Editing Pashtuns (section)

== Etymology ==

=== Ancient historical references: Pashtun ===
A tribe called [[Pakthas|Pakthās]], one of the tribes that fought against [[Sudas]] in the [[Dasarajna]], or ''"Battle of the Ten Kings"'', are mentioned in [[Mandala 7|the seventh mandala]] of the [[Rigveda]], a text of [[Vedic Sanskrit]] hymns dated between {{circa}} 1500 and 1200 BCE:<ref>p. 2 "Some Aspects of Ancient Indian Culture" By D. R. Bhandarkar</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Rig Veda: Rig-Veda, Book 7: HYMN XVIII. Indra.|url=https://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rigveda/rv07018.htm|access-date=2 November 2020|website=sacred-texts.com}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|Together came the Pakthas (पक्थास), the Bhalanas, the Alinas, the Sivas, the Visanins. Yet to the Trtsus came the Ārya's Comrade, through love of spoil and heroes' war, to lead them.|Rigveda|Book 7|source=Hymn 18, Verse 7}}

[[Heinrich Zimmer]] connects them with a tribe mentioned by [[Herodotus]] (''Pactyans'') in 430 BCE in the [[Histories (Herodotus)|Histories]]:<ref>[[A. A. Macdonell|Macdonell, A.A.]] and Keith, A.B. 1912. The Vedic Index of Names and Subjects.</ref><ref>Map of the [[Median Empire]], showing ''Pactyans'' territory in what is now Afghanistan and Pakistan...[http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/shepherd/oriental_empire.jpg Link]</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Herodotus, The Histories, Book 3, chapter 102, section 1|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0126:book=3:chapter=102:section=1|access-date=2 November 2020|website=perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|Other Indians dwell near the town of Caspatyrus[Κασπατύρῳ] and the Pactyic [Πακτυϊκῇ] country, north of the rest of India; these live like the Bactrians; they are of all Indians the most warlike, and it is they who are sent for the gold; for in these parts all is desolate because of the sand.|Herodotus |The Histories, Book III|source=Chapter 102, Section 1}}

These Pactyans lived on the eastern frontier of the [[Achaemenid Empire|Achaemenid]] [[Arachosia]] [[Satrapy]] as early as the 1st millennium BCE, present-day Afghanistan.<ref>{{cite web|title=The History of Herodotus Chapter 7, Written 440 B.C.E, Translated by George Rawlinson|url=http://www.piney.com/Heredotus7.html|access-date=21 September 2012|publisher=Piney.com|archive-date=5 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205055843/http://www.piney.com/Heredotus7.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Herodotus]] also mentions a tribe of known as Aparytai (Ἀπαρύται).<ref>{{cite web|title=The History of Herodotus Book 3, Chapter 91, Verse 4; Written 440 B.C.E, Translated by G. C. Macaulay|url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/hh/hh3090.htm|access-date=21 February 2015|publisher=sacred-texts.com}}</ref> [[Thomas Holdich]] has linked them with the [[Afridi]] tribe:<ref>{{cite web|title=Herodotus, The Histories, Book 3, chapter 91, section 4|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0126:book=3:chapter=91:section=4|access-date=3 November 2020|website=perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Dani|first=Ahmad Hasan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9yduAAAAMAAJ|title=History of Pakistan: Pakistan through ages|publisher=Sang-e Meel Publications|year=2007|isbn=978-969-35-2020-0|page=77}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Holdich|first=Thomas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JnC-wwEACAAJ&q=Holdich++gates+of+india|title=The Gates of India, Being an Historical Narrative|date=12 March 2019|publisher=Creative Media Partners, LLC|isbn=978-0-530-94119-6|pages=28, 31}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|The Sattagydae, Gandarii, Dadicae, and Aparytae (Ἀπαρύται) paid together a hundred and seventy talents; this was the seventh province|Herodotus |The Histories, Book III|source=Chapter 91, Section 4}}

