Pashtuns
پښتانه
Paṣ̌tun

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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]

History and origins[link]

Part of a series on Pashtuns Etymology · Pashtunwali Language · Culture · Art Tribes · Diaspora Kingdoms (Lodi · Suri Hotak · Durrani · Barakzai) Afghanistan · Pakistan Pashtunistan · Pakhtunkhwa Pashtunization v t e

The history of the Pashtun people is ancient and much of it is not fully researched. Since the 2nd millennium BC, cities in the region now inhabited by Pashtuns have seen invasions and migrations, including by Ancient Iranian peoples, the Median and Persian empires of antiquity, Greeks, Mauryas, Kushans, Hephthalites, Sassanids, Arab Muslims, Turks, Mongols, Palas and others. In recent age, people of the Western world have explored the area as well.^{[40][41][42][43]}

There are many conflicting theories about the origin of Pashtuns, some modern and others archaic, both among historians and the Pashtuns themselves. According to most historians and experts, the true origin of the Pashtuns is some what unclear.^[44]

...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.^[45]

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.^[46]

Early precursors to some of the Pashtuns may have been old Iranian tribes that spread throughout the eastern Iranian plateau.^[47] According to the Russian scholar Yu. V. Gankovsky, the Pashtuns probably 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." He proposes Kushan-o-Ephthalite origin for Pashtuns^[48][49] but others draw a different conclusion.

They are intimately tied to the history of modern Afghanistan, Pakistan and northern India. Following Muslim conquests from the 7th to 11th centuries, many Pashtun ghazis (warriors) invaded and conquered much of the Indian subcontinent during the Ghaznavids, Ghurids, Khilji dynasty, Lodhi dynasty and Suri dynasty and others.

Ancient references[link]

The Arachosia Satrapy and the Pactyan people during the Achaemenid Empire in 500 B.C.

A variety of ancient groups with eponyms similar to Pukhtun have been hypothesized as possible ancestors of modern Pashtuns. The Rigveda (1700–1100 BC) mentions a tribe called Paktha inhabiting eastern Afghanistan and academics have proposed their connection with today's Pakhtun people.^[16] Furthermore, the Greek historian Herodotus mentioned a people called Pactyans living in the same area (Achaemenid's Arachosia Satrapy) as early as the 1st millennium BCE.^[17] It is believed that these may have been the ancient ancestors of Pashtuns.^[15]

Some modern-day Pashtun tribes have also been identified living in ancient Gandhara (i.e. Alexander's historians mentioned "Aspasii" in 330 BC and that may refer to today's Afridis).^[50] Herodotus has mentioned the same Afridi tribe as "Apridai" over a century earlier.^[51] Strabo, who lived between 64 BC and 24 CE, explains that the tribes inhabiting the lands west of the Indus River were part of Ariana and to their east was India.^[15]

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". The earliest mention of the name Afghan (Abgân) is by Shapur I of the Sassanid Empire during the 3rd century CE,^[18][19][52] which is later recorded in the 6th century CE in the form of "Avagānā" by the Indian astronomer Varāha Mihira in his Brihat-samhita.^[20] It was used to refer to a common legendary ancestor known as "Afghana", propagated to be grandson of King Saul of Israel.^[44][53]

Kelaut-I-Ghiljie, a small village-town in Afghanistan.

A miniature from Padshahnama depicting the surrender of the Safavid garrison at Kandahar in 1638 to the Mughal army of Shah Jahan commanded by Kilij Khan. The fortified city in the background was destroyed in 1738 when Hussain Hotaki's rule ended.

Hiven Tsiang, a Chinese pilgrim, visiting the Afghanistan area several times between 630 to 644 CE also speaks about them.^[18][54] In Shahnameh 1–110 and 1–116, it is written as Awgaan.^[18] Ancestors of many of today's Turkic-speaking Afghans settled in the Hindu Kush area and began to assimilate much of the culture and language of the Pashtun tribes already present there.^[55] Among these were the Khalaj people which are known today as Ghilzai.^[56] According to several scholars such as V. Minorsky, the name "Afghan" is documented several times in the 982 CE Hudud-al-Alam.^[52]

Saul, a pleasant village on a mountain. In it live Afghans.^[46]

—Hudud ul-'alam, 982 CE

The village of Saul was probably located near Gardez, Afghanistan. Hudud ul-'alam also speaks of a king in Ninhar (Nangarhar), who had Muslim, Afghan and Hindu wives.^[46] 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, which would be the Sulaiman Mountains area between Khorasan and Hindustan. 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.^[57] A famous Moroccan travelling scholar, Ibn Battuta, visiting Afghanistan following the era of the Khilji 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] ascended this mountain and having looked out over India, which was then covered with darkness, returned without entering it.^[58]

—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!^[59]

—Ferishta, 1560–1620

One historical account connects the native Pakhtuns of Pakistan to a possible Ancient Egyptian past but this lacks supporting evidence.

