Editing Pashtuns (section)

== Geographic distribution ==
{{Pashtuns}}
{{Further|Pashtun diaspora}}

===Afghanistan and Pakistan===
{{See also|Ethnic groups in Afghanistan|Ethnic groups in Pakistan}}
Pashtuns are spread over a wide geographic area, south of the [[Amu river]] and west of the [[Indus River]]. They can be found all over Afghanistan and Pakistan.<ref name="Caldwell2011">{{cite book|author=Dan Caldwell|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wSvp3VTGRecC&pg=PA36|title=Vortex of Conflict: U.S. Policy Toward Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq|date=17 February 2011|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=978-0-8047-7666-0|pages=36|quote=A majority of Pashtuns live south of the Hindu Kush (the 500-mile mountain range that covers northwestern Pakistan to central and eastern Pakistan) and with some Persian-speaking ethnic groups.}}</ref> Big cities with a Pashtun majority include [[Jalalabad]], [[Kandahar]], [[Bannu]], [[Dera Ismail Khan]], [[Khost]], [[Kohat]], [[Lashkar Gah]], [[Mardan]], [[Ghazni]], [[Mingora]], [[Peshawar]], [[Quetta]], among others. Pashtuns also live in [[Abbottabad]], [[Farah, Afghanistan|Farah]], [[Herat]], [[Islamabad]], [[Kabul]], [[Karachi]], [[Kunduz]], [[Lahore]], [[Mazar-i-Sharif]], [[Mianwali]], and [[Attock]].{{citation needed|date=September 2024}}

The city of [[Karachi]], the financial capital of Pakistan, is home to the world's largest urban community of Pashtuns, larger than those of [[Kabul]] and [[Peshawar]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rhOUEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA186|title=Under the Gun|first=Niloufer A.|last=Siddiqui|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9781009242523|date=2022|page=186}}</ref> Likewise, [[Islamabad]], the country's political capital, also serves as the major urban center of Pashtuns. More than 20% of the city's population belongs to the [[Pashto]]-speaking community.{{citation needed|date=September 2024}}

===India===
{{Main|Pathans in India}}{{further|Pashtuns of Kashmir|Pathans of Punjab|Pathans of Sindh|Pathans of Gujarat|Pathans of Uttar Pradesh||Pathans of Bihar|}}
Pashtuns in India often identify as ''Pathans'' (the Hindustani word for Pashtun), and are referred to this way by other ethnic groups of the subcontinent.<ref name="Britannica">{{cite encyclopedia|title=Pashtun|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pashtun|access-date=29 May 2020|quote=Pashtun, also spelled Pushtun or Pakhtun, Hindustani Pathan, Persian Afghan, Pashto-speaking people residing primarily in the region that lies between the Hindu Kush in northeastern Afghanistan and the northern stretch of the Indus River in Pakistan.}}</ref><ref name="Morton-Jack2015">{{cite book|author=George Morton-Jack|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cczSCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA3|title=The Indian Army on the Western Front South Asia Edition|date=24 February 2015|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-11765-5|pages=3–|quote='Pathan', an Urdu and a Hindi term, was usually used by the British when speaking in English. They preferred it to 'Pashtun', 'Pashtoon', 'Pakhtun' or 'Pukhtun', all Pashtu versions of the same word, which the frontier tribesmen would have used when speaking of themselves in their own Pashtu dialects.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.islamicvoice.com/may.2003/cseries.htm|title=Memons, Khojas, Cheliyas, Moplahs&nbsp;... How Well Do You Know Them?|publisher=Islamic Voice|access-date=18 January 2007|archive-date=17 October 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061017055301/http://islamicvoice.com/may.2003/cseries.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Pathan|title=Pathan|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company|access-date=7 November 2007}}</ref> Some Indians claim descent from Pashtun soldiers who settled in India by marrying local women during the [[Muslim conquest in the Indian subcontinent]].<ref name="Indian Pathans" />

Many Pathans chose to live in the Republic of India after the [[partition of India]]. Khan Mohammad Atif, a professor at the [[University of Lucknow]], estimates that "The population of Pathans in India is twice their population in Afghanistan".<ref name="Alavi2008">{{cite web|last1=Alavi|first1=Shams Ur Rehman|title=Indian Pathans to broker peace in Afghanistan|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india/indian-pathans-to-broker-peace-in-afghanistan/story-W6Z4o4Dm0ETTz7tPBoHT1I.html|work=Hindustan Times|date=11 December 2008}}</ref>