[[Josef Markwart|Joseph Marquart]] made the connection of the Pashtuns with names such as the Parsiētai (Παρσιῆται), Parsioi (Πάρσιοι) that were cited by [[Ptolemy]] 150 CE:<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Ptolemy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VfkQAQAAIAAJ|title=Geography, book 6 : Middle East, Central and North Asia, China. Part 1. Text and English/German translations|last2=Humbach|first2=Helmut|last3=Ziegler|first3=Susanne|date=1998|publisher=Reichert|isbn=978-3-89500-061-4|pages=224|language=el}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Marquart|first=Joseph|url=http://archive.org/details/UntersuchungenZurGeschichteVonEran21905|title=Untersuchungen zur geschichte von Eran II (1905)|pages=177|language=de}}</ref>{{Blockquote|"The northern regions of the country are inhabited
by the Bolitai, the western regions by the Aristophyloi below whom live the Parsioi (Πάρσιοι). The southern regions are inhabited by the Parsiētai (Παρσιῆται), the eastern regions by the Ambautai. The towns and villages lying in the country of the Paropanisadai are these: Parsiana Zarzaua/Barzaura Artoarta Baborana Kapisa niphanda"|Ptolemy|150 CE|source=6.18.3–4}}

[[Strabo]], the Greek geographer, in the [[Geographica]] (written between 43 BC to 23 AD) makes mention of the Scythian tribe Pasiani (Πασιανοί), which has also been identified with Pashtuns given that Pashto is an [[Eastern Iranian languages|Eastern-Iranian]] language, much like the [[Scythian languages]]:<ref>{{cite web|title=Strabo, Geography, BOOK XI., CHAPTER VIII., section 2|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0239:book=11:chapter=8:section=2|access-date=7 November 2020|website=perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref><ref name="Sagar1992">{{cite book|last=Sagar|first=Krishna Chandra|title=Foreign Influence on Ancient India|date=1 January 1992|publisher=Northern Book Centre|isbn=9788172110284|page=91|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0UA4rkm9MgkC&pg=PA91|quote=According to Strabo (c. 54 B.C., A.D. 24), who refers to the authority of [[Apollodorus of Artemita|Apollodorus of Artemia]] {{Sic}}, the Greeks of Bactria became masters of Ariana, a vague term roughly indicating the eastern districts of the Persian empire, and of India.}}<!--|access-date=17 July 2015--></ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-history-of-early-inner-asia/90634C2E365B2AE442EDCA51E5335033|title=The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia|date=1990|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-24304-9|editor-last=Sinor|editor-first=Denis|location=Cambridge|pages=117|doi=10.1017/CHOL9780521243049|quote="All contemporary historians, archeologists and linguists are agreed that since the Scythian and Sarmatian tribes were of the Iranian linguistic group..."}}</ref><ref name="Onomasiological">{{cite book|last1=Humbach|first1=Helmut|last2=Faiss|first2=Klaus|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iMACuwAACAAJ&q=Herodotus+Scythians+and+Ptolemy%E2%80%99s+Central+Asia|title=Herodotus's Scythians and Ptolemy's Central Asia: Semasiological and Onomasiological Studies|date=2012|publisher=Reichert Verlag|isbn=978-3-89500-887-0|pages=21}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Alikuzai|first=Hamid Wahed|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YZJcAQAAQBAJ&q=Strabo+pashtuns&pg=PA142|title=A Concise History of Afghanistan in 25 Volumes|date=October 2013|publisher=Trafford Publishing|isbn=978-1-4907-1441-7|pages=142}}</ref>
{{Blockquote|"Most of the Scythians...each separate tribe has its peculiar name. All, or the greatest part of them, are nomades. The best known tribes are those who deprived the Greeks of Bactriana, the Asii, Pasiani, Tochari, and Sacarauli, who came from the country on the other side of the Iaxartes (Syr Darya)"|Strabo|The Geography|source=Book XI, Chapter 8, Section 2}}
This is considered a different rendering of Ptolemy's Parsioi (Πάρσιοι).<ref name="Onomasiological" /> Johnny Cheung,<ref>{{cite web|last=Cheung|first=Johnny|title=Cheung2017-On the Origin of the Terms "Afghan" & "Pashtun" (Again) – Gnoli Memorial Volume.pdf|url=https://www.academia.edu/32353626|pages=39}}</ref> reflecting on Ptolemy's ''Parsioi (Πάρσιοι)'' and Strabo's ''Pasiani'' (Πασιανοί) states: "Both forms show slight phonetic substitutions, viz. of υ for ι, and the loss of r in Pasianoi is due to perseveration from the preceding Asianoi. They are therefore the most likely candidates as the (linguistic) ancestors of modern day Pashtuns."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Morano|first1=Enrico|last2=Provasi|first2=Elio|last3=Rossi|first3=Adriano Valerio|title=Studia Philologica Iranica: Gherardo Gnoli Memorial Volume|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hJihtAEACAAJ|chapter=On the Origin of Terms Afghan and Pashtun|chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/32353626|publisher=Scienze e lettere|date=2017|pages=39|isbn=978-88-6687-115-6}}</ref>

