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{{See|Uzbeks}}
{{See|Uzbeks}}
[[File:Husn Ban Ghazanfar in January 2010-cropped.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Husn Bano Ghazanfar]], [[Ministry of Women's Affairs (Afghanistan)|Minister of Women's Affairs]].]]
[[File:Husn Ban Ghazanfar in January 2010-cropped.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Husn Bano Ghazanfar]], [[Ministry of Women's Affairs (Afghanistan)|Minister of Women's Affairs]].]]
The [[Uzbek people|Uzbeks]] are the main Turkic people of Afghanistan whos native territory is in the northern regions of the country. Most likely the Uzbeks migrated with a wave of Turkic invaders and intermingled with local Iranian tribes over time to become the ethnic group they are today. By the 16th century the Uzbeks had settled throughout Central Asia and reached Afghanistan following the conquests of [[Muhammad Shaybani]]. The Uzbeks of Afghanistan are Sunni Muslims and usually bilingual, fluent in both Persian and [[Uzbek language|Uzbek]].<ref name="Iranica2">[[Louis Dupree (professor)|L. Dupree]] (July 1982), ''"[http://www.iranica.com/articles/afghanistan-iv-ethnography Af<u>gh</u>ānistān: (iv.) ethnocgraphy]"'', in [[Encyclopædia Iranica]], Online Edition 2006.</ref> They were estimated in the 1990s at approximately 1.3 million.<ref name="LoC"/>
The [[Uzbek people|Uzbeks]] are the main Turkic people of Afghanistan whose native territory is in the northern regions of the country. Most likely the Uzbeks migrated with a wave of Turkic invaders and intermingled with local Iranian tribes over time to become the ethnic group they are today. By the 16th century the Uzbeks had settled throughout Central Asia and reached Afghanistan following the conquests of [[Muhammad Shaybani]]. The Uzbeks of Afghanistan are Sunni Muslims and usually bilingual, fluent in both Persian and [[Uzbek language|Uzbek]].<ref name="Iranica2">[[Louis Dupree (professor)|L. Dupree]] (July 1982), ''"[http://www.iranica.com/articles/afghanistan-iv-ethnography Af<u>gh</u>ānistān: (iv.) ethnocgraphy]"'', in [[Encyclopædia Iranica]], Online Edition 2006.</ref> They were estimated in the 1990s at approximately 1.3 million.<ref name="LoC"/>


Some notable Uzbeks in Afghanistan include:
Some notable Uzbeks in Afghanistan include:

Revision as of 11:58, 13 September 2011

This article is about the "citizens of Afghanistan". For others, see Afghan diaspora. For ethnic Afghans, see Pashtun people.
The 2011 Afghan Youth Voices Festival at the Gardens of Babur in Kabul, Afghanistan.

The population of Afghanistan is around 29,835,392 as of the year 2010,[1] which is unclear if the 3 million Afghan refugees living outside the country are included or not. It is a multi-ethnic and multi-lingual society, reflecting its location astride historic trade and invasion routes between Western Asia, Central Asia, and Southern Asia. The majority of Afghanistan's population consist of the Iranic peoples, notably the Pashtuns and Tajiks. The Pashtun is the largest group followed by Tajik, Hazara, Uzbek, Aimak, Turkmen, Baloch and others.[2]

Pashto and Dari (Persian) are both the official languages of the country. Persian is spoken by about half of the population and serves as a lingua franca for the majority. Pashto is spoken widely in the south, east and south west of the country as well as in neighboring western Pakistan. Uzbek language and Turkmen language are spoken in parts of the north. Smaller groups throughout the country also speak more than 30 other languages and numerous dialects.[3]

Islam is the religion of 99.7% of Afghanistan. An estimated 80-89% of the population practice Sunni Islam and belong to the Hanafi Islamic law school while 10-19% are Shi'a,[4][5][6][7] majority of the Shia follow the Twelver branch with smaller numbers of Ismailis. The remaining 1% or less practice other religions such as Sikhism and Hinduism. Despite attempts during the 1980s to secularize Afghan society, Islamic practices pervade all aspects of life. In fact, Islam served as the principal basis for expressing opposition to the Soviet invasion. Likewise, Islamic religious tradition and codes, together with traditional practices, provide the principal means of controlling personal conduct and settling legal disputes. Excluding urban populations in the principal cities, most Afghans are organized into tribal and other kinship-based groups, which follow their own traditional customs: for instance Pashtunwali.

