According to Christine Noelle-Karimi, the Pashayis and Nuristanis were native to the Kunar Valley and Laghman Province, near Jalalabad in north-east Afghanistan, until they were displaced to less fertile mountainous region by successive waves of immigration by Ghilji Pashtuns.

[10] Conversely, Ovesen and Keiser suggest that the Pashayi were not driven up into the mountain valleys where they reside and were, rather, the indigenous inhabitants of their region before the rise of the Gandhara civilization.

[11] The Pasiani, a tribe described by the ancient Greek scholar Strabo (1st Century CE), as one of the Scythian peoples, were tentatively identified with the Pashayi by the pioneering archaeologist Charles Masson, in the 1830s.

[12] Religions traditionally practised by the Pashayi people (before the arrival of Islam) included forms of Buddhism, Hinduism, animism and local beliefs, or combinations of these.

Polo claimed that the men wore brooches and earrings decorated with gemstones, and that the main diet of the locals consisted of rice and meat.

[18] According to the Tabakat-i-Akbari of Nizamuddin Ahmad, Mughal Emperor Akbar had dispatched his younger brother Mirza Muhammad Hakim, who was a staunch adherent of the missionary-minded Naqshbandi Sufi order, against the infidels of Katwar in 1582.

After conquering Tajau and Nijrau valleys in Panjshir area, the soldiers established a fort at Islamabad at confluence of Alishang and Alingar Rivers.

They continued the raid up to Alishang and made their last effort against the non-Muslims of Alingar, fighting up to Mangu, the modern border between the Pashai and Ashkun-speaking areas.

[2] During the 1929 Afghan Civil War, which saw the overthrow of King Amanullah Khan and fighting between the Saqqawists and anti-Saqqawist forces, Kalakani faced resistance on several fronts, including Greater Nangarhar where Pashayi rebels loyal to Mohammad Nadir Shah and other opposition leaders managed to defeat Habibullāh Kalakāni in three battles.

According to Pashayi mythology, an unmarried woman had become pregnant and went into the mountains to give birth to a boy, subsequently abandoning the newborn under some leaves to hide her shame.

[29] In the present, some Pashayi people refer to themselves as Degano (resident of the plain, additionally implying "indigenous" or "native"), Laghmani, Nuristani and Sha'ari, although the latter is a slur.

[4] It has been noted that both the Pashayi, Nuristani people and other Dardic groups share a fascination with the goat, which might connote to pre-Islamic worship of the animal, or a goat-like deity.

[30] They also hold meetings known as marat to resolve issues, which has similarities to the Pashtun Jirga, where Pashayi elders are also present and lead the discussions.