Pashtun diaspora (Pashto:بهر مېشت پښتانه) comprises all ethnicPashtuns. There are millions of Pashtuns who are living outside of their traditional homeland ofPashtunistan, a historic region that is today situated over parts ofAfghanistan andPakistan.[1] While the (erstwhile) Pashtunistan is home to the majority of Pashtun people, there are significant local Pashtun diaspora communities scattered across the neighbouring Pakistani provinces ofSindh andPunjab, particularly in their respective provincial capital cities ofKarachi andLahore. Outside ofAfghanistan andPakistan, significant Pashtun diaspora communities are found inIran, theUnited States, theUnited Kingdom,Netherlands,Australia,Canada,Russia and theGulf Arab states.
TheethnonymAfghan (of Persian origin) has been historically used since the 3rd century AD to refer to the Pashtuns, and is now used to describe every citizen of Afghanistan. Pashtuns make up the largestethnic group in Afghanistan, comprising 46–65%[14][15] of the totalAfghan population. Approximately 2 million Afghan refugees live in the neighboringPakistan. The majority of them are Pashtuns who were born in that country.[16]
The Pashtuns are scattered all over Afghanistan, they can be found in almost everyprovince of the country.[17]Kandahar is the second largest city in Afghanistan and a stronghold of thePashtun culture. The city ofLashkargah in the south,Farah in the west,Jalalabad in the east, andKunduz in the north are other prominent cultural centres whose populations are predominantly Pashtuns.
Ethnic Pashtuns in Pakistan and Afghanistan (including the southern borders of the former Soviet Union, the northeastern borders of Iran, and the northwestern borders of India disputed with Pakistan), in the early 1980s.
MostPashtuns are based in Pakistan. Pashtuns are one of the largestethnic minorities in Pakistan, making up to 15.4% of the total population of Pakistan.[18][19][20] Pashtuns form the majority ethnic group in the province ofKhyber Pakhtunkhwa and northernBalochistan.
With as many as 7 million by some estimates, the city ofKarachi in theSindh province hosts the largest concentration of urban Pashtuns population in the world[21][22] Some important Pashtun cities of Pakistan includePeshawar,Quetta,Zhob,Loralai,Killa Saifullah,Swat,Mardan,Charsada,Mingora,Bannu,Parachinar, andSwabi. The province of Baluchistan is although named after the Baloch, but Pashtuns are the majority there and the Baloch population is in fact less than Pashtuns in the Balochistan province.[citation needed] However most of the land of Baluchistan is covered byBalochs andBrahuis while Pashtuns are concentrated only in the north of the province.
There were over 100,000 Pashtuns living inIran in 1993. The Pashtuns there are mainly concentrated in the Afghan-Iran border, in theKhorasan Province of Iran.[24] The settling of Pashtuns in Iran goes back to the 18th century during theDurrani reign.Timur Shah Durrani, an ethnic Pashtun, the son ofAhmad Shah Durrani and King of Afghanistan, was born inMashhad, in the Khorasan province of Iran, which was part of the Durrani empire at that time.[25]
Numerous Pashtun tribes have settled inZabul since theDurrani dynasty.[26][27] The Pashtun tribes in Zabol from other tribes such as Moradgholi, Kouchakzai, Ghaljaei, lakziyan, Galavi, Barakzai, Khajeali, and Sufi. Regardless of their origins, they are generally seen asPersian zaboli by the society in Iran. The Moradgholi tribe is descended from Amir Shahu KhanBarakzai a member ofBarakzai dynasty. The founder of this tribe in Zabul is Murad Khan, the son of Amir Kalan Khan. After him, his son Moradgholi, who also takes the name of the tribe, became the leader. Members of Moradgholi clan also live inMazandaran,Golestan and other parts of Iran. Kouchakzai is a sub-tribe of the moradgholi clan.[27]
TheUnited Kingdom is home to some 50,000 Pashtuns.[38][39][40] Pashtun diaspora in UK have made their presence felt through their restaurants with traditional names like Bab-e-Khyber, Hujra, and Kabuli pulao. It is one of the most vibrant Pashtun diaspora in the west.[41]
In the latter part of the 19th century several thousand men from Afghanistan, Baluchistan, Kashmir, Sind, Rajasthan, Egypt, Persia, Turkey and Punjab, but collectively known as "Afghans", were recruited during the initial British development of theAustralianOutback, especially for the operation of camel trains in desert areas.[42] These consisted of men who were not allowed to bring their families with them, many married localAborigines and are now known asGhans.[43] During the 1980s and 90s, Pashtuns began settling inPerth,Melbourne,Sydney and other major cities of Australia.
