Editing Pashtuns (section)

== History and origins ==
{{Main|Theories of Pashtun origin}}
{{Further|History of Afghanistan|History of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa|History of Balochistan|History of Indian subcontinent}}
[[File:Afghanistan region during 500 BC.jpg|thumb|The ''[[Arachosia]]'' [[Satrap]]y and the ''[[Pakthas|Pactyan people]]'' during the [[Achaemenid Empire]] in 500&nbsp;BCE]]
The [[ethnogenesis]] of the Pashtun ethnic group is unclear. There are many conflicting theories among historians and the Pashtuns themselves. Modern scholars believe that Pashtuns do not all share the same origin. The early ancestors of modern-day Pashtuns may have belonged to old [[Iranian tribes]] that spread throughout the eastern [[Iranian plateau]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Old Iranian Online|url=http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/eieol/aveol-0-X.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180924023825/https://lrc.la.utexas.edu/eieol/aveol/00|archive-date=24 September 2018|access-date=10 February 2007|publisher=[[University of Texas at Austin]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Pashtun {{!}} people|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pashtun|access-date=8 November 2020|website=Encyclopædia Britannica|language=en|quote=...though most scholars believe it more likely that they arose from an intermingling of ancient Aryans from the north or west with subsequent invaders.}}</ref><ref name="Brit-Pashtun">{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/445546/Pashtun|title=Pashtun|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=10 September 2010}}</ref> Historians have also come across references to various ancient [[Indo-Aryan tribes]] called ''[[Pakthas]]'' (''Pactyans'') between the [[2nd millennium BC|2nd]] and the 1st millennium BC,<ref name="Nath">{{Cite book|title=Dictionary of Vedanta|last1=Nath|first1=Samir|year=2002|publisher=Sarup & Sons|isbn=81-7890-056-4|page=273|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yGBaXO54-HwC&pg=PA273|access-date=10 September 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Pradhan |first1=Shrinivas Vasudeo |title=The Elusive Aryans: Archaeological Search and Vedic Research; The Origin of the Hindus |date=11 August 2014 |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing |isbn=978-1-4438-6592-0 |page=114 |url=https://books.google.co.in/books?id=huMxBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA114 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Heredotus">{{Cite book|url=http://www.piney.com/Heredotus7.html|title=The History of Herodotus|chapter=7|others=Translated by [[George Rawlinson]]|publisher=The History Files|date=4 February 1998|orig-year=original written 440&nbsp;BC|access-date=25 May 2006|archive-date=5 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205055843/http://www.piney.com/Heredotus7.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> although according to [[Richard N. Frye]] the identification of Pashtuns with the Pakhtas is a mere guess and not proven. And scholars such as [[Georg Morgenstierne]] propose the derivation of Pashto from [[Parsii (tribe)|Parsa]] or Parswana.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Frye |first=Richard |url=https://archive.org/details/heritageofpersia0000rich/page/45/mode/1up?view=theater |title=the heritage of persia |pages=45}}</ref>

[[Mohan Lal Kashmiri|Mohan Lal]] stated in 1846 that "the origin of the [[Afghans]] is so obscure, that no one, even among the oldest and most clever of the tribe, can give satisfactory information on this point."<ref>{{cite book|last=Lal|first=Mohan|title=Life of the Amir Dost Mohammed Khan; of Kabul|url=https://archive.org/details/afghanistan00bant|url-access=registration|publisher=Crabtree Publishing Company|volume=1|year=1846|page=[https://archive.org/details/afghanistan00bant/page/n7 3]|access-date=10 September 2010|isbn=0-7787-9335-4}}</ref> Others have suggested that a single origin of the Pashtuns is unlikely but rather they are a tribal confederation.{{blockquote|"Looking for the origin of Pashtuns and the Afghans is something like exploring the source of the [[Amazon Rainforest|Amazon]]. Is there one specific beginning? And are the Pashtuns originally identical with the Afghans? Although the Pashtuns nowadays constitute a clear ethnic group with their own language and culture, there is no evidence whatsoever that all modern Pashtuns share the same ethnic origin. In fact it is highly unlikely."<ref name="Vogelsang"/>|[[Willem Vogelsang|Vogelsang]]|2002}}