=== Middle historical references: Afghan ===
{{Further|Afghan (ethnonym)}}

In the [[Middle Ages]] until the advent of modern Afghanistan in the 18th century, the Pashtuns were often referred to as ''[[Afghan (ethnonym)|"Afghans"]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|quote=Pashtun...bore the exclusive name of Afghan before that name came to denote any native of the present land area of Afghanistan.|title=Pashtun {{!}} people|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pashtun|access-date=3 November 2020|website=Encyclopædia Britannica|language=en}}</ref>
The [[etymological]] view supported by numerous noted scholars is that the name ''Afghan'' evidently derives from [[Sanskrit]] ''[[Aśvaka]]n'', or the [[Assakenoi]] of [[Arrian]], which was the name used for ancient inhabitants of the [[Hindu Kush]].<ref>* ''"The name Afghan has evidently been derived from Asvakan, the Assakenoi of Arrian... "'' (Megasthenes and Arrian, p 180. See also: Alexander's Invasion of India, p 38; J.W. McCrindle).
* ''"Even the name Afghan is Aryan being derived from Asvakayana, an important clan of the Asvakas or horsemen who must have derived this title from their handling of celebrated breeds of horses"'' (See: Imprints of Indian Thought and Culture Abroad, p 124, Vivekananda Kendra Prakashan).
* cf: ''"Their name (Afghan) means "cavalier" being derived from the [[Sanskrit]],'' Asva'', or'' Asvaka'', a horse, and shows that their country must have been noted in ancient times, as it is at the present day, for its superior breed of horses. Asvaka was an important tribe settled north to Kabul river, which offered a gallant resistance but ineffectual resistance to the arms of Alexander "''(Ref: Scottish Geographical Magazine, 1999, p 275, Royal Scottish Geographical Society).
* ''"Afghans are Assakani of the [[Greeks]]; this word being the [[Sanskrit]] [[Ashvaka]] meaning 'horsemen'"'' (Ref: Sva, 1915, p 113, Christopher Molesworth Birdwood).
* Cf: ''"The name represents Sanskrit Asvaka in the sense of a'' cavalier'', and this reappears scarcely modified in the Assakani or Assakeni of the historians of the expedition of [[Alexander the Great|Alexander]]"'' (Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial [[Anglo-Indian]] words and phrases, and of kindred terms, etymological..by Henry Yule, AD Burnell).</ref> ''Aśvakan'' literally means "horsemen", "horse breeders", or "[[cavalry]]men" (from ''[[aśva]]'' or ''aspa'', the [[Sanskrit]] and [[Avestan]] words for "[[horse]]").<ref>{{cite book|last=Majumdar|first=Ramesh Chandra|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XNxiN5tzKOgC&pg=PA99|title=Ancient India|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|year=1977|isbn=978-8-12080-436-4|edition=Reprinted|page=99|author-link=Ramesh Chandra Majumdar|orig-year=1952}}</ref> This view was propounded by scholars like [[Christian Lassen]],<ref>Indische Alterthumskunde, Vol I, fn 6; also Vol II, p 129, et al.</ref> [[J. W. McCrindle]],<ref name="r0">''"The name Afghan has evidently been derived from Asvakan, the Assakenoi of Arrian... "'' (Megasthenes and Arrian, p 180. See also: Alexander's Invasion of India, p 38; J. W. McCrindle).</ref> M. V. de Saint Martin,<ref>Etude Sur la Geog Grecque & c, pp 39–47, M. V. de Saint Martin.</ref> and [[Élisée Reclus|É. Reclus]],<ref>The Earth and Its Inhabitants, 1891, p 83, Élisée Reclus – Geography.