Thehistory of Arabs in Afghanistan spans over onemillennium since the 7th century beginning with the Islamic expansion all the way until the early 20th century.The Ethnic Arabs of Afghanistan are an ethnic minority making up1-2% of the country's population. They speak a distinct dialect of Arabic calledCentral Asian Arabic along with eitherDari (Persian) orPashto. Most of the early Arab communities in Afghanistan gradually lost their native language. However, a number of villages commonly referred to asQaryeh-ye ʿArabhā (“villages of Arabs”) continue to preserve Arabic as a spoken language. Within these communities, traditional dress, cultural practices, and other markers of Arab heritage have also been retained. In recent years, renewed efforts have emerged to safeguard not only the Arabic language but also the broader Arab identity in Afghanistan, particularly under the current government, reflecting an increased recognition of the cultural and historical significance of this minority population.

Afghan Arabs are still considered a recognisable distinct ethnic group according to theConstitution of Afghanistan. Afghans who carry titles and surnames such asSayyid,Hashimi,Quraishi, andTamimi are usually of Arabdescent.

At the end of the 7th century, theUmayyad Arabs entered into the area now known as Afghanistan after decisively defeating theSasanian Empire inNihawand. Following this colossal defeat, the last Sasanianshah,Yazdegerd III, who became a hunted fugitive, fled eastward deep intoCentral Asia. In pursuing Yazdegerd, the route the Arabs selected to enter the area was from north-easternIran and thereafter intoHerat where they stationed a large portion of their army before advancing toward easternAfghanistan.^[1] Some Arabs settled in these new areas and married locals while adopting new customs. Other groups and contingents who elected not to settle gradually pushed eastwards but encountered resistance in areas surroundingBamiyan.^[2] When ultimately arriving atKabul, the Arabs confronted theKabul Shahan who had built a long defensive wall around the city. The bloodiest war in Kabul was in Chahardi area where still tombs of Arabs killed in that war exist inDarulaman area. The most famous Arab character killed in that war was Shah-do Shamshira,whose tomb is located nearKabul river in Asmayee street. One of the most famous Commanders who fought against Arab invaders is known asMazangi. Mazangi was in command at the battle ofAsmayee (Kohi-Sherdarwaza) where Shah-Do Shamshira was killed. There is a number sights where Arab invaders fought in Kabul, but the bloodiest battle after Asmayee was the battle of Alwoden in the area known asDarul Aman today. The historical details of this battle remains largely unknown, though the Arabs were nonetheless subdued in the long term.

In the year44 (664 AD), the Caliph Moavia Bin Aby Soofian nominated Zeead, the son of Oomya, to the government of Bussora,Seestan, and Khorassan. In the same year alsoAbdool Ruhman Bin Shimur, another Arab Ameer of distinction, marched fromMurv to Kabul, where he made converts of upwards of twelve thousand persons... Saad was recalled in the year 59, and Abdool Ruhman, the son of Zeead, who formerly invaded Kabul, was nominated ruler of Khorassan... Shortly after his arrival in Khorassan, Sulim deputed his brother, Yezeed Bin Zeead, to Seestan. Not long after, Yezeed, having learned that the Prince of Kabul, throwing off his allegiance, had attacked and taken prisoner Aby Oobeyda, the son of Zeead, the late governor of Seestan, he marched with a force to recover that province, but was defeated in a pitched battle. When Sulim heard this news, he sent Tilla Bin Abdoolla, an officer of his court, as envoy to the court of Kabul, to ransom Aby Oobeyda; to obtain which object he paid 500,000 dirhems. Tilla afterwards received the government of Seestan as a reward for his services on this occasion, where, having collected a large force, he subdued Kabul in the short term andKhalid Bin Abdoolla (said by some to be the son ofKhalid Bin Wuleed, and by others the son of Aboo Jehl) was nominated to its government.^[3]

Despite the lack of much written accounts, another famous archaeological legacy of this battle remains standing in Kabul, notably the tomb of theShah-e DoShamshira (translated into,The leader with the Two Swords inPersian) next to theShah-Do Shamshira Mosque. The site, located near Kabul's market district, was built near the area where anArab commander died.

Despite fighting heroically with a sword in each hand, one of the Muslim head commanders fell in battle. It is his memory that is honored by the mosque today. The two-story edifice was built in the 1920s on the order ofKing Amanullah's mother on the site of one of Kabul's first mosques.