=== Linguistic origin ===
[[File:Saka warrior Termez Achaeological Museum.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Sculpture]] of a [[Saka]] warrior in [[Termez]], [[Uzbekistan]]]]
Pashto is generally classified as an [[Eastern Iranian]] language.<ref>{{cite web|quote=(69) Paṣ̌tō undoubtedly belongs to the Northeastern Iranic branch. It shares with Munǰī the change of *δ > l, but this tendency extends also to Sogdian|title=Encolypedia Iranica, AFGHANISTAN vi. Paṣ̌tō|url=https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/afghanistan-vi-pasto}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Comrie|first=Bernard|title=The World's Major Languages|year=2009|quote="Pashto belongs to the North-Eastern group within the Iranian Languages"}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Afghanistan volume 28|publisher=Historical Society of Afghanistan.|year=1975|quote=Pashto originally belonged to the north – eastern branch of the Iranic languages}}</ref> It shares features with the [[Munji language]], which is the closest existing language to the extinct [[Bactrian language|Bactrian]],<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Waghmar|first1=Burzine|last2=Frye|first2=Richard N.|title=Bactrian History and Language: An Overview|journal=Journal of the K. R. Cama Oriental Institute|date=2001|volume=64|pages=40–48}}</ref> but also shares features with the [[Sogdian language]], as well as [[Khwarezmian language|Khwarezmian]], [[Shughni language|Shughni]], [[Sanglechi language|Sanglechi]], and [[Khotanese language|Khotanese Saka]].<ref>{{cite web|quote="It shares with Munǰī the change of *δ > l, but this tendency extends also to Sogdian. The Waṇ. dialect shares with Munǰī the change of -t- > -y-/0. If we want to assume that this agreement points to some special connection, and not to a secondary, parallel development, we should have to admit that one branch of pre-Paṣ̌tō had already, before the splitting off of Waṇ., retained some special connection with Munǰī, an assumption unsupported by any other facts. Apart from l <*δ the only agreement between Paṣ̌tō and Munǰī appears to be Pṣ̌t. zə; Munǰī zo/a "I." Note also Pṣ̌t. l but Munǰī x̌ < θ (Pṣ̌t. plan "wide", cal(w)or "four", but Munǰī paҳəy, čfūr, Yidḡa čšīr < *čəҳfūr). Paṣ̌tō has dr-, wr- < *θr-, *fr- like Khotanese Saka (see above 23). An isolated, but important, agreement with Sangl. is the remarkable change of *rs/z > Pṣ̌t. ҳt/ǧd; Sangl. ṣ̌t/ẓ̌d (obəҳta "juniper;" Sangl. wəṣ̌t; (w)ūǧd "long;" vəẓ̌dük) (see above 25). But we find similar development also in Shugh. ambaҳc, vūγ̌j. The most plausible explanation seems to be that *rs (with unvoiced r) became *ṣ̌s and, with differentiation *ṣ̌c, and *rz, through *ẓ̌z > ẓ̌j (from which Shugh. ҳc, γ̌j). Pṣ̌t. and Sangl. then shared a further differentiation into ṣ̌t, ẓ̌d ( > Pṣ̌t. ҳt, ğd)."|title=Encolypedia Iranica, AFGHANISTAN vi. Paṣ̌tō|url=https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/afghanistan-vi-pasto}}</ref>