Nationality and ethnicity

Further information: Afghan (ethnonym)
Afghan girls from the Guzara District of Herat Province

The term "Afghan", historically synonymous with "Pashtun", is today the national identity of Afghanistan.[8] Despite being of various ethnicities, in a research poll that was conducted in Afghanistan in 2009, 72% of the population labelled their identity as Afghan first, before ethnicity.[9]

The modern Afghan national identity is derived from the rise of the Pashtun Hotaki and Durrani dynasties, especially with the establishment of the Durrani Empire (Afghan Empire) in the early-18th century. From 1747 until 1826, Ahmad Shah Durrani and his descendants held the monarchy in direct session. They were the first rulers of a Pashtun dominated sovereign state and were later replaced by the Pashtun Barakzai dynasty.

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.[10] Additionally, ethnic groups are not racially homogenous.

Since Afghan history is fraught with regional cleavages any notion of an Afghan nation state is absent until the rise of the Hotakis and Durranis in the early-18th century. Important Persian figures from the past such as Avicenna and Rumi are generally not identified as ethnic Afghans, at least according to academics, while they are generally included within the context of the collective history of the modern nation-state in the geographic sense.[11]

Pashtuns

Further information: Pashtun people, List of Pashtuns, and Pashtun tribes
A gathering of Pashtun tribal leaders in Kandahar, which was attended by Afghan President Hamid Karzai in 2010.

The Pashtuns (ethnic Afghans) are the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan. Their native territory is from south of the Hindu Kush mountains and extending into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Balochistan province in neighboring Pakistan, where they are the second largest ethnic group. Pockets of Pashtun communities are also found in northern and western Afghanistan. Smaller groups of Pashtuns may also be found in the eastern section of Iran, next to the border with Afghanistan.[12]

There are many conflicting theories about the origin of the Pashtun people, both among historians and the Pashtun themselves. A variety of ancient groups with eponyms similar to Pukhtun have been hypothesized as possible ancestors of modern Pashtuns. The Greek historian Herodotus mentioned a people called Pactyans, living in the Achaemenid's Arachosia Satrap as early as the 1st millennium BC.[13] Since the 3rd century AD and onward, they are mostly referred to by the ethnonym "Afghan".[14][15] Some believe that Afghan is an adaptation of the Prakrit ethnonym Avagānā, attested in the 6th century CE.[8] It was used to refer to a common legendary ancestor known as "Afghana", propagated to be grandson of King Saul of Israel.[16]

According to scholars such as V. Minorsky and others, the name "Afghan" first appears in the 982 CE Hudud-al-Alam work. Al-Biruni referred to the Afghans in the 11th century as various tribes living on the western frontier mountains of Ancient India and Persia, which would be the area between the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan and the Indus River in what is now Pakistan. According to other sources, some Pashtuns may be the Lost tribes of Israel who converted to Islam during the Arab Empire. Between the 13th and 16th century some Pashtun tribes conquered areas outside their traditional Pashtun homeland by pushing deeper into South Asia, often forming kingdoms such as the Delhi Sultanate.[17]