Although their exact numbers are hard to determine, they are at least more than 100,000, for it is known that in 1954, over 100,000 nomadic Pakhtuns living in Kashmir Valley were granted Indiancitizenship.[45] They still follow their traditional justice system ofJirga.[46] Those settled and living in the Kashmir Valley speakPashto, and are found chiefly in the southwest of the valley, where Pashtun colonies have been built over time. The Pashtuns chiefly came in under theDurranis, but many were brought byMaharajah Gulab Singh for service on the frontier.[47] Pashto is also spoken in two villages, Dhakki and Changnar (Chaknot), located on theLine of Control inKupwara district.[48]
A further small, scattered Pashtun population still exists in some major cities of India with large Muslim populations, with the majority ofPashto-speaking individuals residing in the states ofDelhi andUttar Pradesh India; who also have adopted local languages of the respective areas they live in, as their second language.[49] These Pashtuns, numbering around 14,161,[50][51] have retained the use of the Pashto language and are still able to speak and understand it. This is partially because until recently, most of these Pashtuns were able to travel toPakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.[52]
In the latter part of the 19th century several thousand men from Afghanistan, Baluchistan, Kashmir, Sind, Rajasthan, Egypt, Persia, Turkey and Punjab, but collectively known as "Afghans", were recruited during the initial British development of theAustralianOutback, especially for the operation of camel trains in desert areas.[42] These consisted of men who were not allowed to bring their families with them, many married localAborigines and are now known asGhans.[43] During the 1980s and 90s, Pashtuns began settling inPerth,Melbourne,Sydney and other major cities of Australia.
Since the early 1900s there have been many generations of Pashtuns who migrated from Afghanistan and the tribal areas of Pakistan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa). Pashtun settlements inThailand have been common throughout the provinces. There is even a Thai-Pashtun Friendship Association and they are fiercely independent, as a result they often are well treated and respected by the Thai locals. Countries likeIndonesia,Singapore,Brunei andMalaysia,Myanmar also have similar cases of Pashtun settlements, which those who are of descent are quickly assimilated to the localIndian ethnic minority community while those recent migrants or settlers belong to thePakistani diaspora, since most of the migrants came fromPakistan.
^Pashtuns comprise 15.4% (38,864,994) of Pakistan's total population of 252,363,571 per 2024 estimate by the World Factbook.
^Only includes those who speak Pashto as mother tongue.
^A 2018AJPH estimate places the number of people with distant Pashtun ancestry at 3.2 million. However, it is important to note that the majority of these individuals do not speak Pashto, nor do they actively maintain Pashtun cultural practices. Their claim to Pashtun heritage is based on distant ancestral connections, often tracing back multiple generations, sometimes many centuries ago. Consequently, while these individuals may identify as having Pashtun heritage, their ethnic, cultural and linguistic identity is predominantly Indian, and they do not identify asPashtun in the contemporary sense of the term.
"Ethnic groups". BBC News. Retrieved7 June 2013.Pashtun: Estimated to comprise more than 45% of the population, the Pashtuns have been the dominant ethnic group in Afghanistan.
Brown, Keith; Ogilvie, Sarah (2009).Concise encyclopedia of languages of the world. Elsevie. p. 845.ISBN978-0-08-087774-7. Retrieved24 September 2010.Pashto, which is mainly spoken south of the mountain range of the Hindu Kush, is reportedly the mother tongue of 60% of the Afghan population.
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