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Ethno-linguistic groups
The people of Afghanistan form a mosaic of ethnic and linguistic groups.
Pashtu (Pashto) and Dari, , are Indo-European languages; they are
the official languages of the country. More than sixty five percent
of the population speaks Pashto, the language of the Pashtoons, while
the rest of the population speaks Dari,{the language of the Tajiks,
Hazaras, Chahar Aimaks, and Kizilbash peoples and other Indo-European
languages, spoken by smaller groups, include Western Dardic (Nuristani
or Kafiri)}, Baluchi, and a number of Indic and Pamiri languages spoken
principally in isolated valleys in the northeast, Turkic languages,
a subfamily of the Altaic languages, are spoken by the Uzbek and Turkmen
peoples, the most recent settlers, who are related to peoples from
the steppes of Central Asia. The Turkic languages are closely related.
Within Afghanistan they include Uzbek, Turkmen, and Kyrgyz, the last
spoken by a small group in the extreme northeast. (see also Index: Pashtu
language, Dari language, Dardic
languages, Balochi language, Turkic
languages)
The present population of Afghanistan contains a number of elements,
which, in the course of history and as a result of large-scale migration
and conquests, have been superimposed upon one another. Dravidians,
Indo-Aryans, Greeks, Scythians, Arabs, Turks, and Mongols have at
different times inhabited the country and influenced its culture
and ethnography. Intermixture of the two principal linguistic groups
is evident in such peoples as the Hazaras and Chahar Aimaks, who
speak Indo-European languages but have pronounced Mongoloid physical
characteristics and cultural traits usually associated with Central
Asia.
The Pashtoons of Afghanistan
predominantly inhabit the southern and eastern parts of the
country but are also well represented in the west and north. They
are divided into a number of clans, some sedentary and others nomadic.
The traditional homeland of the Pashtuns lies in an area east, south,
and southwest of Kabul; many live in contiguous territory of Pakistan.
The two most politically important groups of the Pashtoon
are the Durranis, who live in the area around the city of Qandahar,
and the Ghilzays, who inhabit the region between Kabul and
Qandahar. The Durranis formed the modern nucleus of Afghanistan's
social and political elite.
The Tajiks, mostly farmers and artisans, live in the Kabul
and Badakhshan provinces of the northeast and the Herat region in
the west; there are also pockets of Tajiks in other areas. They
are sedentary in the plains and semi-sedentary in the higher valleys.
The Tajiks are not divided into clear-cut tribal groups.
The Nuristanis, who speak
Western Dardic, inhabit an area of some 5,000 square miles in Laghman,
Nangarhar, and Konar provinces, north and east of Kabul. The Hazaras
traditionally occupy the central mountainous region of Hazarajat.
Because of the scarcity of land, however, many have migrated to
other parts of the country. The Hazaras speak a Dari dialect that
contains a number of Turkish and Mongolian words.
The Chahar Aimaks are probably of Turkic or Turco-Mongolian
origin, judging by their Mongoloid physical appearance and their
housing of Mongolian-style yurts. They are located mostly in the
western part of the central mountain region. The Uzbeks and Turkmens
inhabit a region north of the Hindu Kush, and there are small numbers
of Kyrgyz in the Vakhan in the extreme northeast. The Uzbeks
are usually farmers, while the Turkmens and Kyrgyz are mainly semi-nomadic
herdsmen. The Uzbeks are the largest Turkic-speaking group in Afghanistan.
There are also other smaller Turco-Mongolian groups.
Afghanistan has very small ethnic groups of Dravidian and Semitic
speakers. Dravidian languages are spoken by the Brahuis, residing
in the extreme south. There are also a small number of Jews,
most of whom speak Dari in their daily lives but use Hebrew for
religious ceremonies. |
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