Basically, the country is subdivided into four regions identified by their longstanding urban centers. There is limited, predominantly forced, return movement to afghanistan and continued economic migration to iran and pakistan. History and conflict between ethnic groups in afghanistan. Afghanistan, 20172021 afghanistan inclusive and sustainable growth assessment i. Conrad schetter, ethnicity and the political reconstruction of afghanistan, center for development studies zef university of bonn, germany, working paper 3, 2004. Pakistan utilizes militant groups, including the afghan taliban, as strategic proxies, while india plac. Afghanistans ethnic divides abubakar siddique senior correspondent covering afghanistan and pakistan for rferls. Many kurds live in an area of northern iraq called kurdistan not a separate country. Ethnic groups in afghanistan simple english wikipedia. In 2017, uscirf also finds that the taliban merits designation as an entity of particular. Related information is available at hyperlinks to source material are highlighted in blue and underlined in the text. This lists the logos of programs or partners of ng education which have provided or contributed the content on this page. Afghanistan is a multiethnic and mostlytribal society. Barfield and others published afghanistan is not the.
About the afghanistan papers abstract although the taliban remain a largely pashtun movement in terms of their composition, they have started making significant inroads among other ethnic groups. The most serious attempt to list the ethnic groups in afghanistan to my knowledge is that of erwin orywal and collaborators. We advocate for effective and principled humanitarian action by all, for all. In an effort to bridge longstanding ethnic divides, president hamid karzais cabinet includes representatives of all of afghanistan s main ethnic groups, though minority tajiks hold most key portfolios, including defense. Pashtun, tajik, hazara, uzbek, baloch, turkmen, nuristani, pamiri, arab, gujar.
Mar 28, 2012 afghanistan s location, history, and diverse ethnic groups present a unique opportunity to explore how nations and ethnic groups emerged, and how major cultural evolutions and technological developments in human history have influenced modern population structures. An ethnic group cannot be identified or characterised only from within. According to 2010 data from the us department of state, the largest ethnic group in afghanistan is the pashtun including kuchis, comprising 42% of afghans. Demographics top at least two major ethnic groupsthe pashtuns and the baluchslive on both sides of the durand line.
Ethnicity and the political reconstruction in afghanistan. The paper will discuss in detail the ethnic groups, which exist in afghan. Major ethnic groups in pakistan, 1973 about 98% of languages spoken in pakistan are indoiranian subbranches. Afghanistan is a large country in south asia and is home to many different ethnic groups. Second, while it is true that the taliban have multiple commanders, some with star. Aug 14, 2011 ethnic groups often form an individuals perceptions, behaviours and interactions in society. At the 2016 census the major religious affiliations amongst afghanistan born were islam 42,708, catholic 47 and. Afghanistan s 2004 constitution recognizes 14 ethnic groups. Pashtuns, tajiks, hazaras, uzbeks, and others who make up less than 2% each. However, resistance to his domestic reform program forced his abdication in 1929. The resistance groups that championed the cause of restoration of afghan national pride and revival of the lost state were right from the top party leadership, down to the rank and file, the embodiment of ethnic homogeneity in the case of both pashtuns and minority groups. This level of engagement could occur when the withdrawal of nato and the.
The country has a lot of a valuable stone called lapis lazuli, which was used to decorate the tomb of the egyptian king tutankhamun. Punjabis, pashtuns, sindhis, seraikis, muhajirs, balochis, chitralis and other smaller groups. The history of afghanistan is a history of war and conflict even up to present day. Media in category maps of ethnic groups in afghanistan the following 10 files are in this category, out of 10 total. C i v i l m i l i t a r y f u s i o n c e n t re afghan. Afghanistan has snow and glaciers in the mountains. The major ethnic groups of pakistan in numerical size include.
The area along the afghanistanpakistan border opposite peshawar and the. The afghan pushtun heartland roughly covers a large crescentshaped belt following the afghanpakistani border on the east, southward from nuristan, across the south, and northward. Afghanistan conflict and displacement crisis overview. Taliban and other violent extremist groups and generally lacks the capacity to protect religious and ethnic communities from violent attacks, in 2017 uscirf again places afghanistan on tier 2, where it has been since 2006. Afghanistan population 2020 demographics, maps, graphs. Pakistan and afghanistan institute for the study of war. The implications of the usled military intervention against afghanistan. The majority of afghanistan s ethnic groups 87%, including the hazara 9%, brahui 1. During the afghan civil war, ethnic groups fought for regional power in a conflict that left millions dead and set the precedence for the rise and.
