Editing Pashto (section)

==Geographic distribution==
{{Further|Languages of Afghanistan|Languages of Pakistan}}
A national language of [[Afghanistan]],<ref name="Pashto-language">{{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/445534/Pashto-language |title=Pashto language |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=7 December 2010}}</ref> Pashto is primarily spoken in the east, south, and southwest, but also in some northern and western parts of the country. The exact number of speakers is unavailable, but different estimates show that Pashto is the [[first language|mother tongue]] of 45–60%<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/afghanistan/|title=Languages: Afghanistan|work=Central Intelligence Agency|publisher=The World Factbook|access-date=27 October 2020}} (48% L1 + L2)</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Concise encyclopedia of languages of the world|last1=Brown|first1=Keith|author2=Sarah Ogilvie|year=2009|publisher=Elsevie|quote=''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.''|isbn=978-0-08-087774-7|page=845|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F2SRqDzB50wC&pg=PA845|access-date=7 April 2012}}</ref><ref name="UCLA">{{cite web |url=http://www.lmp.ucla.edu/Profile.aspx?LangID=64&menu=004 |title=Pashto |publisher=[[University of California, Los Angeles]] |work=UCLA International Institute: Center for World Languages |access-date=10 December 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090103185916/http://www.lmp.ucla.edu/Profile.aspx?LangID=64&menu=004 |archive-date=3 January 2009 |url-status=dead }} (50%)</ref><ref name="Iranica-languages">{{Cite encyclopedia| last = Kieffer| first = Ch. M.| year = 1982| chapter-url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/afghanistan-v-languages|chapter=AFGHANISTAN v. Languages |quote="Paṧtō (1) is the native tongue of 50 to 55 percent of Afghans".|title=Encyclopædia Iranica|access-date=11 October 2020}}</ref> of the total [[Demography of Afghanistan|population of Afghanistan]].

In [[Pakistan]], Pashto is spoken by {{sigfig|15.42|2}}% of its population,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.statpak.gov.pk/depts/pco/statistics/other_tables/pop_by_mother_tongue.pdf|title=Government of Pakistan: Population by Mother Tongue|work=statpak.gov.pk|publisher=[[Pakistan Bureau of Statistics]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060217220529/http://www.statpak.gov.pk/depts/pco/statistics/other_tables/pop_by_mother_tongue.pdf|archive-date=17 February 2006|access-date=18 July 2016}}</ref><ref name="pbs.gov.pk">{{Cite web |title=Population by mother tongue |url=http://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files/tables/POPULATION%20BY%20MOTHER%20TONGUE.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141010134307/http://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files/tables/POPULATION%20BY%20MOTHER%20TONGUE.pdf |archive-date=2014-10-10 |access-date=2023-09-15 |website=www.pbs.gov.pk}}</ref> mainly in the northwestern province of [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa]] and northern districts of [[Balochistan, Pakistan|Balochistan]] province. It is also spoken in parts of [[Mianwali District|Mianwali]] and [[Attock District|Attock]] districts of the [[Punjab (Pakistan)|Punjab province]], areas of [[Gilgit-Baltistan]] and in [[Islamabad]]. Pashto speakers are found in other major cities of Pakistan, most notably [[Karachi]], Sindh,<ref name="pbs">{{cite web|author=Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy|date=17 July 2009|title=Karachi's Invisible Enemy |url=https://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/rough/2009/07/karachis_invisi.html|access-date=24 August 2010|publisher=PBS}}</ref><ref name="The National">{{cite web|date=24 August 2009|title=In a city of ethnic friction, more tinder|url=http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090825/FOREIGN/708249931|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100116211443/http://www.thenational.ae/|archive-date=16 January 2010|access-date=24 August 2010|publisher=The National}}</ref><ref name="tribune.com.pk">{{cite magazine|date=28 August 2010|title=Columnists {{pipe}} The Pakhtun in Karachi|url=http://tribune.com.pk/story/43827/the-pakhtun-in-karachi/|access-date=8 September 2011|magazine=Time}}</ref><ref name="thefridaytimes.com">[http://www.thefridaytimes.com/beta2/tft/article.php?issue=20110715&page=5] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20121209085408/http://www.thefridaytimes.com/beta2/tft/article.php?issue=20110715&page=5|date=9 December 2012}}, thefridaytimes</ref> which may have the largest Pashtun population of any city in the world.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lieven|first=Anatol |date=2021-05-04|title=An Afghan Tragedy: The Pashtuns, the Taliban and the State |journal=Survival|volume=63|issue=3|pages=7–36|doi=10.1080/00396338.2021.1930403|s2cid=235219004 |issn=0039-6338|doi-access=free}}</ref>

