Pashtunistan refers to the historical region inhabited by Pashtun people for over 1000 years before being divided by the 1893 Durand Line. Some Pashtun nationalists since the 1940s have proposed an independent Pashtunistate. The region encompasses parts of eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan, with a population of around 40 million Pashtuns. Support for Pashtunistan stems from grievances over British colonialism dividing the homeland and current domination by Islamabad, as well as a desire for self-governance under Sharia law. However, including the Baloch areas in Pashtunistan is opposed by Baloch people.

1. Pashtunistan, Paktunistan

2. What is Pashtunistan?
• Historical region inhabited by native
Pashtun people since 1000 BC
• Politically divided in 1893 by Durand
Line
• Since 1940s some Pashtun nationalists
proposed Pashtunistan as future
sovereign state

3. Where is Pashtunistan?

4. Population size:
• 12 Million
Afghanistan
60% total pop.
• 27 Million
Pakistan
• Maps of
Pashtunistan
often
incorporate
Balochistan
though
Balochs and
Pashtuns
differ

5. Including Balochistan
allows landlocked
Afghani territories
access to Indian Ocean
Balochs oppose being
Included in
Pashtunistan

6. Pashtun People
Many tribes, most are nomadic United by Pashto language
and Pashtunwali - Majority are Sunni Muslim
• Melmastia (hospitality)
• Nanawatai (asylum)
• Badal (justice)
• Sabat (loyality)
• Imandari (righteousness)
• Istequamat
• Ghayrat (self honor)
• Namus (Honor of women)

7. Pashtun People

8. Pashtun People
• Hamid Karzai (President of
Afghanistan)
• Afghan royal family
• In Pakistan ethnic Pashtuns
attained Presidency
• Primary ethnic group that
comprises Taliban

9. Grievances
• British colonialism robbed Pashtuns of their
ethnic homeland
• Empire once stretched as far east as the Indus
River
• Pakistan has quashed efforts to establish an
independent Pashtunistan
• Desire to escape domination by Islamabad
– Refusal to build infrastructure
– Do not teach Pashtu language in schools
• Taliban extremism has helped reinvigorate
Pashtunistan movement - general radicalization

10. Goals
• Create an independent nation state (Islamic
caliphate) governed Sharia law.
– Caliphate - political/religious state that unifies Muslim
people under the rule of a caliph (head of state)
– Sharia law - sacred law of Islam
• Qur’an
• Prophet Muhammed
• Secular law - crime, politics, economics, etc.
• Personal matters - sexuality, hygeine, diet, prayer, etc.
• Some claim Pashtuns practice an extreme interpretation of
Sharia law

11. Pashtunistan and the “War on Terror”
• Taliban militants have gained
an advantage from the
border between Afghanistan
and Pakistan by ignoring it.
• Americans have been
hindered because they must
respect the border.
• Pakistan and Afghanistan are
concerned about their
sovereign rights on either
side of the line, but the
Pashtuns themselves have
never paid the boundary
much regard.