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The Pashtuns

The Tajiks and Other Dari-Speaking Groups

The Altaic Groups

Other Ethnic Groups

The People

There has never been an accurate population census taken in Afghanistan, but the most common estimate is approximately 26 million. A staggering 5 million Afghans–one out of five people–are thought to be in refugee camps along the country’s borders and in neighboring nations. Pakistan has given refuge to 3 million Afghan refugees.

Afghanistan has never been inhabited by only one ethnic group. The modern country's boundaries were determined by the interests of foreign powers, and on every side they cut arbitrarily through land traditionally occupied by one ethnic group or another. Its citizens naturally identify with those who speak their language and share their culture. Their loyalty is first to their local leaders and their tribe, and their identification with an abstract Afghan nation has always been fragile. In this sense, the country’s multiethnicity has hampered its development as a nation.

However, while the different groups differ in language and culture, they also share fundamental qualities. One of the most striking qualities of the Afghan people is their toughness and resilience. Popular culture is based on tradition, steeped in religion and colored by tribal relics of war, romance and magic.

The map below shows the major ethnic groups that live in Afghanistan and indicates the extension of the groups into neighboring countries.

Pashtuns are the dominant ethnic group.

The Pashtuns

The Pashtuns, or Pushtuns, constitute an estimated 38% of the population of Afghanistan, and as such are the ethnic majority. Though their origin is unclear, their legends say that they are the descendants of Afghana, grandson of King Saul. Most scholars, however, believe that the Pashtuns probably arose from an intermingling of ancient and subsequent invaders. Pashtuns are Caucasians, of medium height, with strong, straight noses, black hair, and dark eyes, although there is a high incidence of blue, green, and gray eyes: The young girl with the unforgettable blue eyes featured in many National Geographic publications and posters is a Pashtun, or Pashtana, the feminine form. The language of the Pashtuns is Pashto, also spelled Pushto, Pushtu, Pashtu, and sometimes Paxto.

When Westerners caution against optimism in battle against the Afghans, it is the Pashtuns they have in mind. The ‘Afghans’ that the British futilely battled against in the 19th century were the Pashtuns. The majority of the mujaheddin (‘warriors in a holy war’) who ultimately drove the Soviets out of Afghanistan were Pashtuns. Much of the civil war that followed the Soviet withdrawal was fought between rival Pashtun leaders, who had amassed weapons and followers during their fight against the Soviets. Pashtuns are fierce fighters and are known for their marksmanship. They are accustomed to hardship and poverty and can prevail in conditions that would easily defeat others. At the same time, though deeply dedicated to their religious beliefs, they also cultivate nonreligious cultural traditions. They are poets with a wonderful oral literature who can quote poetry by the hour.

The Pashtuns are Sunni Muslims, but their Islamic beliefs and behavior have often been tempered, and distorted, by cultural values that are sometimes at odds with the teachings of Islam, as in their treatment of women under Taliban rule. Distinctive tribal customs and traditions form an integral part of the Pashtun society. Pashtun cultural values are reflected in a code of ethics–called simply Pashto in Pashto, and Pashtunwali (‘the way of the Pashtun’) by non-Pashtuns–by which Pashtuns are required to live. Westerners are fascinated by the idea of the Pashtunwali, and Pashtuns correspondingly expand on the concept to suit their listeners.

Pashtunwali is followed religiously, and it includes the following practices: badal (the right of blood feuds or revenge), nunawati (the right of a fugitive to seek refuge and acceptance of his bona fide offer of peace), melmastya (hospitality and protection to every guest), tureh (bravery), sabats (steadfastness), imamdari (righteousness), isteqamat (persistence), ghayrat (defense of property and honor), and mamus (defense of one’s female relatives).

These elements govern Pashtun interpersonal and intertribal relationships. It is expected that a Pashtun who has been wronged will exact revenge, no matter how long it takes. It is also expected that a Pashtun who has been wronged is entitled to compensation, that compensation being determined by a loya jirga, a council of respected men. And finally, it is expected that a Pashtun will protect and shelter the guests in his household. Another feature of traditional Pashtun life is that inheritances are traditionally divided equally among all the sons, in spite of the clear teachings in the Koran that women are to receive an equal share of inheritances.

The Pashtuns have traditionally been small farmers and seminomads, although their way of life and their rough tribal governmental system has been completely disrupted by the events of the last 20 years. More than 1 million Pashtun Afghans fled to refugee camps in Pakistan following the Soviet invasion. 

Dari is the name given to the dialects of Persian spoken in Afghanistan.