It is suggested by some that Pashto may have originated in the [[Badakhshan]] region and is connected to a [[Saka language]] akin to Khotanese.<ref>{{Cite web|quote=It is, however, possible that the original home of Paṣ̌tō may have been in Badaḵšān, somewhere between Munǰī and Sangl. and Shugh., with some contact with a Saka dialect akin to Khotanese.|title=Encolypedia Iranica, AFGHANISTAN vi. Paṣ̌tō|url=https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/afghanistan-vi-pasto}}</ref> In fact major linguist [[Georg Morgenstierne]] has described Pashto as a [[Saka language|Saka]] dialect and many others have observed the similarities between Pashto and other Saka languages as well, suggesting that the original Pashto speakers might have been a [[Saka]] group.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Indo-Iranica|publisher=Iran Society|year=1946|location=Kolkata, India|pages=173–174|quote=... and their language is most closely related to on the one hand with Saka on the other with Munji-Yidgha}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Bečka|first=Jiří|title=A Study in Pashto Stress|publisher=Academia|year=1969|pages=32|quote=Pashto in its origin, is probably a Saka dialect.}}</ref> Furthermore, Pashto and [[Ossetian language|Ossetian]], another Scythian-descending language, share cognates in their vocabulary which other Eastern Iranian languages lack<ref>{{Cite book|last=Cheung|first=Jonny|title=Etymological Dictionary of the Iranian Verb|publisher=(Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series)|year=2007}}</ref> Cheung suggests a common isogloss between Pashto and Ossetian which he explains by an undocumented Saka dialect being spoken close to reconstructed Old Pashto which was likely spoken north of the [[Amu Darya|Oxus]] at that time.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Cheung|first=Jonny|title=Etymological dictionary of the Iranian verb|publisher=(Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series)|year=2007}}</ref> Others however have suggested a much older Iranic ancestor given the affinity to [[Old Avestan]].<ref>{{Cite web|quote=But it seems that the Old Iranic ancestor dialect of Paṣ̌tō must have been close to that of the Gathas.|title=Encyclopaedia Iranica, AFGHANISTAN vi. Paṣ̌tō|url=https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/afghanistan-vi-pasto}}</ref>

===Diverse origin===
According to one school of thought, Pashtun are descended from a variety of ethnicities, including [[Persians]], [[Greeks]], [[Turkish people|Turks]], [[Arabs]], [[Bactrians]], [[Dards]], [[Scythians]], [[Tatars|Tartars]], Huns ([[Hephthalites]]), [[Mongols]], [[Moghol people|Moghals]] (Mughals), and anyone else who has crossed the region where these Pashtun live. Unexpectedly, this includes alleged ties of [[Israelite]] descent.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Acheson|first=Ben|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QaW5EAAAQBAJ|title=The Pashtun Tribes in Afghanistan: Wolves Among Men|date=30 June 2023|publisher=Pen and Sword Military|isbn=978-1-3990-6924-3|pages=14|language=en|quote=Given the range of raiders and residents that the area has seen over the centuries, it is easy to see why today's Pashtuns could be descended from Persians, Greeks, Turks, Bactrians, Scythians, Tartars, Huns, Mongols, Moghuls or anyone else who has crossed the region over the years.__More unexpected are the alleged Pashtun ties to Israel (Israelites).}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Who Are the Pashtun People of Afghanistan and Pakistan?|url=https://www.thoughtco.com/who-are-the-pashtun-195409|access-date=9 October 2023|website=ThoughtCo|language=en|quote=Many scholars believe that the ''Pashtun'' people are descended from several ancestral groups. Likely the foundational population were of eastern Iranian (Persian) origin and brought the Indo-European language east with them. They probably mixed with other peoples, including possibly the Hephthalites or White Huns, 'Arabs', Mughals, and others who passed through the area.}}</ref>

Some Pashtun tribes claim descent from [[Arabs]], including some claiming to be [[Sayyids]].<ref name="ISBN Olaf Caroe">Caroe, Olaf. 1984. ''The Pathans: 500&nbsp;B.C.-A.D. 1957'' (Oxford in Asia Historical Reprints)." Oxford University Press.</ref>

One historical account connects the Pashtuns to a possible [[Ancient Egypt]]ian past but this lacks supporting evidence.<ref>{{cite web|last=Barmazid|title=Theory of Coptic origin of Pashtuns|url=http://www.barmazid.com/2016/11/copts-theory-of-pashtun-origin.html}}</ref>

