Pashto (پښتو, Pax̌to, IPA: [paʂˈto, paçˈto, puxˈto]; also spelled Pukhto or Pushto), also known as Afghani (Persian: افغانی‎) and Pathani (Urdu: پٹھانی, Hindi: पठानी Paṭhānī), is the native language of the Pashtun people of South Central Asia. Pashto is a member of the Eastern Iranian languages group, spoken in Pakistan and Afghanistan as well as by the Pashtun diaspora around the world.

Pashto belongs to the Northeastern Iranic branch of the Indo-Iranian language family, although Ethnologue lists it as Southeastern Iranic. The number of Pashtuns or Pashto-speakers is estimated 50-60 million people world wide. Pashto is one of the two official languages of Afghanistan (the other being Dari Persian), and a regional language in western and northwestern Pakistan.

As the national language of Afghanistan, Pashto is primarily spoken in the east, south and southwest, but also in some northern and western parts of the country. The exact numbers of speakers are unavailable, but different estimates show that Pashto is the mother tongue of 35-60% of the total population of Afghanistan.