</ref><ref name="r1">''"Even the name Afghan is Aryan being derived from Asvakayana, an important clan of the Asvakas or horsemen who must have derived this title from their handling of celebrated breeds of horses"'' (See: Imprints of Indian Thought and Culture abroad, p 124, Vivekananda Kendra Prakashan).</ref><ref name="r2">cf: ''"Their name (Afghan) means "cavalier" being derived from the [[Sanskrit]], ''Asva'', or ''Asvaka'', a horse, and shows that their country must have been noted in ancient times, as it is at the present day, for its superior breed of horses. Asvaka was an important tribe settled north to Kabul river, which offered a gallant resistance but ineffectual resistance to the arms of Alexander "''(Ref: Scottish Geographical Magazine, 1999, p 275, Royal Scottish Geographical Society).</ref><ref>''"Afghans are Assakani of the [[Greeks]]; this word being the [[Sanskrit]] [[Ashvaka]] meaning 'horsemen' " '' (Ref: Sva, 1915, p 113, Christopher Molesworth Birdwood).</ref><ref name="r3">Cf: ''"The name represents Sanskrit Asvaka in the sense of a ''cavalier'', and this reappears scarcely modified in the Assakani or Assakeni of the historians of the expedition of [[Alexander the Great|Alexander]]" '' (Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial [[Anglo-Indian]] words and phrases, and of kindred terms, etymological..by Henry Yule, AD Burnell).</ref><ref>See few more references on Asvaka = Afghan: The Numismatic Chronicle, 1893, p 100, Royal Numismatic Society (Great Britain); Awq, 1983, p 5, Giorgio Vercellin; Der Islam, 1960, p 58, Carl Heinrich Becker, Maymūn ibn al-Qāsim Tabarānī; Journal of Indian History: Golden Jubilee Volume, 1973, p 470, Trivandrum, India (City), University of Kerala. Dept. of History; Literary History of Ancient India in Relation to Its Racial and Linguistic Affiliations, 1970, p 17, Chandra Chakraberty; Stile der Portugiesischen lyrik im 20 jahrhundert, p 124, Winfried Kreutzen.; See: Works, 1865, p 164, Dr H. H. Wilson; The Earth and Its Inhabitants, 1891, p 83; Chants populaires des Afghans, 1880, p clxiv, James Darmesteter; Nouvelle geographie universelle v. 9, 1884, p.59, Elisée Reclus; Alexander the Great, 2004, p.318, Lewis Vance Cummings (Biography & Autobiography); Nouveau dictionnaire de géographie universelle contenant 1o La géographie physique ... 2o La .., 1879, Louis Rousselet, [[Louis Vivien de Saint-Martin]]; An Ethnic Interpretation of Pauranika Personages, 1971, p 34, Chandra Chakraberty; Revue internationale, 1803, p 803; Journal of Indian History: Golden Jubilee Volume, 1973, p 470, Trivandrum, India (City). University of Kerala. Dept. of History; Edinburgh University Publications, 1969, p 113, University of Edinburgh; Shi jie jian wen, 1930, p 68 by Shi jie zhi shi chu ban she. Cf also: Advanced History of Medieval India, 1983, p 31, Dr J. L. Mehta; Asian Relations, 1948, p 301, Asian Relations Organization ("Distributed in the United States by: Institute of Pacific Relations, New York."); Scottish Geographical Magazine, 1892, p 275, Royal Scottish Geographical Society – Geography; The geographical dictionary of ancient and mediaeval India, 1971, p 87, Nundo Lal Dey; Nag Sen of Milind Paṅhö, 1996, p 64, P. K. Kaul – Social Science; The Sultanate of Delhi, 1959, p 30, Ashirbadi Lal Srivastava; Journal of Indian History, 1965, p 354, University of Kerala Dept. of History, University of Allahabad Dept. of Modern Indian History, University of Travancore – India; Mémoires sur les contrées occidentales, 1858, p 313, fn 3, Stanislas Julien Xuanzang – Buddhism.</ref>