[[Henry Walter Bellew]], who wrote extensively on Afghan culture, noted that some people claim that the [[Bangash]] Pashtuns are connected to [[Ismail Samani]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fAkEAAAAMAAJ&dq=bangash+ismail+samani&pg=PA105|title=An Inquiry Into the Ethnography of Afghanistan Prepared for and Presented to the 9th International Congress of Orientalists (London, Sept. 1891)|pages=105|quote=By Some, the Bangash ancestor, ''Ismail'', is connected with the Sultan Ismail, founder of the Saimani dynasty, which succeddeded to that of the Suffari (founded by Yacub Bin Leith or Lais) 875 A.D.|last1=Bellew|first1=Henry Walter|date=8 March 1891}}</ref>

===Greek origin===
According to Firasat et al. 2007, a proportion of Pashtuns may descend from Greeks, but they also suggest that Greek ancestry may also have come from Greek slaves brought by [[Xerxes I]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Firasat|first1=Sadaf|last2=Khaliq|first2=Shagufta|last3=Mohyuddin|first3=Aisha|last4=Papaioannou|first4=Myrto|last5=Tyler-Smith|first5=Chris|last6=Underhill|first6=Peter A|last7=Ayub|first7=Qasim|title=Y-chromosomal evidence for a limited Greek contribution to the Pathan population of Pakistan|journal=European Journal of Human Genetics|date=January 2007|volume=15|issue=1|pages=121–126|doi=10.1038/sj.ejhg.5201726|pmid=17047675|pmc=2588664}}</ref>

The Greek ancestry of the Pashtuns may also be traced on the basis of a homologous group. And Hoplogroup J2 is from the Semitic population, and this Hoplogroup is found in 6.5% of Greeks and Pashtuns and 55.6% of the Israelite population.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Huang|first1=De-Shuang|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aZa5BQAAQBAJ&dq=greek+origin+of+Pashtun&pg=PA409|title=Intelligent Computing Theories: 9th International Conference, ICIC 2013, Nanning, China, July 28–31, 2013, Proceedings|last2=Bevilacqua|first2=Vitoantonio|last3=Figueroa|first3=Juan Carlos|last4=Premaratne|first4=Prashan|date=20 July 2013|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-3-642-39479-9|pages=409|language=en|quote=The Haplogroup J2 is from the Semitic population as well as the population shar- ing the common African ancestor. This Haplogroup was found 6.5% in both the Greek and Pashtun population while 55.6% in the Israel population. The Israel popu- lation however did not result in exact match for haplotype of the 9 or 7 markers tested. Very few exact matches were found only with the 5 markers test. However the 7 marker test had many exact matches from the Greek population.}}</ref>

A number of genetic studies on ''Pashtuns'' have lately been undertaken by academics from various institutions and research institutes. The Greek heritage of Pakistani Pashtuns has been researched in. In this study, the ''Pashtuns'', ''Kalash'', and ''Burusho'' to be descended from Alexander's soldiers considered.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Huang|first1=De-Shuang|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aZa5BQAAQBAJ&dq=pashtun+from+greek+ancestry&pg=PA403|title=Intelligent Computing Theories: 9th International Conference, ICIC 2013, Nanning, China, July 28–31, 2013, Proceedings|last2=Bevilacqua|first2=Vitoantonio|last3=Figueroa|first3=Juan Carlos|last4=Premaratne|first4=Prashan|date=20 July 2013|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-3-642-39479-9|pages=403|language=en|quote=A number of genetic studies of the Pashtuns have been conducted recently by researchers of various universities and research groups. The Greek ancestry of the Pashtuns of Pakistan has been investigated in [1]. In this study, the claim of the three populations of the region, i.e. the Pashtuns, the Kalash and the Burusho, to have des- cended from the soldiers of Alexander, has been considered.}}</ref>