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.^[21]

—Ferishta, 1560–1620

Additionally, although this too is unsubstantiated, some Afghan historians have maintained that Pashtuns are linked to the ancient Israelites.

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 (or Caled), son of Waleed, so famous for his conquest of Syria, and marched to the aid of the true faith, under the command of Kyse, afterwards surnamed Abdoolresheed.^[60]

—Mohan Lal, 1846

Anthropology and oral traditions[link]

Earliest Pashtun photograph in which Amir Sher Ali Khan is sitting with Prince Abdullah Jan and the Afghan Sardars in 1869.

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 Maghzan-e-Afghani who compiled a history for Khan-e-Jehan Lodhi in the reign of Mughal Emperor Jehangir in the 17th century.^[51] Another book that corresponds with Pashtun historical records, Taaqati-Nasiri, states that in the 7th century BC a people called the Bani Israel settled in the Ghor region of Afghanistan and from there began migrating southeast. These references to Bani Israel agree with the commonly held view by Pashtuns that when the twelve tribes of Israel were dispersed (see Israel and Judah), the tribe of Joseph, among other Hebrew tribes, settled in the Afghanistan region.^[61] 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.^[21]

Caucasian race includes Pashtun (Afghan), seen on the right bottom row.

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.

Other Pashtun tribes claim descent from Arabs, including some even claiming to be descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad (referred to as Sayyids).^[62] Some groups from Peshawar and Kandahar believe to be descended from Ancient Greeks that arrived with Alexander the Great.^[63] In terms of race, they are classified as Caucasians^[53] of the Mediterranean variant.^[64] Their Pashto language is classified under the Eastern Iranian sub-branch of the Iranian branch of the Indo-European family of languages.^[65] Those who speak a dialect of Pashto in the Kandahar region refer to themselves as Pashtuns, while those who speak a Peshawari 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. The elders transfer the knowledge to the younger generation. Lineage is considered very important and is a vital consideration in marital business.

Modern era[link]

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 Hotaki dynasty and the Durrani Empire. The Hotakis were Ghilzai tribesmen, who defeated the Persian Safavids and seized control over much of Persia from 1722 to 1738.^[66] This was followed by the conquests of Ahmad Shah Durrani who was a former high-ranking military commander under Nader Shah of Khorasan. He created the last Afghan empire that covered most of what is today Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kashmir, Indian Punjab, as well as the Kohistan and Khorasan provinces of Iran.^[23] 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. This legacy continues into modern times as the state is led by the Karzai administration under President Hamid Karzai, who is from the Popalzai tribe of Kandahar.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Abdul Rahim Wardak, the Defense Minister of Afghanistan since 2004.

Afghan Finance Minister Omar Zakhilwal and Education Minister Ghulam Farooq Wardak during a joint US-Afghan letter signing in 2011.

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,^[67] Abdul Samad Khan Achakzai, Ajmal Khattak, Bacha Khan and his son Wali Khan (both members of the Khudai Khidmatgar, popularly referred to as the Surkh posh or "the Red shirts"), and were inspired by Mohandas Gandhi's non-violent method of resistance.^[68][69] 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.^[70][71]

Hedayat Amin Arsala, former member of World Bank and Finance Minister of Afghanistan.

Dr. Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, former member of World Bank, Finance Minister of Afghanistan and chancellor of Kabul University.

Asadullah Khalid in front of Rahman Baba High School in Kabul

The Pashtuns of Afghanistan attained complete independence from British intervention during the reign of King Amanullah Khan, following the Third Anglo-Afghan War. The Afghan monarchy ended when President Daoud Khan seized control of Afghanistan from his cousin King Zahir Shah in 1973. This opened the door to Soviet intervention and the rise of Afghan Marxists, who assassinated Daoud Khan along with his family and relatives in the 1978 Marxist revolution. After this, many Pashtuns began joining the mujahideen opposition against the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. This included famous figures such as Mullah Omar, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Jalaluddin Haqqani, who are currently waging a jihad against the US-led NATO forces and the Islamic republic of Afghanistan. In the meantime, millions of them began fleeing their native land to live among other Afghan diaspora in neighbouring Pakistan and Iran, while thousands of them proceeded to North America, the European Union, the Middle East, Australia and other parts of the world.

