Origins of the Afghans

Today Afghanistan is a nation of many different ethnic groups (Pashtuns, Uzbeks, Tajiks, Hazaras, Turkmen, etc), and all their citizens referred today as Afghans.   The country was carved out of the imperial thrust of two gat super powers, Czarist/Bolshevik Russia to the North, and British India to the south and east.

Historically, the term has been applied to the ethnic group known today as the Pashtuns (also known as Pakhtuns, Pathans).  The word Pashtun and the word Afghan are used interchangeably throughout history.

The Origin of the Word Afghan

H.W. Bellew's Mountaineers Theory:

The name Albania, it seems clear was given to the country by the Romans.  Albania means "mountainous country", and its inhabitants were called Albani, "mountaineers" ...the Latin Alban is apparently the source of the Armenian Alwan, which is their name for these Albani.  The Armenian Alwan, Alvan or Alban, though ordinarily pronounced indifferently, is written in the Amrenian character with letters which, being transliterated, read as Aghvan or Aghwan; and this word, pronounced Alvan, etc. in Armenia, in the colloquial dialect of their eastern neighbors is changed to Aoghan, Avghan, and Afghan.

Horsemen Theory:

The Sanskrit word Ashva-kan, which means horsemen (Ashva is similar to Aspa, which both mean horse in Iranian tongues).  The word Ashvakayan was used by the Hindu Historian Panini in his book Ashtadyai (Ustadyai in Persian form) back around the 5th century BC.  It has also appeared in other records in different forms:

Sanskrit - Ashva-ka
Panini - Ashvakayan
Ancient Temple inscription - Avakan
Brahta - Samhita - Avagan
Ferdousi's Shahnama - Avagan
King Shapur III records - Abgan/Apkan
Sassanian Records - Abgan
Hiuen Tsang - Apokien

The Ashvakan were known as horsemen, and were described as living presently exactly where Afghans are found today, and were known for their horse-breeding, nomadic, and also trading culture.  This nomadic/horsemen culture was also mentioned by the other appelation of the Afghans, the Pakhtuns.  The word Avagan is similar to the way Afghans pronounce this word.  Pakhtuns/Afghans call themselves "Awghans/Avghans" and not Afghans. 

Pakhtun-Afghan Relationship

As I have said before, Pashtun and Afghan are used interchangeably.  This nomadic/horsemen culture was also witnessed by Herodotus in the country he knew as Paktyke.   The country of Paktykae (in Greek, "Y" is pronounced with "U" and hence we get Paktuka) was mentioned by Herodotus.  Afghans today mention the border regions around Afghanistan and today's Pakistan as Pukhtunkhwa. 

Herodotus mentioned their country in the vicinity of Gandhara, which is not today's Kandahar, but the Kabul-Jalalabad-Peshawar Valley area.
 
Herodotus says in Book 3:102:
 
 "...these (Paktuans) live to the north and in the direction of the north wind as compared with the remaining Indians, and their way of life is almost the same as that of the Baktrians (Paktra/Bactria)...they are the most warlike..."

He also earlier states that they made a portion of the Persian army:
 
Book 3:93 - "From Paktuike and the Armenians...the sum drawn was 400 talents.  This was the 13th satrapy."

In other quotes, he mentions other nomadic tribesmen with intriguing names that are very similar to Afghan tribes today.  One of them mentioned are the Aspasi.  Again, the word "Aspa" is used here.  Modern scholars link this tribe to the Yosufzai.  It is common among Afghans to call this tribe "Esepsi" and not Arabic/Persianized Yosufzai. 

Muslim and other Classical Sources:

Al Biruni's Tarikh al Hind (referring to the period around 1000 AD) mentions 'rebellious' Afghans as 'Hindus', but he himself never trekked into the tribal lands, but only passed by them.  The first Muslim references to Afghans are to be found in the Hudud al Alam of 982AD (372 H).  That speaks of a village in Gardez as being inhabited by Afghans.  It also speaks of a King in "Ninhar" which is obviously Ningrahar (Eastern Afghan province),  who shows a public display of conversion to Islam, even though he has over 30 wives which were described as "Muslim, Afghan, and Hindu" Wives.  The distinction between Muslim, Hindu, and Afghan is very intriguing.  Because this shows that that they were not considered Muslim, nor Hindu, but rather something else.  Afghans today are very superstitous and believe in spirits, demons, and witches as they had before the emergence of Islam.
 