[[Henry Walter Bellew]] (1834–1892) was of the view that the Pashtuns likely have mixed [[Theory of Pashtun descent from Rajputs|Greek and Indian Rajput roots]].<ref name="Quddus1987">{{cite book|last1=Quddus|first1=Syed Abdul|title=The Pathans|date=1987|publisher=[[Ferozsons]]|page=28|language=English|quote=Grierson finds a form ''Paithan'' in use in the East Gangetic Valley to denote a Muslim ''Rajput''. Bellew, one of the greatest authorities on ''Pathans'', notes that several characteristics are common to both the Rajputs and the Afghans and suggests that ''Sarban'', one of the ancestors of the ''Afghans'', was a corruption of the word ''Suryabans'' (solar race) from which many Rajputs claim descent. The great Muslim historian ''Masudi'' writes that Qandahar was a separate kingdom with a non- Muslim ruler and states that it is a country of ''Rajputs''. It would be pertinent to mention here that at the time of ''Masudi'' most of the Afghans were concentrated in Qandahar and adjacent areas and had not expanded to the north. Therefore, it is highly significant that Masudi should call Qandahar a ''Rajput'' country.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Ahmad|first=Khaled|date=31 August 2009|title=Pathans and Hindu Rajputs|url=http://www.khyber.org/tribes/info/Pathans_and_Hindu_Rajputs.shtml|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140620193512/http://www.khyber.org/tribes/info/Pathans_and_Hindu_Rajputs.shtml|url-status=usurped|archive-date=20 June 2014|access-date=24 March 2018|publisher=Khyber|quote=In a nutshell, Bellew's thesis is that all Afghan tribal names can be traced to Greek and Rajput names, which posits the further possibility of a great Greek mixing with the ancient border tribes of India.}}</ref>

Following Alexander's brief occupation, the successor state of the [[Seleucid Empire]] expanded influence on the Pashtuns until 305&nbsp;BCE when they gave up dominating power to the Indian [[Maurya Empire]] as part of an alliance treaty.<ref>{{cite web|author=Nancy Hatch Dupree / Aḥmad ʻAlī Kuhzād|year=1972|title=An Historical Guide to Kabul – The Name|url=http://www.aisk.org/aisk/NHDAHGTK05.php|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100830031416/http://www.aisk.org/aisk/NHDAHGTK05.php|archive-date=30 August 2010|access-date=18 September 2010|work=[[Strabo]] (64&nbsp;BC – 24&nbsp;AD)|publisher=American International School of Kabul|quote=Alexander took these away from the [[Aryan]]s and established settlements of his own, but [[Seleucus I Nicator|Seleucus Nicator]] gave them to [[Chandragupta Maurya|Sandrocottus]] ([[Chandragupta Maurya|Chandragupta]]), upon terms of intermarriage and of receiving in exchange 500 elephants.}}</ref>

Some groups from [[Peshawar]] and [[Kandahar]] believe to be descended from [[Greek people|Greeks]] who arrived with [[Alexander the Great]].<ref name="Greek ancestry">{{cite journal|vauthors=Mansoor A, Mazhar K, Khaliq S, etal|date=April 2004|title=Investigation of the Greek ancestry of populations from northern Pakistan|journal=Hum Genet|volume=114|issue=5|pages=484–90|doi=10.1007/s00439-004-1094-x|pmid=14986106|s2cid=5715518}}</ref>

