The Durrānī ( ps, دراني, ), formerly known as Abdālī (), are one of the largest

tribes The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to conflic ...

Pashtuns Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically re ...

. Their traditional homeland is in southern

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

(

Loy Kandahar Lōy Kandahār ( ps, لوی کندهار, lit. "Greater Kandahar") is a historical and cultural region of Afghanistan, comprising the modern Afghanistan provinces of Kandahar, Helmand, Farah, Uruzgan, as well as parts of Nimruz and Zabul, ...

region), straddling into

Toba Achakzai The Toba Achakzai ( ps, توبه اڅکزۍ) or Khwaja Amran is an offshoot of the Toba Kakar range of mountains, north of Chaman, in Balochistan, Pakistan, extending into Maruf District in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. It is crossed by N-25 Na ...

Balochistan Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

, but they are also settled in other parts of Afghanistan and parts of

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the Administrative units of Pakistan, four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, ...

Ahmad Shah Durrani Ahmad Shāh Durrānī ( ps, احمد شاه دراني; prs, احمد شاه درانی), also known as Ahmad Shāh Abdālī (), was the founder of the Durrani Empire and is regarded as the founder of the modern Afghanistan. In July 1747, Ahm ...

, who is considered the founder of the modern state of Afghanistan, belonged to the Abdali tribe. In 1747, after establishing the

Durrani Empire The Durrani Empire ( ps, د درانيانو ټولواکمني; fa, امپراتوری درانیان) or the Afghan Empire ( ps, د افغانان ټولواکمني, label=none; fa, امپراتوری افغان, label=none), also know ...

based in

Kandahar Kandahar (; Kandahār, , Qandahār) is a List of cities in Afghanistan, city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul, with a population ...

, he adopted the epithet ''Shāh Durr-i-Durrān'', "King, Pearl of Pearls," and changed the name of the tribe to "Durrani" after himself... The Hephthalites: Archaeological and Historical Analysis, Aydogdu Kurbanov, Berlin, 2010, page 242.
/ref>

Descent and origin

In the early modern period, the Abdali tribe of Pashtuns was first explicitly mentioned in Mughal and

Safavid Safavid Iran or Safavid Persia (), also referred to as the Safavid Empire, '. was one of the greatest Iranian empires after the 7th-century Muslim conquest of Persia, which was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often conside ...

sources. For example, in the 1595 Mughal account ''

Ain-i-Akbari The ''Ain-i-Akbari'' ( fa, ) or the "Administration of Akbar", is a 16th-century detailed document recording the administration of the Mughal Empire under Emperor Akbar, written by his court historian, Abu'l Fazl in the Persian language. It for ...

'', the Abdali were mentioned as one of the "Afghan ''ulūs''" (Pashtun tribal confederacies) settled in Kandahar area, along with ''Tarīn'', ''Paṇī'', and ''Kākaṛ''. Some scholars have postulated that the Abdali descended from

Hephthalite The Hephthalites ( xbc, ηβοδαλο, translit= Ebodalo), sometimes called the White Huns (also known as the White Hunas, in Iranian as the ''Spet Xyon'' and in Sanskrit as the ''Sveta-huna''), were a people who lived in Central Asia during th ...

tribes, who settled in present-day Afghanistan in ancient times and were known as ηβοδαλο (''Ebodalo'') in

Bactrian language Bactrian (, , ) is an extinct Eastern Iranian language formerly spoken in the Central Asian region of Bactria (in present-day Afghanistan) and used as the official language of the Kushan, and the Hephthalite empires. Name It was long thought t ...

. According to linguist

Georg Morgenstierne Georg Valentin von Munthe af Morgenstierne (2 January 1892 – 3 March 1978) was a Norwegian professor of linguistics with the University of Oslo (UiO). He specialized in Indo-Iranian languages. Studies During the years 1923 to 1971, Morgenst ...

