Once Again on the Origins of the Pashtuns
By Arif Hasan Khan Akhundzada, researcher, regional affairs analyst, and member of the Sangar Advisory Council
I have reproduced some videos below, of a recent “scholarly” discussion regarding an important subject – the origins and the nature of the Pashtuns-Afghans. Please watch them if you can understand Pashto. And read this article of mine. But first let me vent my feelings in this regard….
Each of the discussants idiotically fumbling around in the videos below, has typically grandiose pretensions to his own theory regarding the origin and classification of the Pashtuns-Afghans....but is only actually perceiving a part of the whole picture -- which in its own sense, is factual and correct. But incomplete! And therefore inaccurate. None of them can fathom (or appreciate) the fact that their ethnicity is actually a COMPOSITE of many different main historical trends and layers.
It has perhaps one commonality -- the core Aryan language of some tribal arrivals, which came to dominate this society at a much later stage. But there are substantial parts of of the story which predate that event considerably. They have no knowledge of how to determine, classify or order the constituent parts in this regard. Nor which inputs need to be used.
The repulsive old boorish peasant poet in this video uses rustic language, and is least disposed to any such scientific or academic analytical capability, and although he insists that Pashtuns are not Aryan, he cannot tell you why or how that is so. He is unaware not only of the provenance of the underlying standard archaeo-ethnic terms in this situation such as BMAC - Zagrosian - Oxus Culture - Helmand Civilisation in this regard, but refuses to consider them even. He seems equally to be deprived of nuanced and refined thought processes.
Not to talk of proficiency in modern population genetics which is now a preponderant consideration in such matters. And if that is so (and it is more so than just apparently so) then he is not fit to deliver any accurate or worthwhile assessments in this regard.
The other younger and more refined individual erroneously confines his discussion entirely to the Aryan aspect. That too is very typical, and indicates a lack of the requisite working knowledge, mental atrophy and paralyzed thinking.
Whereas the third participant (the host) is a failing politician who cares little if any for such matters, as long as they benefit him and his image. These three are from among the premier representatives of the Pashtuns-Afghans. What a team to assemble for such a task! But I can assure you, that whichever unfortunate Pashtun manages to get hold of a few scraps of knowledge, he will try and turn it into an instrument with which to intimidate others and crudely trumpet his own nonsense over the heads of the rest, even if all he succeeds in doing is to become the biggest clown around.
To add context to my remarks and views above -- it needs mention that Pashtun society in Pakistan lacks serious, good quality and standard discourse about its ethnic nature and origins. This is also discouraged by the dominant Punjabi influence that rules the country -- which seeks to create any kind of justification for the existence of Pakistan (which are extremely few and flimsy) and encourages resort to wild and noisy confusion in this regard. Any attempt at analysing ethnic issues is regarded shrilly as "racist" of which it is said that Islam is an enemy. There is absolutely no standard academic or officially sanctioned narrative in this regard and the matter is severely discouraged.
And the Pashtuns themselves are happy to assist their sly enemies in this tragicomic process. They don't know where to begin and when they do, they start solemnly with the Prophets Adam, Noah and Solomon. Then they are not sure as to whether they are Hebrew, Aryan or Greek. Neither are they acquainted with the provenance of such terms. So it gets nowhere.
This article is about the latest such attempt by a series of prominent “intellectuals” and politicians to address the matter, but in the same ridiculous fashion. The Pashtun nationalist politician Aimal Wali Khan is hosting a podcast with the aged rustic poet Saadullah Jan “Barq” and a purported researcher Hanif Khalil who are discussing Pashtun history and tradition, to try and analyse who the Pashtuns are, and where they came from.....whether they are Aryan or non-Aryan, what the nature of their language is.
As far as standard modern research proves -- including my own -- Pashtuns-Afghans are a composite people consisting of widely varied origins. They have formed in a manner typical of most ethnicities and there is no paranormal or mysterious process involved as Pashtuns normally like to think about themselves. The Pashto language has been reliably determined to be Eastern Iranian (Saka) by international scholarship of repute and so are their main tribes....yet these facts are totally unknown here.
Pashtun-Afghan origin also includes a strong ancient under layer of pre-Aryan local civilisations such as Elamite and Assyrian that lived here before the Aryans came and then later got mixed into the new Aryan identity. However most of these kept many aspects of their of identity alive at the same time. (My own Swati origins, including the origins of Panjsheris like Massoud and people like the Ghurids also belong to this ancient Elamite origin).