[[File:Bactrian document Northern Afghanistan 4th century.jpg|thumb|Bactrian document in the Greek script from the 4th century mentioning the word Afghan (αβγανανο): "To Ormuzd Bunukan from Bredag Watanan, the chief of the Afghans"]]

The earliest mention of the name ''Afghan'' (''Abgân'') is by [[Shapur I]] of the [[Sassanid Empire]] during the 3rd century CE,<ref name="Abgan">{{Cite book|last1=Noelle-Karimi|first1=Christine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eo3tAAAAMAAJ|title=Afghanistan -a country without a state?|author2=Conrad J. Schetter|author3=Reinhard Schlagintweit|publisher=IKO|year=2002|isbn=3-88939-628-3|location=[[University of Michigan]], United States|page=18|quote=''The earliest mention of the name 'Afghan' (Abgan) is to be found in a Sasanid inscription from the 3rd century, and it appears in India in the form of 'Avagana'...''|access-date=24 September 2010}}</ref> In the 4th century the word "Afghans/Afghana" (αβγανανο) as a reference to a particular people is mentioned in the [[Bactria]]n documents found in Northern Afghanistan.<ref name="Barkhuis">{{cite book|last1=Balogh|first1=Dániel|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=frnVDwAAQBAJ&q=bunukan&pg=PA144|title=Hunnic Peoples in Central and South Asia: Sources for their Origin and History|date=12 March 2020|publisher=Barkhuis|isbn=978-94-93194-01-4|pages=144|language=en|quote=[ To Ormuzd Bunukan, ... greetings and homage from ... ), Pithe ( sot ] ang ( ? ) of Parpaz ( under ) [ the glorious ) yabghu of [ Heph ] thal, the chief ... of the Afghans}}</ref><ref name="Bactrian documents from northern Af">{{cite book|last1=Sims-Williams|first1=Nicholas|title=Bactrian documents from northern Afghanistan|date=2000|publisher=The Nour Foundation in association with Azimuth Editions and Oxford University Press|isbn=1-874780-92-7|location=Oxford}}</ref>
{{Blockquote|"To Ormuzd Bunukan, from Bredag Watanan ... greetings and homage from ... ), the ( sotang ( ? ) of Parpaz ( under ) [ the glorious ) [[Tokhara Yabghus|yabghu of Hephthal]], the chief of the Afghans, ' the judge of [[Tokharistan|Tukharistan]] and [[Gharchistan]] . Moreover, ' a letter [ has come hither ] from you, so I have heard how [ you have ] written ' ' to me concerning ] my health . I arrived in good health, ( and ) ( afterwards ( ? ) ' ' I heard that a message ] was sent thither to you ( saying ) thus : ... look after the farming but the order was given to you thus. You should hand over the grain and then request it from the citizens store: I will not order, so.....I Myself order And I in Respect of winter sends men thither to you then look after the farming, To Ormuzd Bunukan, Greetings"|the Bactrian documents|4th century|source=}}
{{Blockquote|"because [you] (pl.), the clan of the Afghans, said thus to me:...And you should not have denied? the men of Rob<ref>A small kingdom in Bactria</ref> [that] the Afghans took (away) the horses"|the Bactrian documents|4th century|source=Sims-Williams 2007b, pp. 90–91}}{{Blockquote|"[To ...]-bid the Afghan... Moreover, they are in [War]nu(?) because of the Afghans, so [you should] impose a penalty on Nat Kharagan ... ...lord of Warnu with ... ... ...the Afghan... ... "|the Bactrian documents|4th century|source=Sims-Williams 2007b, pp. 90–91}}