=== Hephthalite origin ===

According to some accounts the [[Ghilji]] tribe has been connected to the [[Khalaj people]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Minorsky|first=V.|title=The Khalaj West of the Oxus|url=http://www.khyber.org/articles/2005/TheKhalajWestoftheOxus.shtml|journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, University of London|volume=10|issue=2|pages=417–437|doi=10.1017/S0041977X00087607|s2cid=162589866|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110613145756/http://www.khyber.org/articles/2005/TheKhalajWestoftheOxus.shtml|archive-date=13 June 2011|url-status=usurped|quote="The fact is that the important Ghilzai tribe occupies now the region round Ghazni, where the Khalaj used to live and that historical data all point, to the transformation of the Turkish Khalaj into Afghan Ghilzai."}}</ref> Following [[al-Khwarizmi]], [[Josef Markwart]] claimed the Khalaj to be remnants of the [[Hephthalite]] confederacy.<ref name="iri1">"[http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/khalaj-i-tribe-turkistan ḴALAJ i. TRIBE]" – ''[[Encyclopaedia Iranica]], 15 December 2010 (Pierre Oberling)''</ref> The Hephthalites may have been Indo-Iranian,<ref name="iri1" /> although the view that they were of [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]] [[Tiele people|Gaoju]] origin{{sfn|de la Vaissière|2003|pp=119–137}} "seems to be most prominent at present".<ref>{{harvnb|Rezakhani|2017|p=135}}. "The suggestion that the Hephthalites were originally of Turkic origin and only later adopted Bactrian as their administrative, and possibly native, language (de la Vaissière 2007: 122) seems to be most prominent at present."</ref> The Khalaj may originally have been Turkic-speaking and only federated with Iranian Pashto-speaking tribes in medieval times.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://iranicaonline.org/|title=Welcome to Encyclopaedia Iranica|first=Encyclopaedia Iranica|last=Foundation|website=iranicaonline.org}}</ref>

However, according to linguist [[Nicholas Sims-Williams|Sims-Williams]], archaeological documents do not support the suggestion that the Khalaj were the successors of the Hephthalites,<ref>{{cite journal|last=Bonasli|first=Sonel|year=2016|title=The Khalaj and their language|journal=Endangered Turkic Languages II A|location=Aralık|pages=273–275}}</ref> while according to historian [[Vladimir Minorsky|V. Minorsky]], the Khalaj were "perhaps only politically associated with the Hephthalites."<ref>{{cite web|last=Minorsky|first=V.|title=The Khalaj West of the Oxus [excerpts from "The Turkish Dialect of the Khalaj", Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, University of London, Vol 10, No 2, pp 417–437]|url=http://www.khyber.org/articles/2005/TheKhalajWestoftheOxus.shtml|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110613145756/http://www.khyber.org/articles/2005/TheKhalajWestoftheOxus.shtml|archive-date=13 June 2011|access-date=10 January 2007|website=Khyber.ORG}}</ref>

According to [[Georg Morgenstierne]], the [[Durrani]] tribe who were known as the "Abdali" before the formation of the [[Durrani Empire]] 1747,<ref>{{cite book|last=Runion|first=Meredith L.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EY6NDgAAQBAJ&q=sadozai+or+durrani&pg=PR24|title=The History of Afghanistan, 2nd Edition|date=24 April 2017|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9781610697781}}</ref> might be connected to with the [[Hephthalites]];<ref>{{cite journal|last=Morgenstierne|first=Georg|year=1979|title=The Linguistic Stratification of Afghanistan|journal=Afghan Studies|volume=2|pages=23–33}}</ref> [[Aydogdy Kurbanov]] endorses this view who proposes that after the collapse of the Hephthalite confederacy, Hephthalite likely assimilated into different local populations.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kurbano|first=Aydogdy|title=THE HEPHTHALITES: ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL ANALYSIS|url=https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/bitstream/handle/fub188/8366/01_Text.pdf|url-status=live|journal=Department of History and Cultural Studies of the Free University, Berlin|type=PhD Thesis|pages=242|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/bitstream/handle/fub188/8366/01_Text.pdf|archive-date=9 October 2022|quote="The Hephthalites may also have participated in the origin of the Afghans. The Afghan tribe Abdal is one of the big tribes that has lived there for centuries. Renaming the Abdals to Durrani occurred in 1747, when descendants from the Sadozai branch Zirak of this tribe, Ahmad-khan Abdali, became the shah of Afghanistan. In 1747 the tribe changed its name to "Durrani" when Ahmad khan became the first king of Afghanistan and accepted the title "Dur-i-Duran" (the pearl of pearls, from Arabian: "durr" – pearl). "}}</ref>

