Pashtuns, a historical and cultural overview

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Written by: Pink Frost (on January 03, 2008 - 02:28 PM)

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Pashtuns, also called Pushtuns, Pakhtuns, Pukhtuns and Pathans or ethnic Afghans are an Eastern Iranian ethno-linguistic group with populations primarily in eastern and southern Afghanistan and in the North-West Frontier Province, Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Balochistan provinces of western Pakistan. The Pashtuns are typically characterized by their Pashto language and practice of Pashtunwali, which is a traditional code of conduct and honor Pashtuns are also an important community in Pakistan, where they are prominently represented in the military and are the second-largest ethnic group.

The Pashtuns are the world's largest (patriarchal) segmentary lineage ethnic group. The total population of the group is estimated to beat around 40 million, but an accurate count remains elusive due to the lack of an official census in Afghanistan since 1979. There are an estimated 60 major Pashtun tribes and more than 400 sub-clans. The vast majority of Pashtuns are found in an area stretching from western Pakistan to southwestern Afghanistan. Additional Pashtun communities are found in the Northern Areas, Azad Kashmir, and Sindh provinces of Pakistan as well as throughout Afghanistan and in Khorasan Province of eastern Iran. A large migrant-worker community resides in the countries of the Arabian Peninsula and in smaller communities in Europe and North America.

There is also a sizable community in India that is of largely putative ancestry. Important metropolitan centers of Pashtun culture include Peshawar and Kandahar. In addition, Quetta and Kabul are ethnically mixed cities with large Pashtun populations. With 1.5 million ethnic Pashtuns, Karachi hosts one of the largest Pashtun population the world. Pashtuns comprise over 15.42% of Pakistan's population or 25.6 million people. In Afghanistan, they make up an estimated 42% of the population or 13.3 million people. The exact measure of these figures remains uncertain, particularly those for Afghanistan, and are affected by approximately three million Afghan refugees (of which 81.5% or 2.49 million are ethnic Pashtuns) that remain in Pakistan. An unknown number of refugees continue to reside in Iran.

A cumulative population assessment suggests a total of around 42 million across the region. The history of the Pashtuns is ancient, and much of it has yet to be fully researched. From the 2nd millennium BC to the present, Pashtun regions have seen invasions and migrations including Aryan tribes (Iranian peoples, Indo-Aryans), Medes, Persians, Mauryas, Scythians, Kushans, Hephthalites, Greeks, Arabs, Turks, and Mongols. There are many conflicting theories about the origins of the Pashtun people, some modern and others archaic, both among historians and the Pashtuns themselves. Pashtuns have played an important role in the regions of South and Central Asia and the Middle East. In neighboring Pakistan, ethnic Pashtun politicians, notably Ayub Khan and Ghulam Ishaq Khan, have also attained the Presidency, as well as high government posts such as Army Chief (Gul Hasan Khan) and Ministries.

Prominent Pashtuns include the 17th-century warrior poet Khushal Khan Khattak, Afghan "Iron" Emir Abdur Rahman Khan, and in modern times U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (Zalmay Khalilzad) and former Afghan Cosmonaut (Abdul Ahad Mohmand) among many others.

Pashtuns are predominantly Sunni Muslims, most of them followers of the Hanafite branch of Sunni Islam. There is a small minority of Ithna Asharia Shia Pashtuns largely concentrated in Afghanistan.

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