Pashtun colonization of northern Afghanistan

[1][2] The Pashtun colonization of northern Afghanistan allowed Abdur Rahman Khan to strengthen his rule over the non-Pashtun lands in Afghan Turkestan.

[1] While all of the Pashtuns who immigrated to northern Afghanistan before 1885 had done so involuntarily (often exiled for opposing the policies of the Afghan government), this changed after 1885, when Abdur Rahman began offering incentives for ethnic Pashtuns to voluntarily settle in northern Afghanistan (while also making this migration one-way by issuing a decree in 1885 which forbade any migration in the other direction).

[1] Ethnic Pashtuns who voluntarily migrated to northern Afghanistan often had their travel expenses paid for and were given animals, free land, and a three-year exemption from taxes.

[1] However, in spite of the incentive-based voluntary migration in force in 1885, many ethnic Pashtuns ended up being deported to northern Afghanistan even after 1885, in some cases as late as the 1940s.

[1] During this time, Pashtun settlers in Takhar Province pushed, Tajik, Hazara, and Qarluq farmers as well as Uzbek herders out of irrigated lowlands and into foothills with little agricultural value.