Other communities of Pashto speakers are found in [[India]], [[Tajikistan]],<ref name="Ethnologue-2000">{{cite web |url=http://www.ethnologue.com/14/show_language.asp?code=PBT |title=Pashto, Southern |work=SIL International |publisher=Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 14th edition |year=2000 |access-date=18 September 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080626003043/http://www.ethnologue.com/14/show_language.asp?code=PBT |archive-date=26 June 2008 }}</ref> and northeastern [[Iran]] (primarily in [[South Khorasan Province]] to the east of [[Qaen]], near the Afghan border).<ref name="Ethnologue-Iran">{{Cite web|url=http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=iran |title=Languages of Iran |work=SIL International |publisher=Ethnologue: Languages of the World |access-date=27 September 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204023910/http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=iran |archive-date=4 February 2012 }}</ref> In India most ethnic Pashtun (Pathan) peoples speak the geographically native [[Hindustani language|Hindi-Urdu language]] rather than Pashto, but there are small numbers of Pashto speakers, such as the [[Sheen Khalai]] in [[Rajasthan]],<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tattooed-blue-skinned-hindu-pushtuns-look-back-at-their-roots/article22645932.ece|title=Tattooed 'blue-skinned' Hindu Pushtuns look back at their roots|newspaper=The Hindu|date=3 February 2018|last1=Haidar|first1=Suhasini}}</ref> and the Pathan community in the city of [[Kolkata]], often nicknamed the ''Kabuliwala'' ("people of [[Kabul]]").<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-32377276|title = The 'Kabuliwala' Afghans of Kolkata|work = BBC News|date = 23 May 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thebetterindia.com/155394/hindu-pashtun-shilpi-batra-sheenkhalai-afghanistan/|title = Hindu Pashtuns: How One Granddaughter Uncovered India's Forgotten Links to Afghanistan|date = 8 August 2018}}</ref> Pashtun diaspora communities in other countries around the world speak Pashto, especially the sizable communities in the [[United Arab Emirates]]<ref name="Ethnologue-UAE">{{Cite web |url=http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=AE |title=Languages of United Arab Emirates|work=SIL International|publisher=Ethnologue: Languages of the World|access-date=27 September 2010}}</ref> and [[Saudi Arabia]].

===Afghanistan===
Pashto is one of the two official languages of Afghanistan, along with [[Dari Persian]].<ref name="socioling">Modarresi, Yahya: "Iran, Afghanistan and Tadjikistan, 1911–1916." In: ''Sociolinguistics'', Vol. 3, Part. 3. Ulrich Ammon, Norbert Dittmar, Klaus J. Mattheier, Peter Trudgill (eds.). Berlin, De Gryuter: 2006. p. 1915. {{ISBN|3-11-018418-4}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=LMZm0w0k1c4C&pg=PA1914]</ref> Since the early 18th century, [[List of heads of state of Afghanistan|the monarchs of Afghanistan]] have been ethnic Pashtuns (except for [[Habibullāh Kalakāni]] in 1929).<ref name=rahman /> Persian, the literary language of the royal court,<ref>Lorenz, Manfred. "Die Herausbildung moderner iranischer Literatursprachen." In: ''Zeitschrift für Phonetik, Sprachwissenschaft und Kommunikationsforschung'', Vol. 36. Akademie der Wissenschaften der DDR. Akademie Verlag, Berlin: 1983. P. 184ff.</ref> was more widely used in government institutions, while the [[Pashtun tribes]] spoke Pashto as their [[First language|native tongue]]. King [[Amanullah Khan]] began promoting Pashto during his reign (1926–1929) as a marker of ethnic identity and as a symbol of "official nationalism" after the [[Third Anglo-Afghan War]] in 1919, which restored Afghan control over their foreign policy.<ref name=rahman /> In the 1930s, a movement began to take hold to promote Pashto as a language of government, administration, and art with the establishment of a Pashto Society ''Pashto Anjuman'' in 1931<ref>Other sources note 1933, i.e. Johannes Christian Meyer-Ingwersen. Untersuchungen zum Satzbau des Paschto. 1966. Ph.D. Thesis, Hamburg 1966.</ref> and the inauguration of the [[Kabul University]] in 1932 as well as the formation of the [[Pashto Academy]] (Pashto ''Tolana)'' in 1937.<ref name="hussain" /> Muhammad Na'im Khan, the minister of education between 1938 and 1946, inaugurated the formal policy of promoting Pashto as Afghanistan's national language, leading to the commission and publication of Pashto textbooks.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Green|first1=Nile|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2SbtugAACAAJ|title=Afghanistan in Ink: Literature Between Diaspora and Nation|last2=Arbabzadah|first2=Nushin|date=2013|publisher=Hurst|isbn=978-1-84904-204-8|pages=17|language=en}}</ref> The Pashto Tolana was later incorporated into the Academy of Sciences Afghanistan in line with Soviet model following the [[Saur Revolution]] in 1978.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Green|first1=Nile|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2SbtugAACAAJ|title=Afghanistan in Ink: Literature Between Diaspora and Nation|last2=Arbabzadah|first2=Nushin|date=2013|publisher=Hurst|isbn=978-1-84904-204-8|language=en}}</ref>