This report provides a brief overview of the various ethnic groups in afghanistan, including their historic and present role within society. Afghanistan s ethnic groups share a ychromosomal heritage structured by historical events. Media in category flags of ethnic groups in afghanistan the following 4 files are in this category, out of 4 total. Karzai himself belongs to the pashtun ethnic group, afghanistan s largest. Like a number of other afghan ethnic groups, the pushtun extend beyond afghanistan into pakistan where they constitute a major ethnic group of about 14 million. Afghanistan is a multicultural entity, which has both tribal and nontribal communities. Available also through the library of congress web site as a raster image. The multiplicity of ethnic groups and languages should have played a. An ethnolinguistic map of showing different language and cultural groups across afghanistan and pakistan. Standards for the classification of federal data on race and ethnicity federal register, august 28, 1995. This is partly due to silk traders traveling the silk route from china to the western world, creating a nomadic trait in afghanistan. Forced by the controlling pashtuns to live in the barren mountains of central afghanistan.
Readers will also gain valuable insight on qawm, a. Media in category ethnic groups in afghanistan the following 4 files are in this category, out of 4 total. Gis vector dataset of ethnoreligious areas in iraq, based on distribution of ethnoreligious groups and tribes, cia country profile, 2003. In afghanistan, for example, a comprehensive peace process could help address root causes of the conflict whether or not a peace agreement between the countrys armed, political, and ethnic groups ever materializes. Afghans confront sensitive issue of ethnicity afghanistan is set to issue new national ids that will have a persons ethnicity embedded in it electronically but not printed on it. While national culture of afghanistan is not uniform, at the same time, the various ethnic groups have no clear boundaries between each other and there is much overlap. Information about the iagcis work and a list of the documents which have been. The vast majority of indias population is composed of ethnic groups that have evolved over many hundreds if not thousands of years in the country lc, eb. They are the largest ethnic group in the world without a country of their own. This, however, is a matter for the afghans themselves.
By vivian nemenyi afghanistan is a warzone, filled with treachery and hatred spewing from different ethnic groups. Its unclear how accurate these estimates may be, given that the last census was nearly 40 years ago in 1979. Following violent clashes between the hazara and the kuchi over land, members of the hazara diaspora in the united kingdom and australia came out strongly in support of their ethnic kin in afghanistan and protested zethnic discrimination of the hazara by the afghan state. In addition, small groups language isolates such as burusho and brahuispeaking peoples also live in the country. There is a substantial amount of intermarriage between the ethnic groups. The fragmented state of the more than 35 million pashtuns in pakistan and afghanistan is a key factor in this crisis. Afghans have historically identified or associated with ethnic groups, however specific data as to the. Afghanistan and pakistan ethnic groups national geographic. The arabs introduced islam in the 7th century and the turks briefly made afghanistan the center of islamic power and civilization at the beginning of the 11th century. The most recent figures on the ethnic affiliations comes from a survey conducted by the asia foundation. Dari and pashto are the countrys official languages. Afghan ethnicities presentation notes flashcards quizlet.
Vector map from blank map of afghanistan districts. Most languages of pakistan are written in the persoarabic script, with significant vocabulary derived from arabic and persian. We have chosen to focus on the iraqi case not only because it is a question of life or death for hundreds of thousands of people, but also because the crisis there threatens a critical part of human history and civilization. Mar 20, 2020 ocha coordinates the global emergency response to save lives and protect people in humanitarian crises. Afghanistan s location, history, and diverse ethnic groups present a unique opportunity to explore how nations and ethnic groups emerged, and how major cultural evolutions and technological developments in human history have influenced modern population structures. Although soviet union occupation plays a role in the disaster, afghanistan has many different ethnic groups, resulting in the major struggles between them, which leads towards violence, and. He has spent the past decade researching and writing about security, political, humanitarian and cultural issues in pakistan, afghanistan, and the pashtun heartland along the border region where he was born. Pdf afghanistans ethnic groups share a ychromosomal. The border was established in 1893 via an agreement between abdur rahman khan, the emir or ruler of afghanistan, and sir mortimer durand, foreign secretary of the british raj. Kurds form almost 20% of the population of turkey and iraq. Afghanistan born all overseasborn of the afghanistan born, 3. Afghanistan simple english wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Tajiks are the largest nontribal nationality in afghanistan, making up onethird of the population. Pashtun, tajik, hazara, uzbek, aymaq, turkmen, baloch, pashai, nuristani, gujjar, arab, brahui, pamiri and a few others. The ethnic groups of afghanistan pashtun peoples are the largest ethnic group in the south of the country, while tajiks and uzbeks are concentrated along the norther borders, and the hazara in the central highlands. Conrad schetter, ethnicity and the political reconstruction of afghanistan, center for development studies zef.
