Pashtun People

The Pashtun people are mainly found in Pakistan and Afghanistan where the climate is mainly semiarid with highlands to the northeast. The area suffers mainly from earthquakes and flooding due to their large amounts of rain draining off the highlands in the northeast and flooding the southern part of Afghanistan and Pakistan in the wet season. Their population as of 2012 is 42,904,870 but that is with the addition of the Pashtuns living in other countries such as the United Arab Emirates, the United States of America, and Iran. Their original point of origin is believed to be not too far off the Oxus River in Afghanistan. As far as the origin of the people themselves, not even the wisest of the largest tribes can give a satisfactory answer. It is believed however that they all are descendants of Qais Abdur Rashid who was believed to have had a vision of the religion of Islam and he split off into Afghanistan to keep the ancient Sunni Muslim beliefs alive. The tribes themselves can vary greatly in religion basis and since they are all Sunni Muslims by decent they believe that their beliefs should be forced upon the rest of the tribes. For instance some tribes believe in mythology and that there is more than one God while other tribes believe that there is one God and the occasional tribe that believes there are no Gods at all. The one thing above all that all tribes can agree on is that one can only be a Pashtun if they are Sunni Muslims. Another aspect of the Pashtuns is their social and family life. When greeting another person it is traditional for a Pashtun to say something along the lines of “May you not be poor” or “may you not be tired” and this form of speech is meant to encourage one another and bring that person good luck. As far as families go if a man gets married he lives in his father’s house, but when a woman gets married she lives with her husband’s family instead of her own. From childhood children are taught to respect their parents and elders because they have seen many things more than themselves and the grey hair signifies a long and wise lifetime. Middle East where the women are forced to cover up all their hair and most of their face. But Pashtun women may reveal most of their hair and their face and are treated with more respect because the Pashtun men realize that raising children is an important and very consuming job. Another thing that the Pashtuns have is a very big mission effort to convert them to Christianity. One thing that has made the Pashtuns famous is there many cuisines which come in many different flavors and go up in taste the richer you are. Some people can only afford to have beans and rice but if you have cuisine all the time then it is also a mark of wealth. Also cuisines are used to celebrate big events in the area such as the New Year.  Polio has been an issue they have faced with around 176 polio cases. Bill Gates is slowly making his way over to the Middle East to eradicate polio and has already finished in India. Water hasn’t been a terrible issue for the Pashtuns because of all the rain in the north draining down sometimes in floods to the south. The only problem they face is that most of the water is muddy and must be purified before drinking. Because of civil war in their native land of Afghanistan the Pashtuns have had a harder time pushing their children towards a good education. Fortunately there is a mosque in every village and town and that is where children are taken to school. The literacy rate of the Pashtun people themselves cannot be certain due to the fact that they are rather spread out around the world but in their native country of Afghanistan the literacy rate is right at 70%. Unfortunately most of the Pashtun people are poor farmers so they cannot let their children go to school but instead must have them stay home at the farm and help the family with the crops. Another thing that is sad about their workplace is that Pashtuns living in Afghanistan normally have a worse working environment then those living in Pakistan. Fortunately both Afghanistan and Pakistan have many jobs available in fields like business, trade, and their most profitable field, agriculture. Agriculture has always been a important industry for all nations but unfortunately many countries in the Middle East do not have the best soil for farming. Afghanistan and Pakistan on the other hand get plenty of rain but also have many mountains which make for a hard farm land. Only about 15% of Afghanistan’s land has been cleared for the purpose of farming and with that small portion of land they plant wheat, barely, and corn. However one thing the Pashtuns have joined in on is the growing of poppies which are used to make heroin. This has brought wealth and danger to those growing it but has also made Afghanistan the number one leader in the growing of poppies. A major problem the Pashtun people face is the governments around them trying to kill them due to the fact that all Pashtuns are Sunni Muslims and believe they should force their religion upon everyone in the world. This makes a bit of a issue for the surrounding governments because the Pashtuns are not only the largest ethnic group in the area but they are also the biggest terrorists around. Pashtuns are definitely a dangerous group when they are the dominant culture around but when they are the minority than they are not nearly as dangerous. Without a doubt Pashtun culture is very different and diverse and is also in some ways respectable that they have kept tradition for such a massive amount of time.   

                              Pashtun Women                                      Pashtun Terrorists        

Pashtun Cuisine

                                                            Map of the Pashtun People