Although officially supporting the use of Pashto, the Afghan elite regarded Persian as a "sophisticated language and a symbol of cultured upbringing".<ref name=rahman>Tariq Rahman. "Pashto Language & Identity Formation in Pakistan." ''Contemporary South Asia'', July 1995, Vol 4, Issue 2, p151-20.</ref> King [[Mohammed Zahir Shah|Zahir Shah]] (reigning 1933–1973) thus followed suit after his father [[Mohammed Nadir Shah|Nadir Khan]] had decreed in 1933 that officials were to study and utilize both Persian and Pashto.<ref>István Fodor, Claude Hagège. ''Reform of Languages''. Buske, 1983. P. 105ff.</ref> In 1936  a [[royal decree]] of Zahir Shah [[Formality|formally]] granted Pashto the status of an official language,<ref>Campbell, George L.: ''Concise Compendium of the world's languages''. London: Routledge 1999.</ref> with full rights to use in all aspects of government and education – despite the fact that the ethnically Pashtun royal family and bureaucrats mostly spoke Persian.<ref name="hussain">Hussain, Rizwan. ''Pakistan and the emergence of Islamic militancy in Afghanistan''. Burlington, Ashgate: 2005. [https://books.google.com/books?id=TRW_M_xybyYC p. 63.]</ref> Thus Pashto became a [[national language]], a symbol for [[Pashtun nationalism]].

The [[1964 Constitution of Afghanistan|constitutional assembly]] reaffirmed the status of Pashto as an official language in 1964 when Afghan Persian was officially renamed to [[Dari language|Dari]].<ref>[[Louis Dupree (professor)|Dupree, Louis]]: "Language and Politics in Afghanistan." In: ''Contributions to Asian Studies''. Vol. 11/1978. p. 131–141. E. J. Brill, Leiden 1978. p. 131.</ref><ref>Spooner, Bryan: "Are we teaching Persian?" In: ''Persian Studies in North America: Studies in Honor of Mohammad Ali Jazayery''. Mehdi Marashi (ed.). Bethesda, Iranbooks: 1994. p. 1983.</ref> The lyrics of the [[Afghan National Anthem|national anthem of Afghanistan]] are in Pashto.

{{Further|List of Pashto-speaking universities}}

===Pakistan===
In [[British Raj|British India]], prior to the creation of Pakistan by the British government, the 1920s saw the blossoming of Pashto language in the then [[North-West Frontier Province|NWFP]]: [[Abdul Ghaffar Khan|Abdul Ghafar Khan]] in 1921 established the ''Anjuman-e- Islah al-Afaghina'' (Society for the Reformation of Afghans)  to promote Pashto as an extension of Pashtun culture; around 80,000 people attended the Society's annual meeting in 1927.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Green|first1=Nile|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2SbtugAACAAJ|title=Afghanistan in Ink: Literature Between Diaspora and Nation|last2=Arbabzadah|first2=Nushin|date=2013|publisher=Hurst|isbn=978-1-84904-204-8|pages=109|language=en}}</ref> In 1955, Pashtun intellectuals including [[Abdul Qadir (academician)|Abdul Qadir]] formed the [[Pashto Academy|Pashto Academy Peshawar]] on the model of Pashto Tolana formed in Afghanistan.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Brown|first1=Michael Edward|url=https://archive.org/details/fightingwordslan00brow|title=Fighting Words: Language Policy and Ethnic Relations in Asia|last2=Ganguly|first2=Sumit|publisher=MIT Press|year=2003|isbn=978-0262523332|pages=[https://archive.org/details/fightingwordslan00brow/page/n83 71]|url-access=limited}}</ref> In 1974, the Department of Pashto was established in the University of Balochistan for the promotion of Pashto.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Department of Pashto|url=http://web.uob.edu.pk/uob/departments/Pashto/index.php|access-date=2021-09-07|website=web.uob.edu.pk}}</ref>

