliban regime).[163] 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 with the Karzai administration.[164] This was followed by the Ghani administration.[165]

Many high-ranking government officials in Afghanistan are Pashtuns, including: Zalmay Rasoul, Abdul

Rahim Wardak, Omar Zakhilwal, Ghulam Farooq Wardak, Anwar ul-Haq Ahady, Yousef
Pashtun and Amirzai Sangin. The list of current governors of Afghanistan, as well as
the parliamentarians in the House of the People and House of Elders, include large percentage of
Pashtuns. The Chief of staff of the Afghan National Army, Sher Mohammad Karimi, and Commander
of the Afghan Air Force, Mohammad Dawran, as well as Chief Justice of Afghanistan Abdul Salam
Azimi and Attorney General Mohammad Ishaq Aloko also belong to the Pashtun ethnic group.

Pashtuns not only played an important role in South Asia but also in Central Asia and the Middle
East. Many of the non-Pashtun groups in Afghanistan have adopted the Pashtun culture and use
Pashto as a second language. For example, many leaders of non-Pashtun ethnic groups in
Afghanistan practice Pashtunwali to some degree and are fluent in Pashto language. These
include Ahmad Shah Massoud, Ismail Khan, Mohammed Fahim, Bismillah Khan Mohammadi, and
many others. The Afghan royal family, which was represented by King Zahir Shah, belongs to
the Mohammadzai tribe of Pashtuns. 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 to the United Nations Zalmay Khalilzad, and Ashraf Ghani
Ahmadzai among many others.

Many Pashtuns of Pakistan and India have adopted non-Pashtun cultures, and learned other
languages such as Urdu, Punjabi, and Hindko.[166] These include Ghulam Mohammad (First Finance
Minister, from 1947 to 1951 and Third Governor-General of Pakistan, from 1951 to 1955),[167][168][169]
[170][171]
 Ayub Khan, who was the second President of Pakistan, and Zakir Husain, who was the
third President of India. 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, Rashid Khan, and Mujeeb Ur Rahman) 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 Hussain, belonged to the Afridi tribe.[172][173][174] Mohammad Yunus, India's former
ambassador to Algeria and advisor to Indira Gandhi, is of Pashtun origin and related to the legendary
Bacha Khan.[175][176][177][178]

Genetics
Afghan Pashtun Y DNA:

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%.[179] R1a-Z2125 occurs at
highest frequencies in Kyrgyzstan and in Afghan Pashtuns. This subclade is also predominantly
present among Tajik, Turkmen, Uzbek, and Bashkir ethnic groups.[180] Aswell as in some populations
in the Caucasus and Iran.[181]

Haplogroup G2c-M377 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.[182] [183]

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.[184]

Afghan Pashtun mtDNA:

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 Baluch, 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.[185]

Afghan Pashtun Autosomal DNA:

A 2019 study on autosomal STR profiles of the populations of South and North Afghanistan states:[186]

"We observe an overall topology that reflects the general partitioning patterns seen in the MDS plot
with the Afghani groups exhibiting close genetic affinities to Near Eastern groups"