The name Afghan is later recorded in the 6th century CE in the form of ''"Avagāṇa"'' [अवगाण]<ref>{{Cite web|title=Sanskritdictionary.com: Definition of avagāṇa|url=https://sanskritdictionary.com/avag%C4%81%E1%B9%87a/20082/1|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200507190602/http://sanskritdictionary.com/avag%C4%81%E1%B9%87a/20082/1|archive-date=7 May 2020|access-date=18 November 2020|website=sanskritdictionary.com}}</ref> by the Indian astronomer [[Varahamihira|Varāha Mihira]] in his [[Bṛhat Saṃhitā|Brihat-samhita]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=15 December 1983|title=Afghan|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/afgan-in-current-political-usage-any-citizen-of-afghanistan-whatever-his-ethnic-tribal-or-religious-affiliation|access-date=27 September 2010|work=Ch. M. Kieffer|publisher=[[Encyclopædia Iranica]] Online Edition}}</ref><ref name="Bhat">{{Cite book|last1=Varāhamihira|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7rboQwAACAAJ|title=Bṛhat Saṁhitā of Varāhamihira: with english translation, exhaustive notes and literary comments|last2=Bhat|first2=M. Ramakrishna|date=1981|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-0098-4|pages=143|language=en}}</ref>
{{Blockquote|"It would be unfavourable to the people of Chola, the Afghans (Avagāṇa), the white Huns and the Chinese."<ref name="Bhat" />|Varāha Mihira|6th century CE|source=chapt. 11, verse 61}}
The word Afghan also appeared in the 982 [[Hudud ul-'alam|Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam]], where a reference is made to a village, Saul, which was probably located near [[Gardez]], Afghanistan.<ref name="Vogelsang" />
{{blockquote|"Saul, a pleasant village on a mountain. In it live ''Afghans''".<ref name="Vogelsang">{{Cite book|title=The Afghans|last1=Vogelsang|first1=Willem|year=2002|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|isbn=0-631-19841-5|page=18|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9kfJ6MlMsJQC&pg=PA18|access-date=2010-08-22}}</ref>}} The same book also speaks of a king in Ninhar ([[Nangarhar Province|Nangarhar]]), who had Muslim, ''Afghan'' and Hindu wives.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Minorsky|first1=V. V.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3zB1CQAAQBAJ&q=hudud+alam|title=Hudud al-'Alam 'The Regions of the World' – A Persian Geography 372 A.H. (982 AD)|last2=Bosworth|first2=C. E.|date=31 January 2015|publisher=Gibb Memorial Trust|isbn=978-1-909724-75-4|pages=91|language=en|quote=Ninhar, a place of which the king makes a show of Islam, and has many wives, (namely) over thirty Muslim, Afghan, and Hindu (wives).}}</ref> In the 11th century, Afghans are mentioned in [[Al-Biruni]]'s ''Tarikh-ul Hind'' ("History of the Indus"), which describes groups of rebellious Afghans in the tribal lands west of the [[Indus River]] in what is today Pakistan.<ref name="Vogelsang" /><ref>A Glossary of the Tribes And Castes of the Punjab And North-West Frontier Province Vol. 3 By H.A. Rose, Denzil Ibbetson Sir Published by Atlantic Publishers & Distributors, 1997, Page 211, {{ISBN|81-85297-70-3}}, {{ISBN|978-81-85297-70-5}}</ref>