, the tribal name ''Abdālī'' may have "something to do with" the Hephthalite. This hypothesis was endorsed by historian

Aydogdy Kurbanov Aydogdy Kurbanov (in Turkmen: ''Aýdogdy Gurbanow'', born 2 February 1976, in Ashgabat, Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic, USSR) is a Turkmen archaeologist and historian whose main area of research is prehistoric and late antiquity of Central A ...

, who indicated that after the collapse of the Hephthalite confederacy, they likely assimilated into different local populations and that the Abdali may be one of the tribes of Hephthalite origin. 19th-century British Indian explorers,

Charles Masson Charles Masson (1800–1853) was the pseudonym of James Lewis, a British East India Company soldier and reporter, independent explorer and pioneering archaeologist and numismatist. He was the first European to discover the ruins of Harappa nea ...

and Henry W. Bellew, also suggested that there was a direct relationship between Abdalis and Hephthalites. Joseph T. Arlinghaus referred to a

Syriac Syriac may refer to: *Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic *Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region * Syriac alphabet ** Syriac (Unicode block) ** Syriac Supplement * Neo-Aramaic languages a ...

chronicle from c. 555 CE, which mentions ''Khulas'', ''Abdel'', and ''Ephthalite'' as three of the nomadic tribes from the "lands of the

Huns The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th century AD. According to European tradition, they were first reported living east of the Volga River, in an area that was part ...

." Arlinghaus linked the "Khulas" and the "Abdel" to the Khalaj (modern

Ghilji The Ghiljī ( ps, غلجي, ; fa, خیلجی, Xelji) also spelled Khilji, Khalji, or Ghilzai or Ghilzay (), are one of the largest Pashtun tribes. Their traditional homeland is Ghazni and Qalati Ghilji in Afghanistan but they have also sett ...

) and the Abdali (modern Durrani), respectively, arguing that the relationship between the Hephthalite, the Khalaj, and the Abdali may date back as far as the sixth century. Yu. V. Gankovsky, a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

historian on Afghanistan, also asserted that the Hephthalite contributed to the

ethnogenesis Ethnogenesis (; ) is "the formation and development of an ethnic group". This can originate by group self-identification or by outside identification. The term ''ethnogenesis'' was originally a mid-19th century neologism that was later introdu ...

of Durrani Pashtuns:

Mythical genealogy

According to a popular mythical genealogy, recorded by 17th-century Mughal courtier

Nimat Allah al-Harawi Ni'mat Allah al-Harawi (also known as Niamatullah; ) was a chronicler at the court of the Mughal Emperor Jahangir where he compiled a Persian history of the Afghans, the ''Makhzan-i-Afghani''. Its translated copies appear as ''The History of the ...

in his book ''Tārīkh-i Khān Jahānī wa Makhzan-i Afghānī'', the Abdali tribe descended from their

eponym An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

ous ancestor Abdāl (or Awdāl), who was son of Tarīn, who was son of Sharkhbūn, who was son of Saṛban (progenitor of the

Sarbani Saṛbanī ( ps, سړبني) or Sarban Confedracy is a tribal group of Pashtuns. They are situated in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Sarbani include many Pashtun tribes, including Sherani, Tareen, Durrani, Khalil, Kheshgi, Kasi which includes ...

tribal confederacy), who was son of

Qais Abdur Rashid Qais Abdur Rashīd or Qais Abdul Rasheed ( ps, قيس عبد الرشيد) is said to be, in post-Islamic lore, the legendary founding father of the Pashtuns. It is believed that the conception of such a figure was promoted to bring harmony betw ...

(progenitor of all Pashtuns). Qais Abdur Rashid was a descendant of

Afghana Afghana or Avagana is a tribal chief or prince of Pashtuns, who is traditionally considered the progenitor of modern-day Pashtuns,Socio-economic Behaviour of Pukhtun Tribe By Dipali Saha, Dipali Saha - 2006 - 282 pages - Page 124.India and the Af ...