Briefly, the old Mr. Barq supports only the Elamite – Assyrian Semitic theory. Whereas Mr. Hanif Khalil supports only the Aryan theory. That is the mistake. BOTH theories are correct! But in part. And not entirely.
Mr. Barq also resorts to Hazrat Adam, Hazrat Nooh, Suleiman and Daud etc which are religious mythological arguments and are totally non-scientific. He also makes wrong linguistic assumptions about Pashto that it is an Assyrian Semitic language, whereas it is actually an Aryan (Iranian) language that came here far later – even though it has accumulated accreted characteristics from the surrounding environs of this ancient place at several times in its eventful history. Barq's arguments are entirely non-scientific and irrational. They would not be accepted as quality discussion.
Their arguments are coarse, unpolished, non-scientific and fall below the standards of internationally accepted scholarly discourse as they do not take into account the standard scientific knowledge that already exists as a matter of consensus among international scholarship of repute. But this far, no scholar or personality of prominent public opinion in this country, except people like me, have taken into account the international academic consensus that exists regarding the Pashtuns-Afghans.
The arguments of people like Prof. Hanif Khalil on the other hand, are confined entirely to the Aryan argument as the explanation for the Pashtun ethnic and linguistic phenomenon. That may be largely correct -- but it forms only a part of the picture, and does not embrace the entire context. Barq entirely rejects anything Iranian while at the same time supplying arguments that contradict him.
Hanif Khalil supports the Aryan theory, while at the same time he does not back or mention the Iranian theory. He evidently doesn't know that the terms "Iran" and "Aryan" are two versions of one and the same thing! In fact, the local "analysts" typically tend to analyse Pashtuns-Afghans as separate to, and outside of the context of the history of Iran. Not only is such an analysis inaccurate, it is impossible to analyse what a Pashtun actually is, in a separate context. But then they have no idea of what the "history of Iran" is. They think it is the history of Tehran!
So that means that such pseudo-experts have no idea of the subject matter of modern ethnology and are rough amateurs, who are least qualified to handle the topics such as the origins of the Pashtun-Afghan ethnicity. Strangely all the work in this regard has been done by outsiders, and the locals who regard themselves as "scholars" are totally unaware.....except for a few people like me, whom they do not accept. Kids on social media are more conversant with the proper concepts for obvious reasons, but are alienated from the core social discourse.
Pashtun-Afghan influence is actually a connotation of the term Saka Indo-Scythians. But both these so-called "scholars" Barq and Khalil do not take this fact into account in their own way: Barq entirely rejects it, whereas Khalil although he acknowledges Aryans, never acknowledges the relevance of the Sakas as the direct point of origin for these people -- as opposed to other Iranians, or ancient locals such as Elamites.
To explain further, Sakas are one of the numerous subdivisions of the Iranians or Aryan peoples. The mention of the term "Aryan" alone is not sufficient in this regard, and is very simplistic and reductionist. The core influence of the modern Pashtun-Afghan peoples is Saka. However they contain a strong foundation of ancient Elamite origin, and besides that Indic as well as Turkic elements that were also incorporated at different times.
The Elamites and Assyrians in this area amalgamated into Persian society, and are hence also considered as Tajiks. From there, in ancient times, many of these categories migrated for one or another reason into the Saka influence -- such as the Swatis, Shalmanis and other Dehgans who now speak Pashto but in recent historical times were also noted as speaking their own now extinct dialects of Middle Persian. At that time, their ethnic identity was independent and had not yet fully fused with the Pashtuns.
In the end, it can safely be said that the tendency of most Pashtuns is that they are least interested in real history -- and if they are, they want it to be a narrative that supports their wishes and fallacies. They want something that they can use as the stuff of quarrels and to boast, no matter how funny it sounds.
DNA genealogy is a cutting edge science that began about 25 years ago, and became effective about 10 years ago. It has since superseded and taken precedence over all other dating and determining methods used in anthropology and ethnology such as history and linguistics, and is often used to complement the findings of the previous two. However, a Pashtun will in a characteristically typical "clever" manner dismiss DNA and tell you that it is nonsense, without even knowing what it means.
VIDEO CLIPS:
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