The Afghan identity began to develop as Pashtun identity in and around the early 18th century, under the rule of Ahmad Shah Durrani who united all the Pashtun tribes and formed the last Afghan empire.[18] Pashtuns are the traditional rulers of Afghanistan since the rise of the Hotaki dynasty in 1709 or more specifically when the Durrani Empire was created in 1747. They practice Sunni Islam and follow the Hanafi school of thought. The Karzai administration, which is led by Hamid Karzai, is dominated by Pashtun ministers.[19] Some notable Pashtuns of Afghanistan include: Nazo Tokhi, Akbar Khan, Ayub Khan, Malalai of Maiwand, Abdur Rahman Khan, Amanullah Khan, Nadir Shah, Zahir Shah, Abdul Ahad Momand, Zalmay Khalilzad, the Afghan Girl, Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, Hedayat Amin Arsala, Abdul Rahim Wardak, Sher Mohammad Karimi, Abdul Salam Azimi, Zalmai Rassoul, Omar Zakhilwal, Ghulam Farooq Wardak, Anwar ul-Haq Ahady, Mohammad Gulab Mangal, Gul Agha Sherzai, Asadullah Khalid, Mohammad Hanif Atmar, Mohammad Ishaq Aloko, Mohammed Omar, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Nashenas, Ahmad Zahir, Naghma, Farhad Darya, Suhaila Seddiqi, Shukria Barakzai, Fauzia Gailani, the Hotakis, Durranis, Tarzis, Gailanis, and Karzais.

Tajiks

Further information: Tajik people, Farsiwan, and Qizilbash
Art students of Kabul in 2009.

The Persian-speaking Tajiks are closely related to the Persians of Iran. Sub-groups of the Tajiks include the Farsiwan and the Qizilbash. The major difference between them is that they are generally of the Shia sect while the majority of Tajiks practice Sunni Islam. Scholars believe that they have descended from the native Indo-Iranian Bactrians, Sogdians and Scythian tribes and have been in this region since the times when the region was recognized as Ariana. The area was ruled by ancient Persian emperors beyond the modern boundaries from first hand, but have lost power as the dominant group in the region due to other invading powers, so they were only able to rule and at the same time legitimize their rule as second- or even as immediate sub-rulers with strong influence on the foreigners – with the exception of the short 10-month rule of Habibullah Kalakani in 1929.[20] The total number of Tajiks in Afghanistan was around 4.3 million in 1995.[21]

Tajiks are the major ethnic group in Tajikistan, which borders Afghanistan in the north. Most Tajiks live in large cities and towns, and often they are found working in government ministries and public services. Large numbers of Tajiks can be found in the cities of Mazar-e-Sharif, Herat, Kabul, and Ghazni. They are also known for being bureaucrats, doctors, teachers, professors, merchants or traders, and shop keepers. Others live in rural areas and engage in farming activitines which includes herding. The ethnic Tajiks are the closest rivals to Pashtuns for political power and prestige in Afghanistan.[22] Some notable Tajiks from Afghanistan include: Burhanuddin Rabbani, Ahmad Shah Massoud, Ahmad Zia Massoud, Mohammed Fahim, Yunus Qanuni, Ismail Khan, Bismillah Khan Mohammadi, Atta Muhammad Nur, Amrullah Saleh, Wasef Bakhtari, Abdul Latif Pedram, Massouda Jalal, Baz Mohammad Ahmadi, Mohammed Daud Daud and Abdul Basir Salangi.

Hazaras

Further information: Hazara people
A gathering of Hazaras on the final day of the 2009 Ramadan in the Daykundi Province of Afghanistan.

The Hazaras are a Persian-speaking people who reside mainly in the Hazarajat region in central Afghanistan. They seem to have partial Mongolian origins with admixture from surrounding indigenous, Iranian-speaking groups. Linguistically the Hazara speak a dialect of Persian, known as Hazaragi, and sometimes their variant is interspersed with Mongolian words. It is commonly believed by many Afghans that the Hazara are descendants of Genghis Khan's army, which marched into the area during the 12th century. Proponents of this view hold that many of the Mongol soldiers and their family members settled in the area and remained there after the Mongol empire dissolved in the 13th century, converting to Islam and adopting local customs. Most of the Hazaras practice Shi'a Islam, while most of the other Afghans are Sunnis. Hazaras were estimated in 1995 at about one million[21] and now they are about 9% of the total population of Afghanistan. There are sizable Hazara communities in Pakistan particularly in the city of Quetta, and in Iran among the Afghan refugees.