Al-Utbi, the Ghaznavid chronicler says that recruitment for his army was answered by Afghans and the 'Khalaj' (Khalji/Ghalji).  According to him, he enlisted "thousands."  With these armies he twice defeated the Hindushahi King Jaipal in Laghman and Ningrahar, and drove him out of the upper Kabul valley, capturing immense treasures and nearly 200 elephants.  His impact into India was largely in part due to levies raised from Afghan tribes, whose homes were so close to Ghazni, and his enlistment of thousands of Afghans and Ghalji was also partly because of his own memory that in his time so many of his own tribal followers were motivated to embrace Islam.  Another reason for the conversion might also be the proximity of Ghazni to the Afghan frontier. Al Utbi further sites that Afghans and Ghalji made a part of Mahmuds army and was sent on his expedition to Balkh.  

The Afghans also created quite a few dynasties in India, including the Khilji, Sori, Lodhi dynasties.

Who Are the Afghans?

There are many theories as to the origins of the Afghans.  One of them traces them to Semitic origins, while others trace them to Aryans.  The real truth behind their origins is not that cut and clear.  The region known as Afghanistan has been invaded by countless hordes of Central Asian nomads, each of them leaving their impact in the region, and on its peoples.  I will delve a little into their origins as traced by classical and modern scholars.

Jewish/Semitic Origins Theory

This classical theory is based on Niamatulla's Makhzan-i-Afghani and Hamdulla Mustaufi's Tarikh-i-Guzida: one of Prophet Ibrahim's descendents, Talut (or Saul) had two sons, one of whom was named Irmiya or Jeremia. Irmiya had a son named Afghan, who is supposed to have given the name to the Afghan people. Tareekh-e-Sher Shahi states that Bakht Nasr who invaded Jerusalem and destroyed it, expelled Jewish tribes, including sons of Afghan, from their homeland. During the days of the Babylonian captivity when the Jews were scattered, one of the tribes settled in the Hari Rud area of modern (south) Afghanistan. Pathan legend states that they accepted Islam during the time of the Prophet when a group of their kinsmen (Jews) living in Arabia sent word to them that the true Prophet of God as prophesied in their scriptures had appeared in Mecca. The Afghans, the story goes, sent a delegation to Arabia headed by one Imraul Qais who met the Prophet, embraced Islam, came back and converted the entire tribe to the new religion. The Prophet was so pleased with Qais that he gave him the name of Abdur Rashid, called him Malik (king) and Pehtan (keel or rudder of a ship) for showing his people the path of Islam.

This theory was propagated by Jewish scholars, but most modern scholars reject this was created by Afghans to explain their forgotten pagan past.  The only tribe of Afghans that have some similarity to Jews are the Apridi tribes of the Khyber region.  Apridi has a name that is very similar to the "Aparutae"  Aparu, being the regional name for Hebrews in ancient times.  This tribe was mentioned by Herodotus as well.  If there were any lost Israelite tribes in Afghanistan, they would soon be swept under the wind by massive migrations by Central Asian nomads from the steppes, most prominent of all the Sakae.

Pakhtuns/Afghan Language and their Relationship with the Saka

My understanding is that Afghans are descendants of not only Scythians (most likely Amurgian Scythes from Ferghana Valley) who invaded the region in their prominent years, but actually descendants of Sakae nomads who entered the region BEFORE the Aryans arrived on the scene.  The Scythians were the original settlers of Paktra/Bactria.  This was concluded by French and Russian archaeologists in the early 20th century after they found Scythian relics buried in Bactria that were dated older than the Persian.  Its also been cited by the Iran Chamber Society:
 
"The original population of Bactria were largely Scythian. Apparently the Aryans who came over and took control, formed a military aristocracy over a technologically less developed people - as was the case with early Greeks, Romans and Gauls."

This also explains their language as well.  Pashto is considered and eastern Iranian languags, most eastern Iranian languages are spoken in the Hindu Kush/Pamir mountain ranges.  This range was occupied by Scythians who migrated south from Ferghana.  One characteristic of Eastern Iranian languages is their replacing of the letter "D" with the letter "L."

Here are some simple examples:

Farsi - Padar (Father)
Pashto - Pilar

Farsi - Didan (To see)
Pashto - Lidal

Farsi - Diwaneh (Crazy)
Pashto - Liwaneh

The Scythian rulers of Gandhara are known from their coins (numismatic evidence) as having the exact same habit.

In ancient Kharoshti inscriptions:

"Spalagadama" (spada=army, ga diminutive, dama=leader, cf. Latin dominus);
"Spala Hura" (spada=army, ahura=spirit, god, cf. Ahuramazda);
"Chastana" (cf. Pashto chashtan, Pakhtu tsakhtan=master, husband).