, who was described as a grandson of the

Israelite The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan. The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...

king

Saul Saul (; he, , ; , ; ) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the first monarch of the United Kingdom of Israel. His reign, traditionally placed in the late 11th century BCE, supposedly marked the transition of Israel and Judah from a scattered tri ...

and commander-in-chief of the army of prophet

Solomon Solomon (; , ),, ; ar, سُلَيْمَان, ', , ; el, Σολομών, ; la, Salomon also called Jedidiah (Hebrew language, Hebrew: , Modern Hebrew, Modern: , Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: ''Yăḏīḏăyāh'', "beloved of Yahweh, Yah"), ...

. Qais was claimed to be a contemporary of the Islamic prophet

Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...

and a kinsman of

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

commander

Khalid ibn al-Walid Khalid ibn al-Walid ibn al-Mughira al-Makhzumi (; died 642) was a 7th-century Arab military commander. He initially headed campaigns against Muhammad on behalf of the Quraysh. He later became a Muslim and spent the remainder of his career in ...

. When Khalid ibn al-Walid summoned Qais from

Ghor Ghōr (Dari: ), also spelled Ghowr or Ghur, is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. It is located in the western Hindu Kush in central Afghanistan, towards the northwest. The province contains eleven districts, encompassing hundreds ...

Medina Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the Holiest sites in Islam, second-holiest city in Islam, ...

, Qais accepted Islam and the prophet renamed him ''Abdur Rashīd'' (meaning "Servant of the Guide to the Right Path" or "Servant of God" in

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

). Abdur Rashid returned to Ghor and introduced Islam there. The book stated that Abdur Rashid's great-grandson, Tarīn, had three sons: "One was black in complexion, and he was named ''Tōr'' (meaning "black" in Pashto); the other was white in complexion, and he was named ''Spīn'' (meaning "white" in Pashto); his third son was named ''Abdāl'' (or ''Awdāl'')." The first two sons were the progenitors of modern

Tareen The Tareen (or Tarin) ( ps, ترین) is a Pashtun tribe inhabiting southern Afghanistan, and western region of Pakistan.Caroe O. ''The Pathans 550 B.C.- A.D. 1957'' Oxford University Press . Page 521.Muhammad Hyat Khan, "Hayat i Afghan" (Orig. i ...

s, who are closely related to Durranis and are divided into two clans (Tor Tareen and Spin Tareen), while the third son was the progenitor of modern Durranis. The 1595 Mughal account ''Ain-i-Akbari'' also mentioned the tradition of Israelite descent among Pashtuns, which shows that the tradition was already popular among 16th-century Pashtuns.

History

During the 16th and 17th centuries, the Abdali were primarily

pastoralists Pastoralism is a form of animal husbandry where domesticated animals (known as "livestock") are released onto large vegetated outdoor lands (pastures) for grazing, historically by nomadic people who moved around with their herds. The animal s ...

, not known for agricultural activities, but some of them were engaged in overland trade. Abdali and Tarin (a Pashtun tribe related to Abdalis) chieftains were patronized by both

and Mughal appointed governors, and asked to patrol travel routes to ensure the safety of merchant caravans passing through Kandahar, which was a province located on a strategic trade corridor linking

Hindustan ''Hindūstān'' ( , from '' Hindū'' and ''-stān''), also sometimes spelt as Hindōstān ( ''Indo-land''), along with its shortened form ''Hind'' (), is the Persian-language name for the Indian subcontinent that later became commonly used by ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

, and

Turkestan Turkestan, also spelled Turkistan ( fa, ترکستان, Torkestân, lit=Land of the Turks), is a historical region in Central Asia corresponding to the regions of Transoxiana and Xinjiang. Overview Known as Turan to the Persians, western Turke ...

Hotak dynasty

The first

Emir of the

Hotak dynasty The Hotak dynasty ( ps, fa, ) was an Afghan monarchy founded by Ghilji Pashtuns that briefly ruled portions of Iran and Afghanistan during the 1720s. It was established in April 1709 by Mirwais Hotak, who led a successful revolution against t ...