Following the Arab confrontation, the region was made part of Khorasan with its seat of power in Herat in the west. The Arabs later partially relinquished some of their territorial control though reasserted its authority approximately 50 years later in 750 when theAbbasid caliphs replaced theUmmayads.^[4] By then, many Arabs increasingly blended with locals as the Arabic identity in the region began to undergo a significant change. Arab contingents settled throughout various parts of present-day Afghanistan including theWardak,Logar,Kabul,Balkh and in theSulaiman Mountains. Over time they adopted local customs and languages, some becamePersianized while others becameAfghanized who followedPashtunwali.

Khalid being subsequently superseded, became apprehensive of returning toArabia by the route ofPersia, on account of the enemies he had in that country, and equally so of remaining in Kabul, under his successor. He retired, therefore, with his family, and a number of Arab retainers, into theSooli-many mountains, situated betweenMooltan andPishawur, where he took up his residence, and gave his daughter in marriage to one of theAfghanchiefs, who had become a proselyte toMaho-medism. From this marriage many children were born, among whom were two sons famous in history. The oneLody, the otherSoor; who each, subsequently, became head of the tribes which to this day bear their name.^[3]

It was during the reign of theYa'qub Saffari that Arabic began losing its influence in the region. Nevertheless, the Arabs attempted to re-exert their influence in the area by supporting theSamanid rulers of Balkh who in return, assisted the Abbasid Arabs against the defiantSaffarid dynasty.

Despite maintaining some clothing customs and attire,^[5] most of the early Afghan-Arabs (or Arab-Afghans) gradually lost their original tongue of Arabic. This is confirmed in the 15th century work,Baburnama, which notes that the Arabs of Afghanistan have virtually lost theArabic language and instead speakPersian andPashto.^[1] Although the exact number of Arab-Afghans remains unknown, mostly due to ambiguous claims of descent, an 18th-century academic estimated that they number at approximately 60,000 families.^[1]

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Following theBolshevik Revolution duringWorld War I, significant numbers of Sunni Arabs residing inBukhara, as well as fromSouthern Iran andIranian Khorasan, and other regions of Central Asia under Russian rule, migrated to Afghanistan, where conditions allowed for greater religious freedom and reduced fear of persecution or discrimination.[1]^[6] Concurrently, many Sunni Arabs from Southern Iran and Iranian Khorasan were compelled to emigrate due to widespread economic marginalization and systemic discrimination, which became particularly pronounced under the reign of Reza Shah Pahlavi. Estimates suggest that approximately 30,000 Arabs resided in Bukhara during the mid-nineteenth century.[2]^[5] The Arab communities that entered Afghanistan during this period largely retained their distinct dialect ofCentral Asian Arabic,^[7] distinguishing them from earlier waves of Afghan Arabs.

Some Arabs from the second wave intermarried with the local population as they adopted the languages of northern Afghanistan, namelyUzbek,Turkmen, andPersian language.^[8] Many settled inKunduz,Takhar andSar-e Pol provinces. While they still view themselves as Arabs, some of the Arabs from the second wave that have integrated into the more denser cities of the country have lost their language of Arabic like those from the original wave, but many Arab villages in the isolated northern parts of the country have still kept their language culture and traditions while adopting Persian as-well.^[6]

Although some tribal names, includingQureshi andShaiboni are still remembered,^[9] some of the Arabs view genealogies as unimportant.^[10] Many of these Afghan Arabs work in the agricultural industry, often growing cotton and wheat while others raisekarakul sheep.^[6] According to an academic, theCentral Asian Arabs have not had any contact with Arabs fromthe Arab World since the time ofTamerlane (circa 1400).^[10]

The main body of the Afghan Arabs are found in the northern provinces of the country such asShibarghan andBalkh. In contemporary times, the majority of Afghan Arabs have adoptedDari as their primary language; however, a number of relatively isolated settlements often referred to asQaryeh-ye ʿArabhā (“villages of Arabs”) continue to preserve Arabic as a spoken language. Within these communities, traditional dress, cultural practices, and other markers of Arab heritage have also been maintained. There are other such Persian-speaking Arabs to the east, between Shebergan,Mazar-i Sharif,Kholm andKunduz living in pockets. Their identification as Arabs is based on their unique dialect ofArabic as-well as tribal identity which may in fact point to the 7th and 8th centuries migration to this and other Central Asian locales of many Arab tribes from Arabia in the wake of the Islamic conquests of the region.^[7]

