Pashtun tribes
They are found primarily in Afghanistan and Pakistan and form the world's largest tribal society, comprising over 60 million people and between 350 and 400 tribes and clans.
[1][2][3][4][5] They are traditionally divided into four tribal confederacies: the Sarbani (سړبني), the Bettani (بېټني), the Ghurghusht (غرغښت),[6] the Karlani (کرلاڼي) and a few allied tribes of those that are Ismailkhel, Khel, Ludin, Sakzai, and Zai.
[9] A large tribe often has dozens of subtribes whose members may see themselves as belonging to each, some or all of the sub-tribes in their family tree depending upon the social situation: co-operative, competitive or confrontational.
Kul (plural kahol) is the smallest unit in Pashtun tribal system, named after an ancestor of 1.
[citation needed] The Gharghashti Kakar, Naghar, Panni, Mandokhel, and Musakhel and other minor tribes settled in the region around Quetta and Zhob.
[17][18][19][20][21] Often characterised as a warrior and martial race, their history is mostly spread among various countries of the eastern Iranian Plateau and the North West Indian Subcontinent.
One theory suggests that the modern Ghilji lineages descended from the medieval Khalaj or Khilji tribe.
The Bettani are named after their folkloric leader or ancestor, Shaikh Bet Baba (claimed to be among the first Pashto-language poets), who lived in the Altamur range, located between the Logar and Zurmat valleys.
In the 19th century, the traditional way of life of the Bettani combined small-scale irrigated agriculture with seasonal nomadism or seminomadism.
They engaged in pastoral migrations, along the mountain slopes in summers, and inversely, towards the Indus plains in winters.
[22] From the 13th century, various Khilji dynasties and ruling entities took control in the Bengal and Delhi Sultanates of the Indian subcontinent.
He controlled areas from Khorasan in the west up to Kashmir and Delhi in the east, and from the Amu Darya in the north up to the Arabian Sea in the south.
[29] The current heir apparent and crown prince of the Barakzai kingdom (23 July 2007 – present) is Ahmad Shah Khan.
During the Delhi Sultanate era, the Pashtun Lodi dynasty replaced the Turkic rulers in North India.
Majority Pashtuns fought the Safavids and Mughals before obtaining an independent state in the early 18th century,[30] which began with a successful revolution by Mirwais Hotak followed by conquests of Ahmad Shah Durrani.
[31] During the 19th and early 20th century, the Barakzai dynasty found itself involved perforce between an Anglo-Russian military and diplomatic confrontation known as the "Great Game".
