Pashtuns
پښتانه
Paṣ̌tun

75px
1st row: Ibrahim Lodi · Sher Shah Suri · Mirwais Hotak 2nd row: Ahmad Shah Abdali · Akbar Khan · Ayub Khan 3rd row: Abdur Rahman Khan · Amanullah Khan · Soraya Tarzi 4th row: Nader Shah · Bacha Khan · Zahir Shah 5th row: Abdul Ahad Momand · Zalmay Khalilzad · Hamid Karzai
Total population
Approx. 50 million (2011)[1]
Regions with significant populations
Pakistan 28.88 million (2011) [2]  Afghanistan 12.53 million (2011) [3]  UAE 338,315 (2009) [4]  Iran 110,000 (2010) [5]  United Kingdom 100,000 (2009) [6]  Canada 26,000 (2006) [7]  India 11,086 (2001) [8]  United States 7,710 (2000) [9]  Malaysia 5,100 (2008)  Tajikistan 4,000 (1970) [5]
Languages
Pashto Urdu and Dari spoken as second languages
Religion
Islam (Sunni Hanafi) with small Shia minority
Related ethnic groups
Balochs, Hindkowans, Pashais, Nuristanis, Burushos, other Iranian peoples

Pashtuns (Pashto: پښتانه Pax̌tānə; also spelled Pushtuns, Pakhtuns or Pukhtuns), also known as ethnic Afghans (Persian: افغان‎) or Pathans (Urdu: پٹھان, Hindi: पठान Paṭhān),^[10][11][12] are an Eastern Iranian ethnic group with populations primarily in Afghanistan and Pakistan.^[13][14] The Pashtuns are typically characterised by their usage of the Pashto language and practice of Pashtunwali, which is a traditional set of ethics guiding individual and communal conduct. Their origins are unclear but historians have come across references to various ancient peoples called Paktha (Pactyans) between the 2nd and the 1st millennium BC,^[15][16][17] who inhabited the region between the Hindu Kush and Indus River and may be the early ancestors of Pashtuns. Since the 3rd century AD and onward, they have been referred to by the ethnonym "Afghan".^{[18][19][20][21]}

Often characterised as a warrior and martial race, their history is spread amongst various countries of South, Central and Western Asia, centred around their traditional seat of power in medieval Afghanistan. During the Delhi Sultanate era, the Pashtun Lodi dynasty replaced the Turkic kingdoms as the ruling dynasty in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent. Other Pashtuns fought the Persian Empire and the Mughal Empire^[22] before obtaining an independent state in the early-18th century, which began with a successful revolution by the Mirwais Hotak followed by conquests by Ahmad Shah Durrani.^[23] Pashtuns played a vital role during the Great Game from the 19th century to the 20th century as they were caught between the imperialist designs of the British and Russian empires.

Pashtuns are the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan; for over 300 years, they have reigned as the dominant ethno-linguistic group, with nearly all rulers being Pashtun. They make up the majority of the Taliban and the current Afghan government. The mujahideen who fought against the Soviet-backed Afghan government in the 1980s were also dominated by Pashtun fighters. They are also an important community in Pakistan, which has the largest Pashtun population and constitute the second-largest ethnic group, having attained presidency and high positions in sports.

The Pashtuns are the world's largest (patriarchal) segmentary lineage ethnic group. According to Ethnologue, the total population of the group is estimated to be around 50 million^[1] but an accurate count remains elusive due to the lack of an official census in Afghanistan since 1979. Estimates of the number of Pashtun tribes and clans range from about 350 to over 400.^[22][24]

Geographic distribution[link]

Map of Afghanistan and Pakistan showing the predominant Pashtun areas in green color.

The vast majority of Pashtuns are found in the traditional Pashtun homeland, located in an area south of the Oxus River in Afghanistan and west of the Indus River in Pakistan, which includes Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and part of Balochistan. Additional Pashtun communities are located in western and northern Afghanistan, the Gilgit–Baltistan and Kashmir regions and northern Punjab province of Pakistan, as well as in the Khorasan province of Iran. There are also sizeable Muslim communities in India, which are of largely Pashtun ancestry.^[8][25] Throughout the Indian subcontinent, excluding Pashtun-dominated regions, they are often referred to as Pathans.^[26][27] Smaller Pashtun communities are found in the countries of the Arabian Peninsula, Europe and the Americas, particularly in North America.

Important metropolitan centres of Pashtun culture include Kandahar, Quetta, Peshawar, Jalalabad and Lashkar Gah. There are a number of smaller Pashtun dominated towns such as Swat, Khost, Gardēz, Farah, Pul-i-Alam, Mingora, Bannu, Parachinar, Swabi, Asadabad, Maidan Shar, Tarin Kowt and others. The cities of Kabul and Ghazni in Afghanistan are home to around 25% Pashtun population while Herat and Mazar-i-Sharif each has at least 10%.^[13] With as high as 7 million by some estimates, the city of Karachi in Pakistan has the largest concentration of urban Pashtuns in the world.^[28][29] In addition, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, and Lahore also have sizeable Pashtun populations.^[30]

Pashtuns comprise over 15%^[2][31] of Pakistan's population. In Afghanistan, they make up an estimated 42% of the population according to the CIA World Factbook.^[3] Some sources give 50–60%^{[32][33][34][35][36][37]} because the exact figure remains uncertain in Afghanistan, and are affected by the 1.7 million Afghan refugees that remain in Pakistan a majority of which are Pashtuns.^[38] Another 937,600 Afghans live in Iran according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).^[39] A cumulative population assessment suggests a total of around 49 million individuals all across the world.^[1]