According to [[The Cambridge History of Iran]] volume 3, Issue 1, the [[Ghilji]] tribe of Afghanistan are the descendants of Hephthalites.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Fisher|first1=William Bayne|last2=Yarshater|first2=Ehsan|title=The Cambridge History of Iran|date=1968|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-20092-9|page=216|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ko_RafMSGLkC&dq=the+cambridge+history+of+iran+pashtun+hephthalites&pg=PA216}}</ref>

=== Anthropology and oral traditions ===
====Theory of Pashtun descent from Israelites====
{{Main|Theory of Pashtun descent from Israelites}}

Some [[anthropologist]]s lend credence to the [[oral tradition]]s of the Pashtun tribes themselves. For example, according to the ''[[Encyclopaedia of Islam]]'', the theory of Pashtun descent from Israelites is traced to [[Nimat Allah al-Harawi]], who compiled a history for ''[[Khan Jahan Lodi|Khan-e-Jehan Lodhi]]'' in the reign of [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] Emperor [[Jehangir]] in the 17th century.<ref name="Houtsma-150">{{Cite book|title=E.J. Brill's first encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913–1936|last1=Houtsma|first1=Martijn Theodoor|volume=2|year=1987|publisher=BRILL|isbn=90-04-08265-4|page=150|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GEl6N2tQeawC&pg=PA150|access-date=24 September 2010}}</ref> The 13th century [[Tabaqat-i Nasiri]] discusses the settlement of immigrant Bani Israel at the end of the 8th century CE in the [[Ghor Province|Ghor region]] of Afghanistan, settlement attested by Jewish inscriptions in Ghor. Historian André Wink suggests that the story "may contain a clue to the remarkable theory of the Jewish origin of some of the Afghan tribes which is persistently advocated in the Persian-Afghan chronicles."<ref name="Wink">{{cite book|last1=Wink|first1=Andre|title=Al-Hind: the Making of the Indo-Islamic World: Early Medieval India and the Expansion of Islam, 7th–11th Centuries Vol 1|date=2002|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-0391041738|pages=95–96|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g2m7_R5P2oAC&q=%22Tabaqat-i+Nasiri%22+israel&pg=PA95|access-date=6 November 2016}}</ref> These references to Bani Israel agree with the commonly held view by Pashtuns that when the twelve tribes of Israel were dispersed, the [[tribe of Joseph]], among other Hebrew tribes, settled in the Afghanistan region.<ref name="Jewish-library">{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Afghanistan.html|title=The Virtual Jewish History Tour, Afghanistan|first=Alden|last=Oreck|encyclopedia=[[Jewish Virtual Library]]|access-date=10 January 2007}}</ref> This oral tradition is widespread among the Pashtun tribes. There have been many legends over the centuries of descent from the [[Ten Lost Tribes]] after groups converted to Christianity and Islam. Hence the tribal name [[Yusufzai]] in Pashto translates to the "son of Joseph". A similar story is told by many historians, including the 14th century [[Ibn Battuta]] and 16th century [[Firishta|Ferishta]].<ref name="Ferishta" /> However, the similarity of names can also be traced to the presence of Arabic through Islam.<ref name="Stanizai2020">{{citation|mode=cs1|last1=Stanizai|first1=Zaman|title=Are Pashtuns the Lost Tribe of Israel?|date=9 October 2020|doi=10.33774/coe-2020-vntk7-v4|s2cid=234658271}}</ref>

This theory of Pashtuns Jewish origin has been largely denied and is said that Its biblical claims are anecdotal, its historical documentation is inconsistent, its geographic claims are incoherent, and its linguistic assertions are implausible.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cambridge.org/engage/api-gateway/coe/assets/orp/resource/item/5f7f53929aea2200186f7d9f/original/are-pashtuns-the-lost-tribe-of-israel.pdf|title=Are Pashtuns the Lost Tribes of Israel?}}</ref>