Some notable Hazaras of Afghanistan include:

Uzbeks

Further information: Uzbeks
Husn Bano Ghazanfar, Minister of Women's Affairs.

The Uzbeks are the main Turkic people of Afghanistan whose native territory is in the northern regions of the country. Most likely the Uzbeks migrated with a wave of Turkic invaders and intermingled with local Iranian tribes over time to become the ethnic group they are today. By the 16th century the Uzbeks had settled throughout Central Asia and reached Afghanistan following the conquests of Muhammad Shaybani. The Uzbeks of Afghanistan are Sunni Muslims and usually bilingual, fluent in both Persian and Uzbek.[23] They were estimated in the 1990s at approximately 1.3 million.[21]

Some notable Uzbeks in Afghanistan include:

Aimaq

Further information: Aymāq

Aimaq, meaning "tribe" in Turkic (Oymaq), is not an ethnic denomination, but differentiates semi-nomadic herders and agricultural tribal groups of various ethnic origins including the Tajik, Hazara and Baluch, that were formed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. They live among non-tribal people in the western areas of Badghis, Ghor and Herat provinces. They are Sunni Muslims, speak dialects of the Persian language close to Dari, and refer to themselves with tribal designations.[24] Population estimates vary widely, from less than 500,000 to around 800,000. A group of about 120,000 live in Iranian Khorasan.[21]

Turkmen

Further information: Turkmen people
Turkmen girl and a baby from Afghanistan

The Turkmen are the smaller Turkic group who can also be found in neighboring Turkmenistan and Iran particularly around Mashad. They are Sunni Muslims, and their origins are very similar to that of the Uzbeks. Unlike the Uzbeks, however, the Turkmen are traditionally a nomadic people (though they were forced to abandon this way of life in Turkmenistan itself under Soviet rule).[23] In the 1990s their number was put at around 200,000.[21]

Baloch

Further information: Baloch people

The Baloch people are speakers of Baloch language whos numbers are around 200,000 in Afghanistan. In the 1990s their number figure was put at 100,000.[21] The main Baloch areas located in Balochistan province in Pakistan and Sistan and Baluchistan province of Iran. Many also live in southern Afghanistan. They are most likely an offshoot of the Kurds and reached Afghanistan sometime between 1000 and 1300 BCE. Mainly pastoral and desert dwellers, the Baloch are also Sunni Muslim.

Nuristani

Further information: Nuristani people

The Nuristani are an Indo-Iranian people, representing a fourth independent branch of the Aryan peoples (Indo-Aryan, Iranian, Nuristani, and Dardic), who live in isolated regions of northeastern Afghanistan as well as across the border in the district of Chitral in Pakistan. They speak a variety of Nuristani languages. Better known historically as the Kafirs of what was once known as Kafiristan (land of pagans), they converted to Islam during the rule of Amir Abdur Rahman and their country was renamed "Nuristan", meaning "Land of Light" (as in the light of Islam). A small unconquered portion of Kafiristan inhabited by the Kalash tribe who still practice their pre-Islamic religion still exists across the border in highlands of Chitral, northwestern Pakistan. Many Nuristanis believe that they are the descendants of Alexander the Great's ancient Greeks, but there is a lack of genetic evidence for this and they are more than likely an isolated pocket of early Aryan invaders. Physically, the Nuristani are of the Mediterranean sub-stock with about one-third recessive blondism.[23] They are largely Sunni Muslims. The population in the 1990s is estimated at 125,000 by some; the Nuristani prefer a figure of 300,000.[21]

Smaller groups

Smaller groups include Pashais, Brahuis, Pamiris, Kyrgyz, Arabs, Gujjars, and few others.