Mirwais Hotak Mir Ways ibn Shah 'Alam, also known as Mirwais Khan Hotak (Pashto/Dari: ) (1673–1715) was an Afghan ruler from the Ghilji tribe of Kandahar, Afghanistan, and the founder of the Hotak dynasty. In 1709, after overthrowing and assassinating Geor ...

(1709–1715), was married to Khanzada Sadozai, daughter of Abdali chief Jafar Khan Sadozai. This cemented a Ghilji-Abdali alliance that played an integral role in Mirwais' rise to political authority in Kandahar and in the successful revolt against the Safavids.The Pearl of Pearls: The Abdālī-Durrānī Confederacy and Its Transformation under Aḥmad Shāh, Durr-i Durrān by Sajjad Nejatie. https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/handle/1807/80750. A product of the marriage,

Mahmud Hotak Shāh Mahmūd Hotak, (Pashto/Dari: ), also known as Shāh Mahmūd Ghiljī () (lived 1697 – April 22, 1725), was an Afghan ruler of the Hotak dynasty who overthrew the heavily declined Safavid dynasty to briefly become the king of Persia from 1 ...

, conquered

in 1722, and the Iranian city of

Isfahan Isfahan ( fa, اصفهان, Esfahân ), from its Achaemenid empire, ancient designation ''Aspadana'' and, later, ''Spahan'' in Sassanian Empire, middle Persian, rendered in English as ''Ispahan'', is a major city in the Greater Isfahan Regio ...

remained the dynasty's capital for six years. During the Hotak rule, an Abdali contingent went to

Herat Herāt (; Persian: ) is an oasis city and the third-largest city of Afghanistan. In 2020, it had an estimated population of 574,276, and serves as the capital of Herat Province, situated south of the Paropamisus Mountains (''Selseleh-ye Safēd ...

to assume control of the province, replacing the former Safavid appointed governors. Zaman Khan Abdali, father of

, was one of the Abdali governors of Herat.

Durrani Empire

In 1747, Ahmad Shah Durrani established the

with its capital at

. He adopted the title ''Shāh Durr-i-Durrān'', "King, Pearl of Pearls," and changed the name of his tribe "Abdali" to "Durrani" after himself. Ahmad Shah is now regarded as the founder of the modern state of Afghanistan. Within a few years, he extended his control from

Khorasan Khorasan may refer to: * Greater Khorasan, a historical region which lies mostly in modern-day northern/northwestern Afghanistan, northeastern Iran, southern Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan * Khorasan Province, a pre-2004 province of Ira ...

in the west to

Kashmir Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompas ...

and

North India North India is a loosely defined region consisting of the northern part of India. The dominant geographical features of North India are the Indo-Gangetic Plain and the Himalayas, which demarcate the region from the Tibetan Plateau and Central ...

in the east, and from the

Amu Darya The Amu Darya, tk, Amyderýa/ uz, Amudaryo// tg, Амударё, Amudaryo ps, , tr, Ceyhun / Amu Derya grc, Ὦξος, Ôxos (also called the Amu, Amo River and historically known by its Latin language, Latin name or Greek ) is a major rive ...

in the north to the

Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea ( ar, اَلْبَحرْ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Bahr al-ˁArabī) is a region of the northern Indian Ocean bounded on the north by Pakistan, Iran and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by the Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channel ...

in the south.

Barakzai dynasty

In 1823, Emir

Dost Mohammad Khan Dost Mohammad Khan Barakzai (Pashto/Persian: ; 23 December 17929 June 1863), nicknamed the Amir-i Kabir, Also titled Amir al-Mu'minin, was a member of the Barakzai dynasty and one of the prominent rulers of the Emirate of Afghanistan. His 37-year ...

, who belonged to the

Barakzai Bārakzai ( ps, بارکزی, ''Bārakzay;'' plur. ps, بارکزي, ''Bārakzī'') is the name of a Pashtun tribe from present-day, Kandahar, Afghanistan. '"Barakzai" is a common name among the Pashtuns and it means "son of Barak" in Pashto. A ...

tribe of Durranis, founded the

Barakzai dynasty The two branches of the Barakzai dynasty (, "sons of Barak") ruled modern day Afghanistan from 1823 to 1973 when the monarchy ended under Musahiban Mohammed Zahir Shah. The Barakzai dynasty was established by Dost Mohammad Khan after the Durra ...

centered at

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...