The Tajiks and Other Dari-Speaking Groups

The historical influence of Persia, now Iran, on the peoples of Afghanistan can be seen by the number of ethnic groups who speak Dari, the name given to the various dialects of Afghan Persian. The Tajiks are the largest and most influential of these groups.

Believed to be the original Persian population of Afghanistan and Turkmenistan, the Tajiks live in an area stretching from northern Afghanistan, across the border from Tajikistan, into the Hindu Kush. They often identify themselves by the particular valley they live in or near. The Afghan Tajiks are light-skinned Caucasians with aquiline noses and black hair. They share the Caucasian looks of the Iranian peoples, as well as their language. Tajiks constitute an estimated one-quarter of the population of Afghanistan. Half of the Afghans who have fled to Pakistan since 1979 are Tajiks, and approximately 65% of Afghan refugees in the United States belong to this group.

The Tajiks are 99% Muslim. Most are Sunni Muslims of the Hanafi sect, but there are a few Ismaili Shi’a Muslims living in the remote mountain areas. (A few Ismaili Shi’a Tajiks have been resettled in the United States). They are devout Muslims, strong in their faith. A proud, hard-working people, the Tajiks are known for their warmth and gracious hospitality, though recent events have made them more apprehensive toward outsiders.

A second Dari-speaking group, the Hazaras, are a Mongolian people thought to have arrived in Afghanistan in the 13th and 14th centuries. They have traditionally been nomads, moving their flocks of sheep, goats, and camels from pasture to pasture in the Pamir Knot and southward into the high pasturelands of the Hindu Kush. There are about 5 million Hazaras, making up about 19% of the country’s population.

A third group, the Farsiwan (also called Parsiwan or Parsiban) are farmers who live near the Iranian border, although some have moved east to the larger towns of Herat, Kandahar, and Ghazni. The Farsiwan, who number about half a million, are ethnically and linguistically indistinguishable from the Iranians across the border.

Other Dari-speaking ethnic groups in Afghanistan include the Qizilbash, well-educated urban Afghans descended from the military and administrative personnel left behind by one of the khans, or rulers, who briefly conquered some of the Pashtun tribal areas in the 18th century; the Aimaqs, another Persianized central Asian group; and the Moghols, scattered through central and north Afghanistan.

Descendents of Genghis Khan's armies live in the north of Afghanistan.

The Altaic Groups

In the 13th century, Genghis Khan cut a great swath across central Asia, through what are now the countries across the Amu Darya from Afghanistan–Kirghizstan, Tajikstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan–and westward into what is now Turkey. When Britain and Russia decided that the Amu Darya was to be the northern border between Afghanistan and Russia, the Kirghiz, Tajiks, Uzbeks, and Turkmens on the southern side of the river became Afghans. Except for the Tajiks, these peoples speak Altaic languages, which are very similar to Turkish and a completely different group of languages from the Iranian languages.

The Uzbeks are the largest of the Altaic groups. About 1 million Uzbeks live as sedentary farmers in northern Afghanistan across the Amu Darya from Uzbekistan. Most Uzbeks are Sunni Muslims of the Hanafi branch and have mingled many traditional beliefs with their Islamic practices. Although they are generally not orthodox Muslims, Islam is an integral part of their cultural identity. The Turkmens are a seminomadic people, and a few live in Afghanistan across the border from Turkmenistan. Finally, there are some Kirghiz living in the Pamir Knot, adjacent to Kirghizstan.

The Altaic peoples have contributed a great deal toAfghan culture. The Uzbeks are thought to have introduced the famous game of buzkashi, a kind of polo in which teams of horsemen try to capture the headless carcass of a calf or goat and carry it across a goal line. The Turkmens are known across the world as master rug weavers–the flag of new Turkmenistan includes an inset of typical Turkmen carpet design–and brought the rug weaving industry into Afghanistan. They also introduced the qarakul sheep, whose pelt is highly valued and constitutes a successful Afghan export.  

Other Ethnic Groups

There are a number of other ethnic groups living in small pockets in Afghanistan. Some of these are the Beluchis, who speak an Iranian language and live in the southwestern part of the country as well as in adjoining areas of Pakistan; the Nuristanis in east Afghanistan, a culturally and linguistically distinct people who are the descendents of the Afghan Kafirs (a group that resisted conversion to Islam until the 20th century); and the Brahuis, Hindus, and Gujars, who originated on the Indian subcontinent.

The table below summarizes information on the major ethnic groups.

The Cultural Orientation Project--http://www.culturalorientation.net, for more information contact sanja@cal.org
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