Population statistics

Further information: Afghan diaspora and Afghan refugees

As of July 2010, the population of Afghanistan is around 28,395,716,[1] but it is unknown if the 3 million Afghan refugees living in Pakistan and Iran are included or not. A 2009 UN estimate shows that the Afghan population was 28,150,000[25] and a 2009–2010 nationwide survey conducted by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) of Afghanistan has put it at 26 million but not counting some parts of the country due to insecurity.[26]

A partial census conducted in 1979 showed roughly 15.5 million people living in the country.[27] The Statistical Yearbook published in 1983 by the Babrak Karmal government claimed a total population of 15.96 million for 1981–82.[28] Between 600,000 to 2 million Afghans were killed during the various 1979–2001 wars, majority of them during the Soviet war in the 1980s.[29] At least 5 million more fled the country to neighboring countries. According to the Population Reference Bureau, the Afghan population is estimated to increase to 82 million by 2050.[30]

The only city in Afghanistan with over two million residents is its capital, Kabul. The other major cities in the country are, in order of population size, Kandahar, Herat, Mazar-e Sharif, Jalalabad, Ghazni and Kunduz. Urban areas are experiencing rapid population growth since the Karzai administration began in late 2001, which is mainly due to the return of over 5 million expats.

Ethnic groups

Ethnolinguistic groups of Afghanistan

Afghanistan is a multiethnic society. The population of the country is divided into a wide variety of ethnolinguistic groups. Because a systematic census has not been held in the nation in decades, exact figures about the size and composition of the various ethnic groups are unavailable.[31] In this regard, the Encyclopædia Britannica states:

No national census has been conducted in Afghanistan since a partial count in 1979, and years of war and population dislocation have made an accurate ethnic count impossible. Current population estimates are therefore rough approximations, which show that Pashtuns comprise somewhat less than two-fifths of the population. The two largest Pashtun tribal groups are the Durrānī and Ghilzay. Tajiks are likely to account for some one-fourth of Afghans and Ḥazāra nearly one-fifth. Uzbeks and Chahar Aimaks each account for slightly more than 5 percent of the population and Turkmen an even smaller portion.[32]

An approximate distribution of the nation's total ethnic groups is shown in the line chart below:

Ethnic groups in Afghanistan
Ethnic group World Factbook / Library of Congress Country Studies (2004-present estimate)[32][6] World Factbook / Library of Congress Country Studies (pre-2004 estimates)[21][33][34]
Pashtun 42% 38-50%
Tajik 27% 25-26.3% (of this 1% is Qizilbash)
Hazara 9% 10-19%
Uzbek 9% 6-8%
Aimak 4% 500,000 to 800,000 individuals
Turkmen 3% 2.5%
Baloch 2% 100,000 individuals
Others (Pashai, Nuristani, Arab, Brahui, Pamiri, Gujjar, etc.) 4% 6.9%

The percentage numbers in the chart at the bottom are from recent national opinion polls aimed at knowing how Afghan citizens feel about the 2001–present US-led war, the current political situation, as well as the economic and social issues affecting their daily lives. Two were conducted between 2006 to 2010 by the Asia Foundation (with technical assistance by the Indian Centre for the Study of Developing Societies and the Afghan Center for Socio-economic and Opinion Research) and one between 2004 to 2009 by a combined effort of the broadcasting companies NBC News, BBC, and ARD.[9][35][36]

The 2006 Asia Foundation survey involved 6,226 randomly-selected Afghan citizens from 32 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces. However, Uruzgan Province (representing 1.1 percent) and Zabul Province (representing 1.2 percent) were excluded from the survey because of security concerns. The margin of sampling error in that survey is 2.5 percent.

