SUMMARY

Pashtun (or Pathan, Paktun, Pushtan) is an ethnic group, mainly inhabiting northwestern Pakistan as well as southern and eastern Afghanistan. In Afghanistan, the Pashtun is the largest ethnic group comprising over 40 percent of the population and in Pakistan, it is the second-largest one, making up almost 15 percent of the population. An overwhelming majority of the Pashtun people speak Pashto and they follow Sunni Islam. Pashtunwali (or Pukhtunwali) –a pre-Islamic code specifying the Pashtun way of life- lie at the core of the Pashtun identity.

The Pashtun are divided into nearly 60 different tribes and over 400 sub-tribes or clans. These sub-groups are often isolated from each other, and hence they do not make up an homogenous ethnic community. The Durand Line, the borderline between modern-day Afghanistan and Pakistan which was originally established in 1893 between then-ruled British India and Afghanistan, divided Pashtun tribes and the line turned into one of the significant sources of tensions between those two countries after the establishment of Pakistan in 1947.

Many of the Pashtun people in Pakistan live in northwestern Pakistan in a semi-autonomous region called the Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) and in terms of its economy, FATA is the most vulnerable area in the country which made it a hub for off-the-books and illegal trade.

In Afghanistan, though Pashtun people are the largest ethnic group, they still suffer from the instability in the region. The Taliban rule, which involved many Pashtun people, led to large-scale displacement within Afghan population and especially Pashtun people living in northern Afghanistan became the target of local groups through the end of 1990s. With the end of Taliban rule, Pashtun people became less privileged within the governance structures in Afghanistan when compared to the earlier period. However, being the largest ethnic group, they still have an influential position in the democratic system.