Al-Utbi, the [[Ghaznavids|Ghaznavid]] chronicler, in his ''[[Tarikh Yamini|Tarikh-i Yamini]]'' recorded that many Afghans and Khiljis (possibly the modern [[Ghilji]]) enlisted in the army of [[Sabuktigin]] after [[Jayapala]] was defeated.<ref name=Farishta-2>{{cite web|work=[[Ferishta]], History of the Rise of Mohammedan Power in India, Volume 1: Section 15|url=http://persian.packhum.org/persian/pf?file=06901021&ct=13|title=AMEER NASIR-OOD-DEEN SUBOOKTUGEEN|publisher=Packard Humanities Institute|access-date=31 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130514092123/http://persian.packhum.org/persian/pf?file=06901021&ct=13|archive-date=14 May 2013|url-status=dead|quote=The Afghans and Khiljis who resided among the mountains having taken the oath of allegiance to Subooktugeen, many of them were enlisted in his army, after which he returned in triumph to [[Ghazni|Ghizny]].}}</ref> Al-Utbi further stated that Afghans and Ghiljis made a part of [[Mahmud of Ghazni|Mahmud Ghaznavi]]'s army and were sent on his expedition to [[Tocharistan]], while on another occasion Mahmud Ghaznavi attacked and punished a group of opposing Afghans, as also corroborated by [[Abulfazl Beyhaqi]].<ref>R. Khanam, Encyclopaedic ethnography of Middle-East and Central Asia: P-Z, Volume 3 – Page 18</ref> It is recorded that Afghans were also enrolled in the [[Ghurid dynasty|Ghurid Kingdom]] (1148–1215).<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Houtsma|first1=M. Th.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GEl6N2tQeawC&pg=PA150|title=E.J. Brill's first encyclopaedia of Islam 1913–1936|publisher=BRILL|year=1993|isbn=90-04-09796-1|pages=150–51|access-date=23 August 2010}}</ref> By the beginning of the [[Khilji dynasty]] in 1290, Afghans have been well known in northern India.

[[Ibn Battuta]], when visiting Afghanistan following the era of the Khilji dynasty, also wrote about the Afghans.{{Blockquote|"We travelled on to Kabul, formerly a vast town, the site of which is now occupied by Afghans. They hold mountains and defiles and possess considerable strength, and are mostly highwaymen. Their principal mountain is called [[Sulaiman Mountains|Kuh Sulayman]]. It is told that the [[Islamic view of Solomon|prophet Sulayman [Solomon]]] ascended this mountain and having looked out over India, which was then covered with darkness, returned without entering it."<ref>{{Cite book|title=Travels in Asia and Africa, 1325–1354|author=Ibn Battuta|edition=reprint, illustrated|year=2004|publisher=Routledge|isbn=0-415-34473-5|page=180|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zKqn_CWTxYEC&pg=PA180|access-date=2010-09-10}}</ref>|[[Ibn Battuta]]|1333}}

[[Ferishta]], a 16th-century [[Muslim historians|Muslim historian]] writing about the history of [[Muslim conquest in the Indian subcontinent|Muslim rule in the subcontinent]], stated:
{{blockquote|He [Khalid bin Abdullah son of [[Khalid bin Walid]]] retired, therefore, with his family, and a number of Arab retainers, into the Sulaiman Mountains, situated between Multan and Peshawar, where he took up his residence, and gave his daughter in marriage to one of the Afghan chiefs, who had become a proselyte to Mahomedism. From this marriage many children were born, among whom were two sons famous in history. The one [[Lodi (Pashtun tribe)|Lodhi]], the other [[Sur (Pashtun)|Sur]]; who each, subsequently, became head of the tribes which to this day bear their name. I have read in the ''Mutla-ul-Anwar'', a work written by a respectable author, and which I procured at [[Burhanpur]], a town of [[Khandesh]] in the [[Deccan Plateau|Deccan]], that the Afghans are [[Copt]]s of the race of the [[Pharaoh]]s; and that when the prophet Moses got the better of that infidel who was overwhelmed in the [[Red Sea]], many of the Copts became converts to the [[Judaism|Jewish faith]]; but others, stubborn and self-willed, refusing to embrace the true faith, leaving their country, came to India, and eventually settled in the Sulimany mountains, where they bore the name of Afghans.<ref name="Ferishta"/>}}