In the late 1990s, they became known for being the primary ethnic group that comprised the Taliban, which was a religious government based on Islamic sharia law formed to end the civil war.^[72] On the other hand, the Taliban opposition also included Pashtuns. Among them were Abdul Qadir and his brother Abdul Haq, Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, Gul Agha Sherzai, the Karzais, Abdullah Abdullah, Asadullah Khalid and many others. The Taliban were ousted in late 2001 during the US-led Operation Enduring Freedom and replaced with the current Karzai administration, which is dominated by Pashtun ministers.^[73]

Some of these include: Foreign Minister Zalmay Rasoul, Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak, Finance Minister Omar Zakhilwal, Education Minister Ghulam Farooq Wardak, Commerce Minister Anwar ul-Haq Ahady, Agriculture Minister Mohammad Asef Rahimi and Communication Minister 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. Several prominent Pashtun families include the Tarzis, Gilanis^{[disambiguation needed ]}, and the Karzais.

They not only played an important role in South Asia but also in Central Asia, including the Middle East. The Afghan royal family, which was represented by king Zahir Shah, is of ethnic Pashtun origin. 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, Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, Ali Ahmad Jalali, Hedayat Amin Arsala and Mirwais Ahmadzai among many others.

Ethnic Pashtuns of Pakistan, notably Ayub Khan, Yahya Khan and Ghulam Ishaq Khan, attained the Presidency. Ghulam Mohammad became the Governor-General of Pakistan from 1951 to 1955. Many more held high government posts, such as Army Chief Gul Hassan Khan, Abdul Waheed Kakar, Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Sherpao, and so on. Others became famous in sports (i.e. Shahid Afridi, Imran Khan, Jahangir Khan, and Jansher Khan) and literature (i.e. Ghani Khan, Ameer Hamza Shinwari, Munir Niazi, and Omer Tarin). The Awami National Party (ANP) of Pakistan is represented by Pashtun nationalist Asfandyar Wali Khan, grandson of Bacha Khan, while the chairman of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PMAP) is Mahmood Khan Achakzai, son of Abdul Samad Khan Achakzai.

One of India's former presidents, Zakir Hussain, had Pashtun origin of the Afridi tribe who came from an upper middle class Pashtun family settled in Farrukhabad.^[74][75][76] Mohammad Yunus, India's former ambassador to Algeria and advisor to Indira Gandhi, is an ethnic Pashtun related to the legendary Bacha Khan.^{[77][78][79][80]}

Genetics[link]

The haplogroup R1a (Y-DNA) is found at a frequency of 51.02% among Pashtuns. According to a 2012 study:

The abstract states "Our results that all current Afghans largely share a heritage derived from a common unstructured ancestral population that could have emerged during the Neolithic revolution and the formation of the first farming communities. Our results also indicate that inter-Afghan differentiation started during the Bronze Age, probably driven by the formation of the first civilizations in the region."^[81]

Pashtuns defined[link]

Pashtun children from the Khost Province of Afghanistan

Pashtun boys from Spin Boldak in Kandahar Province

Among historians, anthropologists, and the Pashtuns themselves, there is some debate as to who exactly qualifies as a Pashtun. The most prominent views are:

1. Pashtuns are predominantly an Eastern Iranian people, who use Pashto as their first language, and live in Afghanistan and Pakistan. This is the generally accepted academic view.^[82]
2. They are Sunni Muslims who follow Pashtunwali.^[53][82]
3. In accordance with the legend of Qais Abdur Rashid, the figure traditionally regarded as their progenitor, Pashtuns are those whose related patrilineal descent may be traced back to legendary times.

These three definitions may be described as the ethno-linguistic definition, the religious-cultural definition, and the patrilineal definition, respectively.

Ethnic definition[link]

The ethno-linguistic definition is the most prominent and accepted view as to who is and is not a Pashtun.^[83] Generally, this most common view holds that Pashtuns are defined within the parameters of having mainly eastern Iranian ethnic origins, sharing a common language, culture and history, living in relatively close geographic proximity to each other, and acknowledging each other as kinsmen. Thus, tribes that speak disparate yet mutually intelligible dialects of Pashto acknowledge each other as ethnic Pashtuns and even subscribe to certain dialects as "proper", such as the Pukhto spoken by the Yousafzai in Peshawar and the Pashto spoken by the Durrani in Kandahar. These criteria tend to be used by most Pashtuns in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Cultural definition[link]

The religious and cultural definition requires Pashtuns to be Muslim and adhere to Pashtunwali codes.^[84] This is the most prevalent view among orthodox and conservative tribesmen, who refuse to recognise any non-Muslim as a Pashtun. Pashtun intellectuals and academics, however, tend to be more flexible and sometimes define who is Pashtun based on other criteria. Pashtun society is not homogenous by religion: the overwhelming majority of them are Sunni, with a tiny Shia community (the Turi and partially the Bangash tribe) in the Kurram and Orakzai agencies of FATA, Pakistan. Pakistani Jews and Afghan Jews, once numbering in the thousands, have largely relocated to Israel and the United States.^[85]

Ancestral definition[link]