All Pashtuns, including the ones in Pakistan, are ethnically Afghan and share more in common with Afghanistan than they do with the other ethnicities of Pakistan (excluding Baluchis).

Are Pashtun Afghan?

Pashtuns are historically the dominant ethnic community in Afghanistan, and they have actively fought to keep their predominance throughout Afghan history. In the years before 1978 Pashtuns made up about 40 per cent of the Afghan population.

Who are the real Pashtuns?

They are the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan and the second-largest ethnic group in Pakistan, constituting around 48 percent of the total Afghan population and around 15.4 percent of the total Pakistani population.

Where are Pashtuns originally from?

The Pashtun constitute the largest ethnic group of the population of Afghanistan and bore the exclusive name of Afghan before that name came to denote any native of the present land area of Afghanistan. The Pashtun are united primarily by a common language, Pashto.

What is the DNA of Pashtuns?

The results revealed that Pashtun are the composite mosaic of West Eurasian ancestry of numerous geographic origin. They received substantial gene flow during different invasive movements and have a high element of the Western provenance.

Why do some Afghans have blue eyes?

It is mainly because they are descendants of the soldiers of Alexander the Great who had journeyed to India through Afghanistan when he marched with his army from Babylonia. Because of this mixed heritage and ancient Greek lineage, some Afghani people, though not all, have blue/green/grey eyes and blondish hair.

Are all Khans Pashtuns?

In India, the Muslim surname Khan is largely synonymous with and commonly used by Pathans as per Pashtun naming conventions, although not all Khans are necessarily of Pathan descent. The female equivalent used by Pathan women is Khanum or Bibi.

Do Pashtuns have good genetics?

All Pashtun tribes revealed high genetic diversity which is comparable to the other Central Asian, Southeast Asian and European populations.

Are Pashtuns the lost tribe of Israel?

Bani Israel theory. There is a tradition among the Pashtuns of being descended from the exiled lost tribes of Israel. This tradition was referenced in 19th-century Western scholarship and was also incorporated in the “Lost Tribes” literature popular at the time (notably George Moore’s The Lost Tribes of 1861).

Who was the first Pathan in history?

The first historical reference to the Pathan (AD. 982) refers to Afghans living in the Sulaiman Mountains. The first significant impact they had outside of that area was as troops in the armies of Mahmud of Ghazni, a Muslim Turk, who led a number of invasions against the Hindu kings in north India around the year 1000.

Is Afghan and Pashto same?

Pashto is the native language of the ethnic Pashtun/Afghan people. There are over forty million Pashtuns living in Pakistan. The language is widely spoken in the regions where there is a large or majority Pashtun population.

Is Pashto Afghan or Pakistani?

Pashto is a member of the southeastern Iranian branch of Indo-Iranian languages spoken in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran. There are three main varieties of Pashto: Northern Pashto, spoken mainly in Pakistan; Southern Pashto, spoken mainly in Afghanistan; and Central Pashto, spoken mainly in Pakistan.

What is the race of an Afghan?

Ethnicity and race



Since 1945, Afghan Americans have been officially classified as Caucasians. For U.S. Census purposes Afghans are racially categorized as White Americans. Some Afghan Americans, however, may self identify as being Asian Americans, Central Asian Americans or Middle Eastern Americans.

Are Pashtun people Persian?

No. Pashtuns are not ethnically the same as Persians from Iran. We are related but far from being ethnically the same. Both Persians and Pashtuns are Iranic ethnic groups that speak Persian and Pashto respectively, which are Iranic languages.

What language is closest to Pashto?

Pashto belongs to the Northeastern Iranian group of the Indo-Iranian branch; however, Ethnologue lists it as Southeastern Iranian. Pashto’s closest relatives are Khotanese, Bactrian, and Pamir languages.

Are Pashtuns descendants of Greeks?

Many of the modern ethnic Afghans (Pashtuns), are no doubt, descendants of the ancient Greeks colonists.