Al-Beruni in the 11th century called the Afghans a "savage tribe of the Hindus" occupying the "farthermost frontier of the Hindu race"
Ibn-Batuta in the 14th century called them a "tribe of the Persians" - Islamization led to Afghans being seen as closer to Persians than Hindus?
Ibn-Batuta in the 14th century called them a "tribe of the Persians" - Islamization led to Afghans being seen as closer to Persians than Hindus?
Afghans (Pashtuns) were always Iranic speakers, so the implication isn’t that they were Indo-Aryans before but that they were seen as Hindus despite being Iranics.
Nah, we have Pashtun-like samples in the ancient DNA record from Swat as well as Central Asia (3rd century CE). In fact, these samples are like Pashtuns minus the East Asian/Mongol ancestry of modern Pashtuns. Pashtuns existed 2000 years ago at the least.
Yep, "Hindu race" here probably means Indic culture and religion, not like there'd be many phenotypic differences in Pashtuns and their neighboring Indo-Aryans. I hope people don't take "Hindu race" to mean "Afghans were followers of Hinduism always!"
There is an ancient sample KNT005 from 3rd century CE Kazakasthan, from Otyrar, an ancient Silk Road town. This sample is like a Proto-Pashtun as it clusters closest to modern Pashtuns without the East Asian/Mongol ancestry they received later on.
This gives us some timeframes.
This gives us some timeframes.
On a genetic calculator I made on Genoplot, this sample is approximately 55% Ancient Iranic and 44% Ancient Indo-Aryan. Perhaps this points to the fact Pashtuns had been mixed with Indo-Aryans of Gandhara quite early on, or at least by the 3rd century CE.
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