Editing Pashtunistan (section)

==Origin of term==

{{Further|Name of Afghanistan|Afghan (ethnonym)|Names of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa|Name of Pakistan}}
The name used for the region during the [[Middle Ages]] especially during the [[High Middle Ages]] and [[Late Middle Ages]] and up until the 20th century was [[Name of Afghanistan|Afghanistan]]. Afghanistan is a reference to this land by its ethnicity, which were the Afghans, while Pashtunistan is a reference to this land by its language. Mention of this land by the name of Afghanistan predates mention by the name of Pashtunistan,<ref name="Habibi">{{Cite web |url=http://www.alamahabibi.com/English%20Articles/Afghan_and_Afghanistan.htm |title=Afghan and Afghanistan |publisher=alamahabibi.com |work=[[Abdul Hai Habibi]]|year=1969|access-date=2010-10-24}}</ref> which has been mentioned by [[Ahmad Shah Durrani]] in his famous couplet, 14th-century Moroccan scholar [[Ibn Battuta]], [[Mughal Emperor]] [[Babur]], 16th-century historian [[Firishta]] and many others. While mention of Afghans have been mentioned of a community of people, chieftains of tribes of [[Bactria]] known as Abgan or Avagana ({{Transliteration|fa|Afğân}}) or {{langx|xbc|αβγανο}} ({{Transliteration|xbc|Abgân}})<ref name="Sims-Williams 19">{{Cite journal|last=Sims-Williams|first=Nicholas|title=Bactrian Documents from Northern Afghanistan. Vol II: Letters and Buddhist|url=https://www.khalilicollections.org/portfolio/bactrian-documents-from-northern-afghanistan-part-ii/|journal=Khalili Collections|pages=19}}</ref><ref name="Habibi" /><ref name="Britannica-Abgan">{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/7798/Afghanistan/129450/History?anchor=ref261360|title=History of Afghanistan|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=22 November 2010}}</ref><ref name="Ferishta">{{Cite web|url=http://persian.packhum.org/persian/pf?file=06901021&ct=10|title=''History of the Mohamedan Power in India''|author=[[Firishta|Muhammad Qasim Hindu Shah]] (Firishta)|publisher=[[Packard Humanities Institute]]|work=Persian Literature in Translation|access-date=10 January 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090211200506/http://persian.packhum.org/persian/pf?file=06901021&ct=10|archive-date=11 February 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Brit-lib">{{cite web|url=http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelpregion/asia/afghanistan/afghanistancollection/afghanglossary/afghanglossary.html|title=Afghanistan: Glossary|publisher=[[British Library]]|access-date=15 March 2008|archive-date=2 July 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100702122855/http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelpregion/asia/afghanistan/afghanistancollection/afghanglossary/afghanglossary.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> the exact origin or etymology of the term is not known with some scholars believe it to have been derived with the name [[Aśvaka|Asvakan]]{{efn|Also known in various sources as '''Āśvakāyana''', '''Āśvāyana''', '''Assakenoi''', '''Aspasioi''',<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tucci |first=Giuseppe|author-link=Giuseppe Tucci |date=1963 |title=The Tombs of the Asvakayana-Assakenoi |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/29754697 |journal=East and West |volume=14 |issue=1/2 |pages=27–28 |jstor=29754697 |issn=0012-8376}}</ref> and '''Aspasii''',{{citation needed|date=April 2025}}<!-- Empty reference <ref name="Iranica" /--> as well as several other Prakrit, Latin and Greek variants.}} who were a people living in the [[Swat District|Swat valley's]] then in the regions of Bactria.{{Blockquote|The men of [[Kabul]] and [[Khalji dynasty|Khilj]] also went home; and whenever they were questioned about the [[Muslims|Musulmans]] of the Kohistan (the mountains), and how matters stood there, they said, "Don't call it Kohistan, but [[Name of Afghanistan|Afghanistan]]; for there is nothing there but Afghans and disturbances." Thus it is clear that for this reason the people of the country call their home in [[Pashto|their own language]] Afghanistan, and themselves [[Afghan (name)|Afghans]]. But it occurs to me, that when, under the rule of Muhammadan sovereigns, Musulmans first came to the city of [[Patna]], and dwelt there, the people of India (for that reason) called them Patans—but [[Allah|God]] knows!<ref name="Firishta">{{Cite web |url=http://persian.packhum.org/persian/pf?file=80201016&ct=199 |title=The History of India, Volume 6, chpt. 200, Translation of the Introduction to Firishta's History (p.8) |access-date=2010-08-22 |author=Muhammad Qasim Hindu Shah |work=Sir H. M. Elliot |publisher=[[Packard Humanities Institute]] |location=London |year=1560 |author-link=Firishta |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130726121158/http://persian.packhum.org/persian/pf?file=80201016&ct=199 |archive-date=2013-07-26 |url-status=dead }}</ref>|[[Firishta]]|1560–1620}}