To questions about their ethnicity at the end of the questionnaires, the results of the total 7,760 Afghan citizens came as:

Ethnic group "Afghanistan: Where Things Stand" (2004–2009)[9] "A survey of the Afghan people" (2006)[35] "A survey of the Afghan people" (2010)[36]
Pashtun 38-46% 41% 42%
Tajik 37-39% 37% 31%
Hazara 6-13% 9% 10%
Uzbek 5-7% 9% 9%
Aimak 0-0% 0% 2%
Turkmen 1-2% 2% 2%
Baloch 1-3% 1% 1%
Others (Nuristani, Arab, etc.) 0-4% 1% 3%
No opinion 0-2% 0% 0%

Languages

Main article: Languages of Afghanistan

Pashto and Dari (Persian) are both the official languages of Afghanistan. Dari (also known as Farsi) has always been the prestige language, it is the lingua franca, the language resorted to when people of different ethnic groups need to conduct business or otherwise communicate. Sources before 1996 state that Pashto is the native tongue of 35-55% of the population and Persian being of 25-50%, although it is the most widely used language in the country by different ethnic groups.[37] A fair number of Afghans can also speak and understand especially Urdu, which uses the same persian script. Other languages include Punjabi, Hindi-Urdu and English.[38] The Afghan National Anthem is only in the Pashto language. An approximate distribution of languages spoken in the country is shown in the line chart below:

Languages of Afghanistan
Language World Factbook / Library of Congress Country Studies (1992-present estimate)[3][6] Ethnologue / World Factbook / Iranica (pre-1992 estimates)[33][37][39]
Persian (officially called Dari) 50% 25-50%
Pashto 35% 35-55%
Uzbek 8.5% 9%
Turkmen 2.5% 500,000 speakers
30 others (Balochi, Nuristani, Pashayi, Brahui, Hindko, Pamiri, Kyrgyz, Gujari, etc.) 4% 4%

According to the 2006 and 2010 Asia Foundation "A survey of the Afghan people", Dari (Persian) was the first language of 36-49% of the polled people, while additional 37% spoke it as a second language (combined 73-86%). Pashto was the first language of 29-40% of the polled people, while additional 27% knew the language (combined 56-67%). Uzbeki was spoken or understood by 2-6% and Turkmen by 1-3%. About 6% of the interviewed people could also speak English.[35][36] In the survey "Afghanistan: Where Things Stand" (average numbers from 2005 to 2009), 69% of the interviewed people preferred Dari, while 31% preferred Pashto. Additionally, 45% of the polled people said that they can read Dari, while 36% said that they can read Pashto.[9]

Religions

Main article: Religion in Afghanistan
Abdul Rahman Mosque in Kabul, which is the largest mosque in Afghanistan.

Age structure

0–14 years: 44.5% (male 7,064,670; female 7,300,446)
15–64 years: 53% (male 9,147,846; female 8,679,800)
65 years and over: 2.4% (male 394,572; female 422,603) (2009 est.)

Population growth rate

2.471% (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 33

Birth rate

38.11 births/1,000 population (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 19

Death rate

17.65 deaths/1,000 population (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world:4

Net migration rate

21 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 2

Urbanization

Young males and females of Kabul

urbanization population: 24% of the total population (2008)
rate of urbanization: 5.4% annual rate of change (2005–10 est.)

Literacy

Definition: Age 15 and over can read and write
Total population: 28%
Male: 43.1%
Female: 12.6% (2000 est.)

School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education)

total: 8 years
male: 11 years
female: 4 years (2004)

Sex ratio

Children of Mazar-e-Sharif in 2009

at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15–64 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.93 male(s)/female
total population: 1.05 male(s)/female (2009 est.)

Infant mortality rate

total: 151.95 deaths/1,000 live births
country comparison to the world: 3
male: 156.01 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 147.7 deaths/1,000 live births

Life expectancy at birth

total population: 44.64 years
country comparison to the world: 214
male: 44.47 years
female: 44.81 years (2009 est.)

Total fertility rate

  • 5.5 children born/woman (2010 est.)

country comparison to the world: 13

  • 6.53 children born/woman (2009 est.)

country comparison to the world: 4

HIV/AIDS – adult prevalence rate

0.01% (2001 est.)