. Thereafter, his descendants ruled in direct succession until 1929 when King

Amanullah Khan Ghazi Amanullah Khan (Pashto and Dari: ; 1 June 1892 – 25 April 1960) was the sovereign of Afghanistan from 1919, first as Emir and after 1926 as King, until his abdication in 1929. After the end of the Third Anglo-Afghan War in August 1919, ...

, under whom Afghanistan gained independence over its foreign policy from the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...

, was forced to abdicate and his cousin

Mohammed Nadir Shah Mohammed Nadir Shah ( Persian and ps, محمد نادر شاه – born Mohammed Nadir Khan; 9 April 1883 – 8 November 1933) was King of Afghanistan from 15 October 1929 until his assassination in November 1933. Previously, he served as Mini ...

was later elected king. The Barakzai dynasty ruled present-day Afghanistan until 1973 when

Mohammed Zahir Shah Mohammed Zahir Shah (Pashto/Dari: , 15 October 1914 – 23 July 2007) was the last king of Afghanistan, reigning from 8 November 1933 until he was deposed on 17 July 1973. Serving for 40 years, Zahir was the longest-serving ruler of Afghanistan s ...

, the last Barakzai king, was overthrown in a bloodless coup by his cousin

Mohammed Daoud Khan Mohammed Daoud Khan ( ps, ), also romanized as Daud Khan or Dawood Khan (18 July 1909 – 28 April 1978), was an Afghan politician and general who served as prime minister of Afghanistan from 1953 to 1963 and, as leader of the 1973 Afghan coup ...

. The coup ended the Barakzai kingdom and established the

Republic of Afghanistan (1973—1978) The Republic of Afghanistan may refer to: * Republic of Afghanistan (1973–1978) * Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (1978–1992), known as the Republic of Afghanistan from 1987 to 1992 * Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (2004–2021) See also ...

Contemporary period

Meetings of Presidents participated in Nowruz with Ali Khamenei - Tehran, Iran (cropped-Karzai)

Contemporarily, the former Afghan president

Hamid Karzai Hamid Karzai (; Pashto/ fa, حامد کرزی, , ; born 24 December 1957) is an Afghan statesman who served as the fourth president of Afghanistan from July 2002 to September 2014, including as the first elected president of the Islamic Repub ...

(2001–2014), like Ahmad Shah Durrani, also belongs to the

Popalzai Popalzai or Popalzay ( ps, پوپلزی), also known as Popal, are Durrani (formerly called Abdali or Bor Tareen) Pashtuns of Afghanistan. The Popalzai are part of the Zirak confederation of Pashtun tribes. The origin of the Abdali forefather ...

clan of Durranis. The current leader of the

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...

Hibatullah Akhundzada Hibatullah Akhundzada, also spelled Haibatullah Akhunzada, is an Afghan Islamic scholar, cleric, and jurist who is the supreme leader of Afghanistan. He has led the Taliban since 2016, and came to power with its victory over Western-backe ...

is a member of

Nurzai Nurzai also spelled as ''Noorzai'' ( ps, نورزئی) (meaning ''son of the light'') is the name of a Pashtun tribe, part of the Panjpai section of Durrani Tareen Pashtuns. The word "''nūr''" derives from the Arabic word for ''the light''. ...

Panjpai The Panjpai (Dari: literally "five feet") are a Durrani Pashtun tribal confederation found primarily in southern Afghanistan. The confederation's five tribes are generally given as the Alizai, Ishakzai The Ishaqzai ( ps, اسحاقزى; Ey ...

Pashto dialect

Although many are bilingual in

Dari Persian Dari (, , ), also known as Dari Persian (, ), is the Variety (linguistics), variety of the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan. Dari is the term officially recognised and promoted since 1964 by the Politics of Afghanistan, Afghan government ...