In Pakistan, Pashto is the first language around of {{sigfig|15.42|2}}% of its population (per the 1998 census).<ref>{{cite web|title=Government of Pakistan: Population by Mother Tongue|url=http://www.statpak.gov.pk/depts/pco/statistics/other_tables/pop_by_mother_tongue.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060217220529/http://www.statpak.gov.pk/depts/pco/statistics/other_tables/pop_by_mother_tongue.pdf|archive-date=17 February 2006|access-date=18 July 2016|work=statpak.gov.pk|publisher=[[Pakistan Bureau of Statistics]]}}</ref>  However, [[Urdu]] and [[English language|English]] are the two official languages of Pakistan. Pashto has no official status at the federal level. On a provincial level, Pashto is the regional language of [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa]] and north [[Balochistan, Pakistan|Balochistan]].<ref>Septfonds, D. 2006. Pashto. In: Concise encyclopedia of languages of the world. 845 – 848. Keith Brown / Sarah Ogilvie (eds.). Elsevier, Oxford: 2009.</ref> Yet, the primary medium of education in government schools in Pakistan is Urdu.<ref>{{Citation|last=Rahman|first=Tariq|author-link=Tariq Rahman |editor=Craig Baxter|editor-link = Craig Baxter |title=Education in Pakistan a Survey |series=Pakistan on the Brink: Politics, Economics and Society |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CFNtVqYqAwEC&q=medium+of+instruction+in+pakistan&pg=PA172|year=2004|publisher=Lexington Books|page=172|isbn=978-0195978056}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dawn.com/news/1134809/|title=Will change in medium of instruction improve education in KP?|first=Bushra|last=Rahim|date=28 September 2014|work=dawn.com|access-date=18 July 2016}}</ref>

The lack of importance given to Pashto and its neglect has caused growing resentment amongst Pashtuns.<ref name="Sociolinguistic Survey of Northern Pakistan">{{Cite book|title=Sociolinguistic Survey of Northern Pakistan|author=Daniel Hallberg|year=1992|publisher=Quaid-i-Azam University & Summer Institute of Linguistics|volume=4|page=36 to 37|isbn=969-8023-14-3|url=http://www-01.sil.org/sociolx/pubs/32847_SSNP04.pdf|access-date=6 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180712204446/http://www-01.sil.org/sociolx/pubs/32847_SSNP04.pdf|archive-date=12 July 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mashaalradio.org/content/article/25466375.html|title=د کرښې پرغاړه (په پاکستان کې د مورنیو ژبو حیثیت) |work=mashaalradio.org|date=22 July 2014 |access-date=18 July 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite report|title=Teaching and learning in Pakistan: the role of language in education |url=http://www.britishcouncil.org/pakistan-ette-role-of-language-in-education.htm |author=Hywel Coleman |year=2010 |publisher=[[British Council]], Pakistan |access-date=24 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101104060039/http://www.britishcouncil.org/pakistan-ette-role-of-language-in-education.htm |archive-date=4 November 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Mohmand|first=Mureeb|date=27 April 2014|title=The decline of Pashto|work=The Express Tribune|url=https://tribune.com.pk/story/700836/the-decline-of-pashto|access-date=|quote="...because of the state's patronage, Urdu is now the most widely-spoken language in Pakistan. But the preponderance of one language over all others eats upon the sphere of influence of other, smaller languages, which alienates the respective nationalities and fuels aversion towards the central leadership...If we look to our state policies regarding the promotion of Pashto and the interests of the Pakhtun political elite, it is clear that the future of the Pashto language is dark.  And when the future of a language is dark, the future of the people is dark."}}</ref> It is noted that Pashto is taught poorly in schools in Pakistan.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Carter|first=Lynn|date=|title=Socio-Economic Profile of Kurram Agency|url=|journal=Planning and Development Department, Peshawar, NWFP|volume=1991|pages=82|via=}}</ref> Moreover, in government schools material is not provided for in the Pashto dialect of that locality, Pashto being a dialectically rich language.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Carter and Raza|date=|title=Socio-Economic Profile of South Waziristan Agency|url=|journal=Planning and Development Department, Peshawar, NWFP|volume=1990|pages=69|quote=Sources say that this is mainly because the Pushto text books in use in the settled areas of N.W.F.P. are written in the Yusufzai dialect, which is not the dialect in use in the Agency|via=}}</ref>  Further, researchers have observed that Pashtun students are unable to fully comprehend educational material in Urdu.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hallberg|first=Daniel|title=Sociolinguistic Survey of Northern Pakistan|url=https://www.sil.org/system/files/reapdata/10/21/84/102184639558058261191157258320075530940/32847_SSNP04.pdf|journal=National Institute of Pakistan Studies Quaid-i-Azam University and Summer Institute of Linguisitics|volume=4|pages=36|quote=A brief interview with the principal of the high school in Madyan, along with a number of his teachers, helps to underscore the importance of Pashto in the school domain within Pashtoon territory. He reported that Pashto is used by teachers to explain things to students all the way up through tenth class. The idea he was conveying was that students do not really have enough ability in Urdu to operate totally in that language. He also expressed the thought that Pashto-speaking students in the area really do not learn Urdu very well in public school and that they are thus somewhat ill prepared to meet the expectation that they will know how to use Urdu and English when they reach the college level. He likened the education system to a wall that has weak bricks at the bottom.}}</ref>

