Pashtun nationalism

{{Further|Hotak dynasty}}

File:Coronation of Ahmad Shah Durrani in 1747 by Breshna.jpg depicting the 1747 coronation of Ahmad Shah Durrani, who is regarded as the founding father of Afghanistan (Father of the Nation).]]

Another early Pashtun nationalist was the 17th-century "warrior-poet" Khushal Khan Khattak, who was imprisoned by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb for trying to incite the Pashtuns to rebel against the rule of the Mughals.{{cn|date=July 2023}} However, despite sharing a common language and believing in a common ancestry, the Pashtuns first achieved unity in the 18th century after being under foreign rule for many centuries. The eastern parts of Pashtunistan was ruled by the Mughal Empire, while the western parts were ruled by the Persian Safavids as their easternmost provinces.{{cn|date=July 2023}} During the early 18th century, Pashtun tribes led by Mirwais Hotak successfully revolted against the Safavids in the city of Kandahar. In a chain of events, he declared Loy Kandahar and other parts of what is now southern Afghanistan independent.{{cn|date=July 2023}} By 1738 the Mughal Empire had been defeated and their capital sacked and looted by forces of a new Iranian ruler Nader Shah Afshar. Besides Persian, Turkmen, and Caucasian forces, Nader was also accompanied by the young Ahmad Shah Durrani and 4,000 well-trained Pashtun troops.{{cn|date=July 2023}}

After the death of Nader Shah in 1747 and the disintegration of his massive empire, Ahmad Shah Durrani established Durrani Empire, which included most of present-day Afghanistan and Pakistan, among other regions.{{Cite web |title=Nader Shah Afshar 1736 to 1747 |url=https://www.the-persians.com/afsharids.htm |access-date=2024-10-30 |website=www.the-persians.com}} The famous couplet by Ahmad Shah Durrani describes the association the people have with the regional city of Kandahar:{{cn|date=July 2023}}

Da Dilī takht zə hērawəma chē rāyād kṛəm, zəmā da ṣ̌hkuləi Paṣ̌htūnkhwā da ghrō sarūna.
Translation: "I forget the throne of Delhi when I recall, the mountain peaks of my beautiful Pashtunkhwa."

The last Afghan Empire was established in 1747 and united different tribes as well as many other ethnic groups.{{cn|date=July 2023}} Parts of the Pashtunistan region around Peshawar was invaded by Ranjit Singh and his Sikh army in the early part of the 19th century, but a few years later they were defeated by the British, which reached the Pashtunistan region from the east.{{cn|date=July 2023}}

File:PTM Manzoor Pashteen.jpg, Chairman of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement ("Pashtun Protection Movement"), a social movement based in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.]]

Famous Pashtun independence activists against the rule of the British Raj include Bacha Khan, Abdul Samad Khan Achakzai, and Mirzali Khan (Faqir of Ipi). Bacha Khan and his followers, the Khudai Khidmatgars, strongly opposed the All-India Muslim League's demand for the partition of India.{{cite web|url = http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/232353/Khan-Abdul-Ghaffar-Khan| title = Abdul Ghaffar Khan|publisher = Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date = 24 September 2008}}{{cite web|url = http://www.iloveindia.com/indian-heroes/abdul-ghaffar-khan.html| title = Abdul Ghaffar Khan|publisher = I Love India|access-date = 24 September 2008}} When the Indian National Congress declared its acceptance of the partition plan without consulting the Khudai Khidmatgar leaders, Bacha Khan felt very sad and told the Congress "you have thrown us to the wolves."[http://www.icdc.com/~paulwolf/pakistan/pashtunistan.htm#pashtunistanpoliticsPakistan: Partition and Military Succession Documents from the U.S. National Archives] In June 1947, Bacha Khan, Mirzali Khan, and the Khudai Khidmatgar movement declared the Bannu Resolution, demanding that the Pashtuns be given a choice to have an independent state of Pashtunistan composing all Pashtun territories of British India, instead of being made to join Pakistan. However, the British refused to comply with the demand of this resolution due to which the Khudai Khidmatgars boycotted the 1947 North-West Frontier Province referendum.{{cite book |last=Ali Shah |first=Sayyid Vaqar |date=1993 |title=Afghanistan and the Frontier |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c05uAAAAMAAJ |location=University of Michigan |publisher=Emjay Books International |page=256 |editor1-first=Fazal-ur-Rahim Khan |editor1-last=Marwat}}{{cite book |last1=H Johnson |first1=Thomas |author-link1=Thomas Howard Johnson |last2=Zellen |first2=Barry |date=2014 |title=Culture, Conflict, and Counterinsurgency |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B9ZZAgAAQBAJ |publisher=Stanford University Press |page=154 |isbn= 9780804789219}}

After the establishment of Pakistan, Bacha Khan pledged his allegiance to the newly independent country in the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan, and said that he would continue to work for greater autonomy within the framework of the state of Pakistan. However, Mirzali Khan and his followers refused to recognize Pakistan and continued their guerrilla war against the new state's government from their base in Gurwek, Waziristan, receiving support from the Afghan government, but they did not receive much success. [https://tribune.com.pk/story/77388/the-faqir-of-ipi-of-north-waziristan/ The Faqir of Ipi of North Waziristan]. The Express Tribune. November 15, 2010.

File:Afghanistan Land Claims.png

In 1979 under General Secretary Nur Muhammad Taraki the Khalqists regime in Afghanistan changed the official map to include NWFP and Balochistan as new "frontier provinces" of the DRA.{{Cite book |last=Arnold |first=Anthony |title=Afghanistan's Two-Party Communism: Parcham and Khalq |publisher=Hoover Institution Press |year=1983 |isbn=0-8179-7792-9 |pages=77}} The Khalqist regime also sought to make Pashto the main language of the Afghan government, as it represented the clear majority, and the lingua franca.{{Cite journal |last=Ahady |first=Anwar-ul-Haq |date=1995 |title=The Decline of the Pashtuns in Afghanistan |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2645419 |journal=Asian Survey |volume=35 |issue=7 |pages=621–634 |doi=10.2307/2645419 |jstor=2645419 |issn=0004-4687}} Up until the overthrow of Dr Najibullah's Homeland Party regime in 1992, Afghan governments had given Pashto its due right in the media and over 50% of Afghan media was in Pashto. After 1992 with the formation of the Tajik led Islamic State of Afghanistan, this number dropped drastically.

• Pashtunistan
• Pashtunization
• Pashtun question
• Pashtoons Social Democratic Party
• Durand Line
• Kabir Stori
• Khudai Khidmatgar
• Bacha Khan
• Bannu Resolution
• Abdul Samad Khan Achakzai
• Mirzali Khan
• Mullah Powindah
• Sartor Faqir
• Umra Khan
• Awami National Party
• Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party
• Afghan Millat Party
• Pashtun colonization of northern Afghanistan

{{Reflist}}

{{Ethnic nationalism}}

{{Stateless nationalism in Asia}}

{{Pashtun}}

Category:Durand Line

Category:Pashtun politics