Historically, Pashtuns settled in various cities of India before and during the [[British Raj]] in [[colonial India]]. These include Bombay (now called [[Mumbai]]), [[Farrukhabad]], [[Delhi]], [[Calcutta]], [[Saharanpur]], [[Rohilkhand]], [[Jaipur]], and [[Bangalore]].<ref name="CanfieldPaleczek" /><ref name="Khyber">{{cite web|last=Haleem|first=Safia|date=24 July 2007|title=Study of the Pathan Communities in Four States of India|url=http://www.khyber.org/articles/2007/Study_of_the_Pathan_Communitie.shtml|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200229013803/http://www.khyber.org/articles/2007/Study_of_the_Pathan_Communitie.shtml|archive-date=29 February 2020|access-date=1 July 2020|work=Khyber.org}}</ref><ref name="The Hindu" /> The settlers are descended from both Pashtuns of present-day [[Pakistan]] and [[Afghanistan]] ([[British India]] before 1947). In some regions in India, they are sometimes referred to as ''Kabuliwala''.<ref>{{cite news|title=The 'Kabuliwala' Afghans of Kolkata|publisher=BBC News|date=23 May 2015|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-32377276}}</ref>

In India significant Pashtun diaspora communities exist.<ref name="India-census">{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080201193939/http://www.censusindia.gov.in/Census_Data_2001/Census_Data_Online/Language/Statement1.htm|archive-date=1 February 2008|url=http://www.censusindia.gov.in/Census_Data_2001/Census_Data_Online/Language/Statement1.htm|title=Abstract of speakers' strength of languages and mother tongues – 2001|publisher=Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India|year=2001|access-date=17 March 2008}}</ref><ref name="Indian Pathans">{{cite web|url=http://www.khyber.org/articles/2007/StudyofthePathanCommunitiesinF.shtml|title=Study of the Pathan Communities in Four States of India|work=Khyber.org|access-date=30 January 2008|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080514122925/http://www.khyber.org/articles/2007/StudyofthePathanCommunitiesinF.shtml|archive-date=14 May 2008}}</ref> While speakers of Pashto in the country number only 21,677 as of 2011, estimates of the ethnic or ancestral Pashtun population in India range from 3,200,000<ref name="Ali2018" /><ref name="TNI2018"/><ref name="Bhattacharya2018">{{cite web|last1=Bhattacharya|first1=Ravik|title=Frontier Gandhi's granddaughter urges Centre to grant citizenship to Pathans|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/india/frontier-gandhi-khan-abdul-gaffar-khans-granddaughter-urges-centre-to-grant-citizenship-to-pathans-5064372/|work=[[The Indian Express]]|access-date=28 May 2020|language=en|date=15 February 2018}}</ref> to 11,482,000,<ref>{{cite web|title=Pashtun in India|url=https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/21537/IN|website=Joshua Project}}</ref> to as high as double their population in Afghanistan (approximately 30 million).<ref name="Alavi2008A">{{cite web|last1=Alavi|first1=Shams Ur Rehman|title=Indian Pathans to broker peace in Afghanistan|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india/indian-pathans-to-broker-peace-in-afghanistan/story-W6Z4o4Dm0ETTz7tPBoHT1I.html|work=Hindustan Times|language=en|date=11 December 2008|quote=Pathans are now scattered across the country, and have pockets of influence in parts of UP, Bihar and other states. They have also shone in several fields, especially Bollywood and sports. Famous Indian Pathans include Dilip Kumar, Shah Rukh Khan and Irfan Pathan. "The population of Pathans in India is twice their population in Afghanistan and though we no longer have ties (with that country), we have a common ancestry and feel it's our duty to help put an end to this menace," Atif added. Academicians, social activists, writers and religious scholars are part of the initiative. The All India Muslim Majlis, All India Minorities Federation and several other organisations have joined the call for peace and are making preparations for the jirga.}}</ref>[[File:Major ethnic groups of Pakistan in 1980 borders removed.jpg|thumb|Pashtun-inhabited areas 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 early 1980s.]]
The [[Rohilkhand]] region of [[Uttar Pradesh]] is named after the [[Rohilla]] community of Pashtun ancestry; the area came to be governed by the [[Rampur State|Royal House of Rampur]], a Pashtun dynasty.<ref name="Frey2020">{{cite book|last1=Frey|first1=James|title=The Indian Rebellion, 1857–1859: A Short History with Documents|date=16 September 2020|publisher=Hackett Publishing|isbn=978-1-62466-905-7|page=141|language=en}}</ref> They also live in the states of [[Maharashtra]] in central India and [[West Bengal]] in eastern India that each have a population of over a million with Pashtun ancestry;<ref name="Joshua">{{cite web|title=Pashtun, Pathan in India|url=https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/21537/IN|publisher=[[Joshua Project]]}}</ref> both [[Bombay]] and [[Calcutta]] were primary locations of Pashtun migrants from [[Afghanistan]] during the colonial era.<ref>{{cite web|title="The Kabuliwala represents a dilemma between the state and migratory history of the world" – Shah Mahmoud Hanifi|url=https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/southasia/2018/10/29/the-kabuliwala-represents-a-dilemma-between-the-territorial-ethos-of-the-nation-state-and-the-migratory-history-of-the-world-professor-shah-mahmoud-hanifi/|first=Christopher|last=Finnigan|date=29 October 2018|publisher=London School of Economics}}</ref> There are also populations over 100,000 each in the cities of [[Jaipur]] in [[Rajasthan]] and [[Bangalore]] in [[Karnataka]].<ref name=Joshua/> Bombay (now called [[Mumbai]]) and [[Kolkata|Calcutta]] both have a Pashtun population of over 1 million, while [[Jaipur]] and [[Bangalore]] have an estimate of around 100,000. The Pashtuns in [[Bangalore]] include the Khan siblings [[Feroz Khan (actor)|Feroz]], [[Sanjay Khan|Sanjay]] and [[Akbar Khan (director)|Akbar Khan]], whose father settled in [[Bangalore]] from [[Ghazni]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.dawn.com/news/922791|title=Bollywood actor Firoz Khan dies at 70|work=Dawn|date=27 April 2009|access-date=6 June 2020}}</ref>