The afghan national anthem and the afghan constitution mention a total of 14 ethnic groups. Afghanistan history, map, flag, capital, population. The pashtun are the largest minority, making up some 38 percent of the population, but like the tajik 25 percent, hazara 19 percent and uzbek 6 percent they are part of a group whose majority lives in another country. Policy congressional research service 1 background afghanistan has a history of a high degree of decentralization, and resistance to foreign invasion and occupation. On the contrary, this report s analysis of the structure and strategy of the insurgency reveals a resilient. The crisis and politics of ethnicity in afghanistan. Executive office of the president, office of management and budget omb, office of. Information and colours from map of ethnic groups in districts in afghanistan. Pashtuns are the largest ethnic group in afghanistan, comprising 42 percent of the population or. Work the type of work that people engage in is divided along ethnic and regional lines in afghanistan. They speak the hazaragi variant of persian, one of the two official languages of afghanistan. In the north especially, the hezbi islami can more easily recruit from nonpashtun ethnic groups.
The taliban are often described as an umbrella movement comprising loosely connected groups that are essentially local and unorganized. Despite being of various ethnic groups, in a research poll that was conducted in 2009, 72% of the population labelled their identity as afghan first, before ethnicity. Lying along important trade routes connecting southern and eastern asia to europe and the middle east, afghanistan has long been a prize sought by empire builders. The population of the country is divided into the following ethnolinguistic groups. Standards for the classification of federal data on race. The central point of the debate so far on the issue has been the effect of either system on the unity and integrity of the country. Ethnic violence in afghanistan has played a role in the wars in afghanistan. Increasing numbers of highereducated afghans seek to emigrate while urban migration and unemployment continue to rise. May 08, 20 afghans confront sensitive issue of ethnicity afghanistan is set to issue new national ids that will have a persons ethnicity embedded in it electronically but not printed on it.
There is no doubt that the taliban polarised the country between a predominantly pushtun south and east, on the one side, and on the other the centre and north where pushtuns are only a minority. In 1747, the pashtun, the dominant ethnic group in afghanistan, established their dynasty. The ethnic balance we have tried to work out here is, i think, 11 for the pashtuns, eight for the tajiks, five for the hazaras, three for the uzbeks and one or two for the others, the smaller groups. Perceiving them as a formidable ethnic group, the pakistani establishment has. Library of congress federal research division country profile. We combine highresolution population data landscan 2008 and maps that bound areas in which ethnic groups reside to estimate ethnic group population numbers.
In 1933 amanullahs nephew mohammad zahir shah, the last king of afghanistan, began a. Pashtun, tajik, hazara, uzbek, aimaq, turkmen, baloch, pashayi. Afghanistans growing ethnic and linguistic divides osce. The indiapakistan rivalry in afghanistan by zachary constantino summary india and pakistan pursue mutually exclusive objectives in afghanistan and leverage sharply different tools to achieve their respective goals. The population comprises several main ethnic groups 2009. The support that the outsidersincluding the soviets in the past and the u. Decentralisation of state powers in afghanistan yash ghai the issue 1. A key issue for resolution by the people of afghanistan is whether the state should be unitary or federal. The taliban beyond the pashtuns centre for international.
One of the more surprising afghanistan facts is that the afghan population is ethnically diverse. Pashtun peoples are the largest ethnic group in the south of the country, while tajiks and uzbeks are concentrated along the norther borders, and the hazara in the central highlands. Afghanistan has a continental climate with hot summers and. Afghanistan s ethnic diversity does not mean that the members of the different ethnic groups do not interact.
The taliban was formed in the early 1990s by an afghan faction of mujahideen, islamic fighters who had resisted the soviet occupation of afghanistan 197989 with the covert backing of the. Ethnic groups of pakistan simple english wikipedia, the. Afghanistan s ethnic groups share a ychromosomal heritage structured by historical events article pdf available january 2012 with 119 reads how we measure reads. On this map, both the baloch and pashtun ethnolinguistic groups straddle the 2640kilometer 1640mile border between afghanistan and pakistan, known as the durand line. Afghanistans future will depend on whether and how this issue is resolved. Loyalty to ones tribe or ethnic group is often contextual, making. Pages in category ethnic groups in afghanistan the following 53 pages are in this category, out of 53 total. Cigi special report january 2009 minorities in iraq. Herat in the west, qandahar in the south, mazarisharif in the north, and kabul in the east. Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world and asias poorest, and it also faces one of the most daunting sets of circumstances for inclusive and sustainable growth. Afghanistan ethnic map 2005 afghanistan is a multi ethnic country the ethnic groups are such as. Afghanistan, landlocked multiethnic country located in the heart of southcentral asia. Other major tribes include the wardak, jaji, tani, jadran, mangal, khugiani, safi, mohmand and shinwari. Anthropologists and demographers have tried hard to count the ethnic groups and tribes of afghanistan, with widely differing results.
The kurds are an ethnic group that live in turkey, syria, iraq, and iran. There are about a dozen ethnic groups in afghanistan, they include. Afghanistan has several ethnic groups, the largest being hazara, pashtun, tajik, turkmen, and uzbek. Afghanistans national anthem recognizes 14 ethnic groups among the countrys 27 million people.
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