The Staggers

The New Statesman’s rolling politics blog

Afghanistan: the ethnic mix

Know your Pashtuns from your Tajiks and Uzbeks.

By New Statesman Published 28 January 2010 17:45

As 70 nations continue talking in London about the future of the country, here are some things you may not know about Afghanistan:

Ethnic mix

Pashtun: The dominant ethnic group, concentrated in the south-eastern regions, the Pashtuns furnish the Taliban with more recruits than any other group. Only 30% of the Afghan National Army's trainees are Pashtun, 8% less than 2003 guidelines.

Tajik: Dari speakers of Iranian origin, concentrated in the north-east, Tajiks occupy many public roles in modern Afghanistan and account for 41% of all trained ANA troops.

Uzbek: The main Turkic people of Afghanistan, found in the northern regions; usually speak both Dari and Uzbek.

Hazara: Farsi speakers, mainly of the Hazarajat region. Set apart from the Sunni majority by their Shia beliefs.

Aimak: Dari speakers who inhabit the north-western highlands of Afghanistan and have a semi-nomadic lifestyle. Closely related to the Hazara; the main difference is religious.

Turkmen: Traditionally nomadic people of Turkic origin, closely related to the Uzbeks.

Baloch: A pastoral and desert-dwelling group of Iranian ethnicity, found in the south.

Other: Include Nuristanis and the Kirghiz.

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4 comments

Fri, 2010-01-29 16:14 — kabura (not verified)

It is a petty that the New Statesman like most media outlets in the west can't rise above the ethno-politics in Afghanistan, which will fail the west in Afghanistan. the British colonialists always used ethnicity as a political factor to enslave occupied territories around the globe.

Unless West stops "ethnicising" the imposed war in Afghanistan, it will lose Afghanistan, this time for times to come.

So please grow up and respect Afghanistan, or you might be kicked out of Asia, not only Afghanistan!

Fri, 2010-01-29 19:39 — tatummisti (not verified)

Ethnicising is an old tool used by imperialists to divide and ruled. Why the fools in Afganistan do not understand that and rise above?

Tue, 2010-02-02 12:33 — Afghan (not verified)

The graphs and charts used in this artilce are just bull shit!

You deceive yourself only my dear

Thu, 2010-06-17 10:06 — Sabir H (not verified)

It is totally wrong that HAZARA belong to 9% to total population of Afghanistan.
More than 15% of totoal population of afghanistan are HAZARA, the official american media and other accept the ratio.
It is just wasting the time.
Totally bull shit.