During the 19th century, when the British were recruiting peasants from British India as indentured servants to work in the [[Caribbean]], [[South Africa]] and other places, Rohillas were sent to [[Trinidad and Tobago|Trinidad]], [[Surinam (Dutch colony)|Surinam]], [[Guyana]], and [[Fiji]], to work in the sugarcane fields and perform manual labour.<ref>{{cite web|title=Afghans of Guyana|url=http://afghanland.com/culture/guyana.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061105072533/http://afghanland.com/culture/guyana.html|archive-date=5 November 2006|access-date=18 January 2007|work=Wahid Momand|publisher=Afghanland.com}}</ref> Many stayed and formed communities of their own. Some of them [[Cultural assimilation|assimilated]] with the other South Asian Muslim nationalities to form a common Indian Muslim community in tandem with the larger Indian community, losing their distinctive heritage. Some Pashtuns travelled as far as [[Afghan (Australia)|Australia]] during the same era.<ref>{{cite web|title=Northern Pashtuns in Australia|url=https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/14256/AS|website=Joshua Project}}</ref>

Today, the Pashtuns are a collection of diversely scattered communities present across the length and breadth of India, with the largest populations principally settled in the plains of [[North India|northern]] and [[central India]].<ref name="Khan2015">{{cite book|author=Jasim Khan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2jgHCwAAQBAJ|title=Being Salman|date=27 December 2015|publisher=Penguin Books Limited|isbn=978-81-8475-094-2|pages=34, 35, 37, 38–|quote=Superstar Salman Khan is a Pashtun from the Akuzai clan...One has to travel roughly forty-five kilometres from Mingora towards Peshawar to reach the nondescript town of Malakand. This is the place where the forebears of Salman Khan once lived. They belonged to the Akuzai clan of the Pashtun tribe...}}</ref><ref name="Swarup">{{cite news|url=http://openthemagazine.com/art-culture/the-kingdom-of-khan/|title=The Kingdom of Khan|work=Open|date=27 January 2011|access-date=6 June 2020|first=Shubhangi|last=Swarup|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200604000833/http://openthemagazine.com/art-culture/the-kingdom-of-khan/|archive-date=4 June 2020|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Alavi20082">{{cite web|last1=Alavi|first1=Shams Ur Rehman|date=11 December 2008|title=Indian Pathans to broker peace in Afghanistan|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india/indian-pathans-to-broker-peace-in-afghanistan/story-W6Z4o4Dm0ETTz7tPBoHT1I.html|work=Hindustan Times|language=en|quote=Pathans are now scattered across the country, and have pockets of influence in parts of UP, Bihar and other states. They have also shone in several fields, especially Bollywood and sports. The three most famous Indian Pathans are Dilip Kumar, Shah Rukh Khan and Irfan Pathan. "The population of Pathans in India is twice their population in Afghanistan and though we no longer have ties (with that country), we have a common ancestry and feel it's our duty to help put an end to this menace", Atif added. Academicians, social activists, writers and religious scholars are part of the initiative. The All India Muslim Majlis, All India Minorities Federation and several other organisations have joined the call for peace and are making preparations for the jirga.}}</ref> Following the [[partition of India]] in 1947, many of them [[Muhajir (Urdu-speaking people)|migrated to Pakistan]].<ref name="Khan2015" /> The majority of Indian Pashtuns are [[Urdu-speaking people|Urdu-speaking communities]],<ref name="Green20172" /> who have assimilated into the [[Culture of India|local society]] over the course of generations.<ref name="Green20172">{{cite book|author=Nile Green|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g6swDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA18|title=Afghanistan's Islam: From Conversion to the Taliban|publisher=Univ of California Press|year=2017|isbn=978-0-520-29413-4|page=18}}</ref> Pashtuns have influenced and contributed to various fields in India, particularly politics, the entertainment industry and sports.<ref name="Alavi20082" />