, the Durrani of southern Afghanistan speak

Southern Pashto Southern Pashto ( ps, جنوبي/سهيلي پښتو) comprises the South Western (Pashto: ) and South Eastern () dialects. South Western Kandahārí Pashtó ( ps, کندهارۍ پښتو), also known as, Southwestern Pashto, is a Pashto dial ...

, also known as "Kandahari Pashto", the "soft" dialect of

Pashto Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani (). Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official languages ...

. It is considered one of the most prestigious varieties of Pashto. This dialect retains archaic retroflex

sibilants Sibilants are fricative consonants of higher amplitude and pitch, made by directing a stream of air with the tongue towards the teeth. Examples of sibilants are the consonants at the beginning of the English words ''sip'', ''zip'', ''ship'', and ...

and , which have merged into other phonemes in other dialects. Southern Pashto also preserves the affricates and , which have merged into and in some dialects. The

(Tarin) tribe is historically closely related to Durranis. Although most Tareens speak Southern Pashto, a small section of the Spin clan of Tareens living east of

Quetta Quetta (; ur, ; ; ps, کوټه‎) is the tenth List of cities in Pakistan by population, most populous city in Pakistan with a population of over 1.1 million. It is situated in Geography of Pakistan, south-west of the country close to the ...

speaks the unique

Wanetsi Waṇetsi ( wne, وڼېڅي), commonly called Tarīno ( wne, links=no, ترينو), and sometimes Tsalgari ( wne, links=no, څلګري), is a distinct variety of Pashto and is considered by some to be a different language. In some cases, Wanet ...

(Tareeno) dialect of Pashto, which is considered by some linguists to be distinctive enough to be classified as its own language. According to linguist Prods Oktor Skjaervo: "The Pashto area split into two dialect groups at a pre-literary period, represented today on the one hand by all the dialects of modern Pashto and on the other by Wanetsi and by archaic remains in other southeast dialects."Hallberg, Daniel G. 1992. ''Pashto, Waneci, Ormuri''. Sociolinguistic Survey of Northern Pakistan, 4
LINK
/ref>

Subtribes

Achakzai The Achakzai or Achekzai ( ps, اڅکزی; fa, اچکزایی) is a Pashtun tribe that resides on both sides of the Durand Line, centered on Killa Abdullah District in Pakistan with some clans as far away as Afghanistan's Kandahar Province. ...

Alakozai Alakozai ( ps, الکوزی - meaning ''descendant of Alako'' in Pashto) is the name of a Pashtun tribe in Afghanistan. Spelling variations include Alakozi, Alakoozi, Alekozai, Alekuzei, Alikozai, Alokozay, Alokozay, Alkozai, Alokzai, Hulakozai ...

Badozai The Badozai are a Pashtun tribe, found generally in Pakistan. British descriptions In the 1885 ''The cyclopædia of India and of eastern and southern Asia'', the author cited one "MacGregor", describing the Badozai: ...a tribe inhabiting the Past ...

* Miana * Bamozai **

Nawabi Nawabi is an Afghan sub clan mega Barakzai the majority of this clan played an important role during the Barakzai dynasty - such as Ismail Khan Nawabi. The name ''Nawabi'' is borrowed from the Arabic, being the honorific plural of Naib or "deputy ...

Barech Barech (also Baraich, Bareach, Barreach) is a Pashtun tribe in southern Kandahar province Kandahār ( ps, ; Kandahār, prs, ; ''Qandahār'') is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located in the southern part of the country, sha ...

Ghoryakhel The Ghoryakhel also known as ghoriah khel ( ps, غورياخېل) and Bar Durranis by Ahmad Shah Abdali sometimes referred as Ghori by some authors is a Pashtun supertribe which consists of tribes led by the son of Kand, son of Kharshbun, son of ...