According to Afghanistan's National Aids Control Program (NACP), as of late 2008, 504 cases of HIV/AIDS have been documented.[40] In the same year it was estimated that up to 2,500 people may be infected nationwide.[41]


country comparison to the world: 168

HIV/AIDS – deaths

one

Major infectious diseases

degree of risk: high
food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
vectorborne diseases: malaria
animal contact diseases: rabies
note: H5N1 avian influenza has been identified in this country; it poses a negligible risk with extremely rare cases among US citizens who have close contact with birds (2009)

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Population of Afghanistan". Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The World Factbook. 2010. Retrieved 2010-10-12.
  2. ^ "Ethnic groups: Pashtun 42%, Tajik 27%, Hazara 9%, Uzbek 9%, Aimak 4%, Turkmen 3%, Baloch 2%, other 4%". CIA. The World Factbook. Retrieved 2010-09-18.
  3. ^ a b "Languages of Afghanistan". CIA. The World Factbook. Retrieved 2010-09-18.
  4. ^ a b c "Mapping the Global Muslim Population: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Muslim Population". Pew Research Center. October 7, 2009. Retrieved 2010-09-03.
  5. ^ a b c Miller, Tracy, ed. (October 2009). Mapping the Global Muslim Population: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Muslim Population (PDF). Pew Research Center. Retrieved 2010-09-03.
  6. ^ a b c d e "Country Profile: Afghanistan" (PDF). Library of Congress Country Studies on Afghanistan. Library of Congress. August 2008. Retrieved 2010-09-03.
  7. ^ a b c "Religions: Sunni Muslim 80%, Shia Muslim 19%, other 1%". CIA. The World Factbook. Retrieved 2010-09-03.
  8. ^ a b "Afghan" (with ref. to "Afghanistan: iv. Ethnography") by Ch. M. Kieffer, Encyclopaedia Iranica Online Edition 2006: "From a more limited, ethnological point of view, "Afḡān" is the term by which the Persian-speakers of Afghanistan (and the non-Paṧtō-speaking ethnic groups generally) designate the Paṧtūn. The equation [of] Afghan [and] Paštūn has been propagated all the more, both in and beyond Afghanistan, because the Paštūn tribal confederation is by far the most important in the country, numerically and politically. ..." Cite error: The named reference "Iranica" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  9. ^ a b c d ABC NEWS/BBC/ARD POLL – AFGHANISTAN: WHERE THINGS STAND, February 9th, 2009, p. 38–40 Cite error: The named reference "ABCBBCARD" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  10. ^ Peter R. Blood, ed. Afghanistan: A Country Study. Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress, 2001.
  11. ^ Vogelsang, Willem. 2002. The Afghans. Blackwell Publishers. Oxford. ISBN 0-631-19841-5
  12. ^ People-in-Country Profile
  13. ^ Chapter 7 of The History of Herodotus (trans. George Rawlinson; originally written 440 BC) (retrieved 10 January 2007)
  14. ^ "Afghan and Afghanistan". Abdul Hai Habibi. alamahabibi.com. 1969. Retrieved 2010-10-24.
  15. ^ "History of Afghanistan". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 2010-11-22.
  16. ^ "Pashtun: also spelled Pushtun, or Pakhtun, Hindustani Pathan, Persian Afghan". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 2010-09-10. Pashtun tradition asserts that they are descended from Afghana, grandson of King Saul of Israel...
  17. ^ "Pashtun". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2011-03-21.
  18. ^ "Afghanistan". CIA World Factbook. Retrieved 2011-03-21.
  19. ^ "Afghan Government 2009" (PDF). Central Intelligence Agency. Southern Center for International Studies. September 28, 2009. Retrieved 2011-03-21.
  20. ^ Richard S. Newell "Post-Soviet Afghanistan: The Position of the Minorities". Asian Survey, Vol. 29, No. 11 (Nov., 1989), pp. 1090–1108. Publisher: University of California Press