One conflicting issue in the belief that the Pashtuns descend from the [[Israelites]] is that the Ten Lost Tribes were exiled by the ruler of [[Assyria]], while ''[[Maghzan-e-Afghani]]'' says they were permitted by the ruler to go east to Afghanistan. This inconsistency can be explained by the fact that Persia acquired the lands of the ancient Assyrian Empire when it conquered the Empire of the Medes and Chaldean [[Babylonia]], which had conquered Assyria decades earlier. But no ancient author mentions such a transfer of Israelites further east, or no ancient extra-Biblical texts refer to the Ten Lost Tribes at all.<ref>{{cite news|title=Pashtun clue to lost tribes of Israel|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jan/17/israel-lost-tribes-pashtun|newspaper=The Observer|date=17 January 2010|last1=McCarthy|first1=Rory}}</ref>

Some Afghan historians have maintained that Pashtuns are [[Theory of Pashtun descent from the Israelites|linked to the ancient Israelites]]. [[Mohan Lal (Zutshi)|Mohan Lal]] quoted [[Mountstuart Elphinstone]] who wrote:

{{Blockquote|"The Afghan historians proceed to relate that the children of Israel, both in [[Ghor]]e and in Arabia, preserved their knowledge of the unity of [[Allah|God]] and the purity of their religious belief, and that on the appearance of the last and greatest of the prophets ([[Muhammad]]) the Afghans of Ghore listened to the invitation of their Arabian brethren, the chief of whom was [[Khalid ibn al-Walid|Khauled]]...if we consider the easy way with which all rude nations receive accounts favourable to their own antiquity, I fear we much class the descents of the Afghans from the Jews with that of the Romans and the British from the Trojans, and that of the Irish from the Milesians or Brahmins."<ref name="Lal">Life of the Amir Dost Mohammed Khan; of Kabul, Volume 1. By Mohan Lal (1846), pg.5</ref>|Mountstuart Elphinstone|1841|source=}}

This theory has been criticized for not being substantiated by historical evidence.<ref name="Stanizai2020" /> Zaman Stanizai criticizes this theory:<ref name="Stanizai2020" />

{{Blockquote|"The 'mythified' misconception that the Pashtuns are the descendants of the lost tribes of Israel is a fabrication popularized in 14th-century India. A claim that is full of logical inconsistencies and historical incongruities, and stands in stark contrast to the conclusive evidence of the Indo-Iranian origin of Pashtuns supported by the incontrovertible DNA sequencing that the genome analysis revealed scientifically."|<ref name=Stanizai2020/>}}

According to genetic studies Pashtuns have a greater [[Haplogroup R1a|R1a1a*-M198]] modal halogroup than Jews:<ref name="pmid22510847">{{cite journal|last1=Lacau|first1=Harlette|last2=Gayden|first2=Tenzin|last3=Regueiro|first3=Maria|last4=Chennakrishnaiah|first4=Shilpa|last5=Bukhari|first5=Areej|last6=Underhill|first6=Peter A.|last7=Garcia-Bertrand|first7=Ralph L.|last8=Herrera|first8=Rene J.|title=Afghanistan from a Y-chromosome perspective|journal=European Journal of Human Genetics|date=October 2012|volume=20|issue=10|pages=1063–1070|doi=10.1038/ejhg.2012.59|pmid=22510847|pmc=3449065}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|"Our study demonstrates genetic similarities between Pathans from Afghanistan and Pakistan, both of which are characterized by the predominance of haplogroup R1a1a*-M198 (>50%) and the sharing of the same modal haplotype...Although Greeks and Jews have been proposed as ancestors to Pathans, their genetic origin remains ambiguous...Overall, Ashkenazi Jews exhibit a frequency of 15.3% for haplogroup R1a1a-M198"||"Afghanistan from a Y-chromosome perspective"
|source=''European Journal of Human Genetics''}}