| The Afghan national identity is drawn from the | | | | middle of the 18th century. Under the rule of nadir |
| founding of the Durrani Empire in the seventeen | | | | Shah the government was centralized and until |
| hundreds. Between 1747 and 1823 Ahmed Shah | | | | the modern state was established in the 20th |
| Durrani and his offspring held the Empire's | | | | century, the words Afghan and Pashtun had been |
| monarchy. These men were Afghanistan's first | | | | synonymous. |
| Pashtun rulers and the country actually started to | | | | Tajiks, Farsiwans, and Qizilbash - The Tajiks |
| take shape under the leadership of Ahmad Shah. | | | | people is related to the Persians from Iran and |
| Because of centuries of fragmentation and | | | | are some of the oldest inhabitants of the area. |
| exploitation the Afghan population is divided in | | | | Tajiks are traceable back to the ancient times |
| several ethnic groups, each of whom having its | | | | when the original Eastern Iranians settled in central |
| own history. Nationalism in this country is very | | | | Asia. The Tajiks are also the major population in |
| much related to the Pashtun culture and it is wise | | | | Tajikistan and are found in large numbers in many |
| to say that there is no Afghan national identity as | | | | other countries in Asia. In Afghanistan there are |
| the entire nation is actually a multiethnic entity. On | | | | another two peoples related to Tajiks, the |
| top of this issue there is the fact that a bigger | | | | Farsiwans and the Qizilbashs. However, there is |
| population of Pashtuns is now located on the | | | | quite an important difference between the Tajikis |
| territory of Pakistan and that is why the term | | | | and these other two sub-groups as the former |
| Afghanistani has started to gain in popularity | | | | belongs to the Shia sect, while the latter belongs |
| denoting the inhabitants of modern Afghanistan. | | | | to the Sunni. |
| Thus, there were a lot of populations who lived | | | | The Hazaras - this people have Turkic-Mongolian |
| on the territory of the country without being | | | | origins and has throughout the centuries mixed |
| ethnic Afgans, but constituting the Afghan identity. | | | | with indigenous groups. As far as the language is |
| The Pashtuns - are mainly residing in the southern | | | | concerned, they speak a variant of Persian that is |
| and eastern region of Afghanistan and also in | | | | sprinkled with quite a few Mongolian words. Many |
| western Pakistan. There is also quite a few | | | | Afghan people are of the opinion that the Hazaras |
| Pashtuns in Iran. The culture of this population | | | | are the offspring of Genghis Khan's army that |
| comes from ancient times and a large part of it | | | | settled in this area sometime in the 12th century. |
| has not been recorded in modern times yet. The | | | | Others believe that the Hazara people is of Turkic |
| origin of this people is quite controversial, but it is | | | | origin, descendants of the Turkic invaders. This |
| clear that the Afghan identity begun to develop | | | | population of Afghanistan belongs to the Shia |
| as Pashtun identity under the leadership of Ahmad | | | | sect, thing that isolated them from their |
| Shah Durrani who unified all Pashtun chiefdoms | | | | neighbors. |
| into what is now known as Afghanistan in the | | | | |