=== Iran ===
Pashtuns are also found in smaller numbers in the eastern and northern parts of [[Iran]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Windfuhr|first=Gernot|title=Iranian Languages|date=13 May 2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-79704-1|pages=703–731}}</ref> Records as early as the mid-1600s report [[Durrani|Durrani Pashtuns]] living in the [[Khorasan province]] of [[Safavid Iran]].<ref>{{cite web|title=DORRĀNĪ – Encyclopaedia Iranica|url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/dorrani-1|website=iranicaonline.org|access-date=4 April 2021}}</ref> After the short reign of the [[Hotak dynasty|Ghilji Pashtuns in Iran]], [[Nader Shah]] defeated the last independent Ghilji ruler of [[Kandahar]], [[Hussain Hotak]]. In order to secure Durrani control in southern Afghanistan, Nader Shah deported [[Hussain Hotak]] and large numbers of the [[Ghilji|Ghilji Pashtuns]] to the [[Mazandaran province]] in northern Iran. The remnants of this once sizeable exiled community, although assimilated, continue to claim Pashtun descent.<ref>{{cite web|title=ḠILZĪ – Encyclopaedia Iranica|url=https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/gilzi-|access-date=4 April 2021|website=iranicaonline.org|quote=Nāder Shah also defeated the last independent Ḡalzay ruler of Qandahār, Shah Ḥosayn Hotak, Shah Maḥmūd's brother in 1150/1738. Shah Ḥosayn and large numbers of the Ḡalzī were deported to Mazandarān (Marvī, pp. 543–52; Lockhart, 1938, pp. 115–20). The remnants of this once sizable exiled community, although assimilated, continue to claim Ḡalzī Pashtun descent.}}</ref> During the early 18th century, in the course of a very few years, the number of Durrani Pashtuns in Iranian Khorasan, greatly increased.<ref>{{cite web|title=DORRĀNĪ – Encyclopaedia Iranica|url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/dorrani-1|access-date=4 April 2021|website=iranicaonline.org|quote=raided in Khorasan, and "in the course of a very few years greatly increased in numbers"}}</ref> Later the region became part of the [[Durrani Empire]] itself. The second Durrani king of Afghanistan, [[Timur Shah Durrani]] was born in [[Mashhad]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Dalrymple|first1=William|last2=Anand|first2=Anita|title=Koh-i-Noor: The History of the World's Most Infamous Diamond|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KPVrDgAAQBAJ&q=Timur+Shah+Durrani+born+mashhad&pg=PT74|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|date=2017|isbn=978-1-4088-8885-8}}</ref> Contemporary to Durrani rule in the east, [[Azad Khan Afghan]], an ethnic Ghilji Pashtun, formerly second in charge of [[Azerbaijan]] during [[Afsharid dynasty|Afsharid rule]], gained power in the western regions of Iran and [[Azerbaijan (Iran)|Azerbaijan]] for a short period.<ref>{{cite web|title=ĀZĀD KHAN AFḠĀN|url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/azad-khan-afgan-d|access-date=4 April 2021|website=iranicaonline.org}}</ref> According to a sample survey in 1988, 75 per cent of all Afghan refugees in the [[South Khorasan province|southern part of the Iranian Khorasan province]] were Durrani Pashtuns.<ref>{{cite web|title=DORRĀNĪ – Encyclopaedia Iranica|url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/dorrani-1|access-date=4 April 2021|website=iranicaonline.org|quote=According to a sample survey in 1988, nearly 75 percent of all Afghan refugees in the southern part of Persian Khorasan were Dorrānī, that is, about 280,000 people (Papoli-Yazdi, p. 62).}}</ref>

===In other regions===
{{Further|Afghan diaspora|Overseas Pakistani}}
Indian and Pakistani Pashtuns have utilized the British/[[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] links of their respective countries, and modern communities have been established starting around the 1960s mainly in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia but also in other [[commonwealth countries]] (and the United States). Some Pashtuns have also settled in the Middle East, such as in the [[Arabian Peninsula]]. For example, about 300,000 Pashtuns migrated to the [[Arab states of the Persian Gulf|Persian Gulf countries]] between 1976 and 1981, representing 35% of Pakistani immigrants.<ref name="Jaffrelot">{{Cite book|title=Pakistan: nationalism without a nation?|last1=Jaffrelot|first1=Christophe|year=2002|publisher=Zed Books|isbn=1-84277-117-5|page=27|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I2avL3aZzSEC&pg=PA27|access-date=22 August 2010}}</ref> The [[overseas Pakistani|Pakistani]] and [[Afghan diaspora]] around the world includes Pashtuns.