During the 1980sSoviet–Afghan War, many Arab Muslims arrived and volunteered to help Afghans fightSoviet Union. Some of these remained after the Soviets withdrew from the country and were granted citizenship. Others intermarried with local Afghans while some arrived with their families to Afghanistan.Kandahar is home to a small Arab cemetery where over 70 graves belong to Arabal-Qaeda functionaries who were killed as a result of the U.S.war on terror. These Arabs are revered by theTaliban and theSalafist sympathizers asshahid (martyrs).^[11]

The Arabic dialects of Central Asia are generally grammatically believed to trace their origins tosouthern Iraq, from which early settlers introduced them during the Islamic conquests ofTransoxiana in the 7th and 8th centuries CE, and later through subsequentAbbasid expansions. Arab tribes and military contingents established themselves both in major urban centers such asBalkh,Merv, andNishapur, as well as in rural and desert areas whose environments more closely resembled the Arabian Peninsula. While those who remained in cities gradually assimilated into Persian- and Turkic-speaking societies, the more isolatednomadic bedouins and rural communities preserved their speech in relative seclusion. Over time, however, separation from other Arabic-speaking regions and constant contact with Iranian and Turkic languages led to the formation of distinct, highly divergent dialects, classified today as Bukharian and Kashkadarya (inUzbekistan andTajikistan),Khorasani (in eastern Iran), and Afghan Arabic (in northern Afghanistan). Although they share certain features withIraqi Arabic, these dialects have developed independently to the point that mutual intelligibility with other Arabic varieties is limited.

The Afghan dialect ofCentral Asian Arabic represents a continuation of this historical process, shaped by multiple waves of migration. Many Arabic-speaking groups relocated fromBukhara andKashkadarya to northern Afghanistan in the18th and 19th centuries, particularly in response toRussian expansion and later Soviet pressures. Settling mainly aroundBalkh andMazar-i-Sharif, these communities initially maintained their language and cultural practices, but assimilation into Persian- and Turkic-speaking society gradually reduced the number of Arabic speakers. Today,Afghan Arabic survives primarily in a handful of villages inBalkh Province, where it coexists withDari,Uzbek,Turkmen, andPashto. The dialect has absorbed significant lexical and phonological influence from these surrounding languages, giving it a hybrid character that nonetheless preserves archaic features linking it to itsIraqi origins. Despite its resilience, Afghan Arabic, like the other Central Asian varieties, faces severe endangerment due to intergenerational language loss and the dominant role of Persian and Turkic languages in education, administration, and wider society.

Around 900 families live in Khoshal Abad and Yakhdan villages of Dawlat Abad district of the province, and the villagers trace their lineage back to the third caliph, ʿUthmān, in the 7th century. These families are primarily engaged in agriculture and carpet weaving. MostArabs inBalkh Province speak Arabic as their mother tongue andDari as a second language. While some of the older generations never learned to speak either of Afghanistan's two official languages, Dari and Pashto, many younger people are now taughtDari in schools and are gradually losing fluency in Arabic; approximately 40 percent can no longer speak it. Arabs who settled in northern Balkh Province express concern that their culture is being eroded as increasing numbers adopt the dominant languages and traditions of Afghanistan. Arabs also form small minorities in the town and district of Kholm, where many continue to identify as ethnic Arabs, although Arabic is no longer spoken. Up until recent times, however, bothArab identity and efforts at cultural and linguistic preservation have remained important within these communities. In particular, recent initiatives ranging from community-led programs to limited recognition by the government have sought to promote the teaching of Arabic and the safeguarding of Arab cultural practices, reflecting an ongoing attachment to their historical heritage despite broader patterns of assimilation.^[12]

There are about 1,000 families living in Hassanabad of Shebarghan, capital of Jowzjan province, and in Sultan Arigh village of Aqcha district that identify themselves as Arabs.^[12][13] None, however, has spoken Arabic in theircollective memory, withDari forming their native language.

There are many Arab families living in the city of Nangarhar, Jalalabad. The majority of the people living in the villages claim to have Arab ethnicity, Either Iraq, Egypt, and any other Arab nation. The majority have had lost their language and speak Dari with Pashto interconnected which has created an accent.

• Iranian Arabs
• Arab diaspora
• Central Asian Arabic
• Farooqi
• Hashemi
• Muslim conquests of Afghanistan
• Pashtunization
• Persianization
• Sayyid
• Siddiqui
• Qureshi

• Afghan Arabs
• Ethnic groups in Afghanistan
• Society of Afghanistan
• Immigration to Afghanistan

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