Underlying the predominant Afghan and Ghilzai elements in Afghan ethnography there is the Tajik, who, representing the original Persian possessors of the soil, still speaks his mother tongue. There are pure Persians in Afghanistan, such as the Kizil Bashis of Kabul and the Naoshirwans of Kharan. The Tajiks are the cultivators in the rural districts: the shop-keepers and clerks in the towns; while they are slaves of the Pathan in Afghanistan no less than the Hindkis are in the plains of the Indus.
Next in importance to the Tajik is the Mongol Hazara, who speaks a dialect of Persian and belongs to the Shiah sect of Mahommedans. The Hazaras occupy the highlands of the upper Helmund valley, spreading through the country between Kabul and Herat, as well as into a strip of territory on the frontier slopes of the Hindu Kush. In the western provinces they are known as Hazaras, Jamshidis, Taimanis and Ferozkhois; in other districts they are distinguished by the name of the territory which they occupy. They are pure Mongols; intermixing with no other races, preserving their language and their Mongol characteristics they are uninfluenced by their surroundings.
In Afghan Turkestan the Tajik is allied with the Uzbeg and Turcoman; the chief Turcoman tribes left to Afghan rule being the Alieli of the Daolatabad-Andkhui districts and the Ersaris of the Khwaja Salar section of the Oxus frontier. Originally robbers and raiders, they have now beaten their swords into ploughshares and concern themselves with agricultural pursuits.
Thus while there is an Afghan race almost identical in physical type, speech, religion and culture, there is none possessing a distinct sense of its unity, with common political sentiments and aspirations. The Duranis, the Ghilzais, the Waziris, the Afridis, the Mongols, Mohmands, Jusufzais and others form so many different communities within the State. Each possesses separate interests, although Ahmed Shah Durani endeavoured to give a national importance to his tribe, not only by changing its name from Abdali to Durani, but also by associating with it other sections—the Jusufzais, Mohmands, Afridis, Shinwaris, Orakzais and Turkolanis—under the common designation of Bar-Duranis. The attempt failed, and these sections still retain their tribal integrity, declining to be fused together; so that, while the peoples of Afghanistan have lost their independence, it cannot be said that they have not preserved their individuality.
Photo, Olufsen
CHILDREN FROM THE UPPER OXUS
Whatever the descent of the Afghans may be, the following, a list of the races inhabiting Afghanistan at the present day, represents an endeavour to establish the connections between them.
(1) The Durani tribes are: