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