** Khalil ** Daulatyar ***

Daulatzai Dawlatzai ( ps, دولتزئ) are several Pashtun tribes in eastern and northern Afghanistan. Dawlatzais live in the Logar, Samangan, Paktia, Paktika, Khost, Baghlan, Nangarhar, Balkh Tajurghan, Faryab, and Kabul provinces of Afghanistan ...

** Chamkani **Mattezai **

Mohmand The Mohmand ( ps, مومند) or Mohmand is a prominent tribe of Pashtun people. They are based primarily in the Mohmand territory, which is located in Nangarhar, Afghanistan and Mohmand Agency, Pakistan. Most people of the Mohmand tribe spe ...

***

Halimzai The Halimzai is Sub-tribe of Mohmand. The Halimzai are the largest sub-tribe or clan of the Mohmand Pashtun tribe. They live primarily in the Mohmand Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and also in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ...

** Daudzai **

Mulagori The Mulagori ( ps, ملاګوري), also spelled Mullagori and Mallagori, is sub section of Momand Pashtun Ghoryakhel confederacy. Predominantly, Mullagori live in the Mula Gori Tehsil of Khyber Agency District in the Province of Khyber Pakhtu ...

Hazarbuz The Hazarbuz (Pashto: هزاربوز) are a Pashtun tribe who belong to sub-section of Mohmand son of Daulatyar son of GhoryaKhel.They primarily live in the Rodat district of Nangarhar, Kabul, Mazar e sharif, Herat, Peshawar, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, ...

**Bayazidkhel ** Shilmani **Zakhil **Zeerani ** Zakhilwal **Tarakzai **Khawezai *

Hanbhi Hanbhi ( ur, ہانبھی), or Hambhi sometimes spelt as Hanbi is a Sindhi Sammat tribe settled in Pakistan. It is a clan of Sindhi Diyo tribe of Samma. Hanbhi is also a clan among Sindhi Jamote tribe of Balochistan. Details Hanbhi came fro ...

* Ishaqzai *

Kiral The Kiral are a very small Durrani Pashtun tribe located in Maruf district, Kandahar province Kandahār ( ps, ; Kandahār, prs, ; ''Qandahār'') is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located in the southern part of the country, ...

Loni Loni is a somewhat popular female name related to the given names Leonie, Lonna (or Lona) and Lonnie. It may refer to: People * Loni (Pashtun tribe), a branch of the Durrani tribe in Pakistan and Afghanistan ** Arman Loni (1983-2019), Pashtun ...

Mohammadzai Mohammadzai ( ps, محمدزی), also spelled Moḥammadzay (meaning "descendants of Mohammad"), is a Pashtun sub-tribe or clan of the Barakzai which is part of the Durrani confederacy of tribes. They are primarily centered on Kandahar, Kabul a ...

** Alizai *

Habibzai Popalzai or Popalzay ( ps, پوپلزی), also known as Popal, are Durrani (formerly called Abdali or Bor Tareen) Pashtuns of Afghanistan. The Popalzai are part of the Zirak confederation of Pashtun tribes. The origin of the Abdali forefathers ...

** Sadozai **

Sudhan Sudhans (also known as Sudhozai Pathans) is one of the major tribes from the districts of Poonch, Sudhanoti, Bagh and Kotli in Azad Kashmir, allegedly originating from Pashtun areas. History and particulars The tribe claims an Afghan ancestry. ...

Wazirzada Wazirzada (meaning son of Wazir) are descendants of the Grand Wazirs of the Sadduzai Dynasty in Afghanistan. Wazirzadas are Sadozai Durranis; also a sub tribe of Popalzais and therefore belong to the Abdali or Durrani group of Pashtun tribes ...

Zirak The Zirak is a tribal confederation of Durrani (Abdali) Pashtuns in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Tribes Among the tribes that form a part of the confederation are: * Popalzai * Achakzai * Alikozai * Barakzai * Mastay * Mohammadzai * Alakozai ...

Notes

* In Pashto, "Durrani" (, urɑˈni is the plural form of the word. Its masculine singular is "Durranai" (, urɑˈnay, while its feminine singular is "Durraney" (, urɑˈnəy.