Afghanistan is a very ethnically diverse country. Tribal and local allegiances are strong, which complicates national politics immensely.
The Largest ethnic groups are the Pashtuns, Tajiks/Persians, Hazaras, and Uzbeks.
Baloch tribesmen, still largely nomadic, can be found anywhere between Quetta in Pakistan and Mashad in Iran, including much of Western Afghanistan. They make marvellous rugs, if somewhat simple.
There are about 30,000 to 150,000 Hindus and Sikhs living in different cities but mostly in Jalalabad, Kabul, and Kandahar who belong to the Punjabi, Sindhi, Kabuli, and Kandhari ethnic groups.
Hazaras in the Central mountains look much more Asiatic than other Afghans. According to some theories, they are descended from Ghengis Khan's soldiers.
The two largest linguistic groups speak Pashto and Dari (Afghan Persian). Pashto speakers predominate in the South and East, Dari in
North, west and central Afghanistan. About 11% of the population have Turkic languages, Uzbek or Turkmen, as their first language. Many of them are in the North, near Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Afghanistan
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Afghanistan - updated Apr 2024
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Afghanistan Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