Professor [[Tariq Rahman]] states:<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Rahman|first=Tariq|title=The Pashto language and identity-formation in Pakistan|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233372024|journal=Contemporary South Asia |date=July 1995|volume=4|issue=2|pages=151–20|doi=10.1080/09584939508719759|via=Research Gate |issn = 0958-4935 }}</ref>{{Blockquote|"The government of Pakistan, faced with irredentist claims from Afghanistan on its territory, also discouraged the Pashto Movement and eventually allowed its use in peripheral domains only after the Pakhtun elite had been co-opted by the ruling elite...Thus, even though there is still an active desire
among some Pakhtun activists to use Pashto in the domains of power, it is more of a symbol of Pakhtun identity than one of nationalism."|Tariq Rahman|The Pashto language and identity-formation in Pakistan|source=}}Robert Nicols states:<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://brill.com/view/title/17296|title=Language Policy and Language Conflict in Afghanistan and Its Neighbors: The Changing Politics of Language Choice|date=2011-12-09|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-21765-2|pages=279|language=en}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|"In the end, national language policy, especially in the field of education in the NWFP, had constructed a type of three tiered language hierarchy. Pashto lagged far behind Urdu and English in prestige or development in almost every domain of political or economic power..."|3=Language Policy and Language Conflict in Afghanistan and Its Neighbors|source=Pashto Language Policy and Practice in the North West Frontier Province}}

Although Pashto used as a medium of instruction in schools for Pashtun students results in better understanding and comprehension for students when compared to using Urdu, still the government of Pakistan has only introduced Pashto at the primary levels in state-run schools.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Khan|first=M. Taimur S.|url=https://www.academia.edu/42225525|title=Pakistanizing Pashtun: The linguistic and cultural disruption and re-invention of Pashtun|publisher=American University|year=2016|location=|pages=72|quote=Urdu which is the native language of only 7.57 per cent of Pakistanis (though widely spoken as the national language and lingua franca in Pakistan) dominates all other local languages; and Pashto which is the native language of 15.42 per cent of the total population has no official recognition beyond primary school...Despite its limited scope, the Pashto-medium schools were a success as the "achievement tests showed an improvement in Pashto medium schools as compared to Urdu medium schools". Nonetheless, the better results have so far not motivated the government to introduce Pashto-medium schools at a larger scale in Pashtun populated areas.}}</ref> Taimur Khan remarks: "the dominant Urdu language squeezes and denies any space for Pashto language in the official and formal capacity. In this contact zone, Pashto language exists but in a subordinate and unofficial capacity".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Khan|first=M. Taimur S.|url=https://www.academia.edu/42225525|title=Pakistanizing Pashtun: The linguistic and cultural disruption and re-invention of Pashtun|publisher=American University|year=2016|pages=96–97}}</ref>