The Pashto name Pakhtunistan or Pashtunistan ({{langx|ps|پښتونستان}} <small>([[Naskh (script)|Naskh]])</small>) evolved originally from the Indian word "Pathanistan" ([[Hindustani language|Hindustani]]: {{nastaliq|پٹھانستان}} <small>([[Nastaʿlīq script|Nastaleeq]])</small>, पठानिस्तान <small>([[Devanagari]])</small>).<ref name="ICM2007"/><ref name="Pathanistan">{{cite web|url=http://www.pashtoonkhwa.com/?page=pashtoonkhwa&id=89|title = Pashtu Literature Part II|publisher = Pashtoonkhwa|quote=The name Pakhtunistan or in soft Pashtu dialect Pashtunistan evolved originally from the Indian word Pathanistan. The very concept of Pakhtunistan was taken from the old word Pakhtunkhwa. The British, Indian leaders and even the Khudai Khidmatgars were using Pathanistan for Pakhtunistan in the beginning, but later on they started using the word Pakhtunistan.|access-date = 2009-06-07}}</ref><ref name="Khyber – Indian">{{cite web|url=http://www.khyber.org/articles/2006/The_Problem_of_Pukhtunistan.shtml|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130415044837/http://www.khyber.org/articles/2006/The_Problem_of_Pukhtunistan.shtml|url-status=usurped|archive-date=April 15, 2013|title = The Problem of Pukhtunistan|publisher = Khyber Gateway |quote=The word Pathanistan is not Persian but Indian. It shows that the Khalifa had already acquired the consent of the Muslim leaders of India or these leaders might have motivated the Khalifa to first liberate the Pukhtuns' land (Pathanistan) to build up a strong base against the British Empire in India|access-date = 2009-06-07}}</ref> The concept of Pashtunistan was inspired by the term "[[Pakhtunkhwa]]".<ref name="ICM2007"/> [[Indian independence movement|British Indian]] leaders, including the [[Khudai Khidmatgar]], started using the word "Pathanistan" to refer to the region, and later, the word "Pashtunistan" became more popular.<ref name="ICM2007">{{cite book|title=Faultlines, Volume 18|year=2007|publisher=Institute for Conflict Management|page=59|quote=The name Pakhtunistan or in soft Pashtu dialect Pashtunistan evolved originally from the Indian word Pathanistan. The very concept of Pakhtunistan was taken from the old word Pakhtunkhwa. Obaidullah Sindhi used Pashtania for Pashtu speaking area of his Proposed People's Republic of India or Saro-Rajia-i-Hind (Obaidullah's letter to Iqbal Shaidai on 22 June 1924), Muhammad Aslam, Maulana Obaidullah Sindhi Kay Siasi Maktubat, Lahore: Niduatal Musanifeen, 1966, p. 34}}</ref><ref name="Pathanistan"/>