  21. ^ a b c d e f g h "Ethnic Groups". Library of Congress Country Studies. 1997. Retrieved 2010-10-08.
  22. ^ Tajiks of Afghanistan
  23. ^ a b c L. Dupree (July 1982), "Afghānistān: (iv.) ethnocgraphy", in Encyclopædia Iranica, Online Edition 2006.
  24. ^ Library of Congress, Aimaq
  25. ^ Department of Economic and Social Affairs Population Division (2009). "World Population Prospects, Table A.1" (PDF). 2008 revision. United Nations. Retrieved 2009-03-12. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  26. ^ "CSO census puts population at 26 million". Rahmatullah Afghan. Pajhwok Afghan News. August 4, 2010. Retrieved August 16, 2010. [dead link‍]
  27. ^ "Chapter 2. The Society and Its Environment" (pdf). Afghanistan Country Study. Illinois Institute of Technology. pp. 105–06. Retrieved 2010-10-12.
  28. ^ "Population". U.S. Library of Congress. 2008. Retrieved 2010-10-12.
  29. ^ "Afghanistan (1979–2001)". Retrieved 2010-10-12.
  30. ^ "Afghanistan – Population Reference Bureau". Population Reference Bureau. Retrieved 2009-12-29.
  31. ^ BBC News – Afghan poll's ethnic battleground – 2004-10-06.
  32. ^ a b "Afghanistan – People: Ethnic groups". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2010-10-12. Cite error: The named reference "CIA-Ethnic-groups" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  33. ^ a b "The World Factbok – Afghanistan". The World Factbook/Central Intelligence Agency. University of Missouri. October 15, 1991. Retrieved 2011-03-20. _#_Ethnic divisions: Pashtun 50%, Tajik 25%, Uzbek 9%, Hazara 12-15%; minor ethnic groups include Chahar Aimaks, Turkmen, Baloch, and other {{cite web}}: line feed character in |quote= at position 64 (help)
  34. ^ "PEOPLE – Ethnic divisions:". The World Factbook/Central Intelligence Agency. University of Missouri. January 22, 1993. Retrieved 2011-03-20. Pashtun 38%, Tajik 25%, Uzbek 6%, Hazara 19%; minor ethnic groups include Chahar Aimaks, Turkmen, Baloch, and others {{cite web}}: line feed character in |quote= at position 54 (help)
  35. ^ a b c "Afghanistan in 2006 – A survey of the Afghan people" (PDF). Kabul, Afghanistan: The Asia Foundation. 2006. p. 128. Retrieved 2010-10-29. D-8.* Which ethnic group do you belong to? SINGLE RESPONSE ONLY Pashtun 41%, Tajik 37%, Uzbek 9%, Hazara 9%, Turkmen 2%, Baloch 1%, Nuristani 0%, Aimak 0%, Arab 1%, Pashaye 0%, Other 0%.
  36. ^ a b c "Afghanistan in 2010 – A survey of the Afghan people" (PDF). Kabul, Afghanistan: The Asia Foundation. 2010. pp. 225–226. Retrieved 2011-03-20. D-9. Which ethnic group do you belong to? SINGLE RESPONSE ONLY Pashtun 42%, Tajik 31%, Uzbek 9%, Hazara 10%, Turkmen 2%, Baloch 1%, Nuristani 1%, Aimak 2%, Arab 2%
  37. ^ a b "AFGHANISTAN v. Languages". Ch. M. Kieffer. Encyclopædia Iranica. Retrieved 2010-10-10. A. Official languages. Paṧtō (1) is the native tongue of 50 to 55 percent of Afghans... Persian (2) is the language most spoken in Afghanistan. The native tongue of twenty five percent of the population, it is split into numerous dialects.
  38. ^ "The Afghans – Language and Literacy". Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL). June 30, 2002. Retrieved 2010-09-16.
  39. ^ "Languages of Afghanistan". SIL International. Ethnologue: Languages of the World. Retrieved 2010-09-18.
  40. ^ Children at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS in Afghanistan. December 1, 2008.
  41. ^ Number Of New HIV Cases Reported In Afghanistan Increasing, Health Ministry Says. July 11, 2008.

Further reading

  • Jawad, Nassim (1992). Afghanistan: A Nation of Minorities. London: Minority Rights Group International. ISBN 0-946690-76-6.
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