Being an Eastern Iranian langauge, Pashto has similarities with ancient Bactrian language, as well as other easter Iranian languages.  It is in my belief that Afghans are descendants of Ancient Scythians, who have settled and been superimposed by other Scythian tribes, as well as the Hephtalites/White Huns (who make up the tribal confederacy of the Ghaljay Afghans).  After the Arab, Turk, and Mongol invasions of Afghans in the last millenia, today many Afghans are a mix of many different peoples that perfectly reflect their lands, being at the crossroads of many great civilizations. 

Finally, if one is not satisfied as to whether the Afghans are descendants of the Saka/Scythians, one only has to ask an Afghan what does "Saka" mean in Pashto, and they will tell you, a blood brother.

No problem.  I have more information on the Hephtalites as well, and their relationship with the Afghan tribe of Ghaljay.  Check this section soon.

Your speaking to one right now. 

lol? I don't quite understand what you mean by this.

 either way we are still all brothers from one family, just different mothers and fathers

to Quote a movie (forgot the name) "Hay my brother from a different mother!"

Its just a little misunderstanding I guess. 

BTW, I have plenty of Iranian friends (2 Muslim ones, and 3 Bahai ones).  We all get along pretty great.  I love to speak Farsi with them and learn the dialectical differences, and different slangs.

The real difference between Farsi and Afghan Farsi (Dari) is just the way we say our words.  For example, listen to this Afghan Song and I'll let you find the differences:

http://media.putfile.com/Ehsan-Aman---Khoda-Haffez - http://media.putfile.com/Ehsan-Aman---Khoda-Haffez

Yeah, it sucks, all these "borders were drawn up by colonial powers or by civil wars in the modern era. I mean Iran, some areas of Tajikistan, Most Afghanis, and Kurds should really be one Aryan nation. The Arabs have their pan-Arab, pan-Islamic movement, the turks have their pan-Turks movement and so on. Iranians have become so distanced from eachother due to alien customs and alien religions.

Dari, Farsi, and Tajiki are not EXACTLY the same language.  I have heard all three spoken.  There is a distinct dialectical difference, but the way it is written is EXACTLY the same (if all 3 are written in Perso-Arabic script).  Furthermore, Tajiki also refers to languages that are not Farsi, ie. the Eastern Iranian languages of Shugni, Ishkeshmi, Sangleci, Munji, etc.  These languages are also called "Pamiri" and the people are sometimes referred to as "Mountain Tajik/Kohistani Tajik."

I also disagree that the ruling Pashtun ethnic group, throughout history, has ever been against Persian.  From the country's founder - Ahmad Shah Abdali (who wrote Persian poetry and Pashto poetry), to the latest leader Karzai, are very fluent in Persian.  Ahmad Shah Abdali sent his sons to be taught by Persians, and his son changed the capital from Kandahar (predominantly Pashto speaking to Kabul which is predominantly Farsi speaking). 

Pashto was made an official language of the Afghan state in the 20th century.

The only leader of anti-Persian repute was Mullah Omar and the Taliban who sided in favor of Pashto to be the language of his army and government officers and who switched the capital back temporarily to Kandahar.

The problem in Afghanistan between Farsi and Pashto stems from Afghan government's lack of standard curriculum in different provinces.  Farsi and Pashto are BOTH official languages of the state.  The problem lies that each province does not have proper or adequate teachers to teach either.

For instance, in Kandahar, Pashto is the medium for teaching and Farsi is also taught, but not with the same emphasis as Pashto.  When a Kandahari goes to University in Kabul, his understanding of Farsi is lacking and he would then complain, but with no resolution.

In Badakhshan or Kabul for instance, Farsi is the medium for teaching, but the students do get some remedial instruction in Pashto that they never apply and complain as to why they even have to learn it.  There is also a lack of Pashto teachers in Afghanistan.

All major cities in Afghanistan, the universal language is Farsi, although today the government is more concerned with the intrusion of English into both Farsi and Pashto.  Karzais gov't is going to fine businesses who do not change their signs and slogans back to Farsi and Pashto.

My basis was from a historical standpoint on the word Afghan, and its origins.  The national term "Afghan" refers to all citizens of the country.

Ironically, Pashtuns are the only ones in the country who refer to the language as Parsi.

I believe Farsi is the Arab corruption of Parsi (the original language).   Arabs do not have a "P" in their alphabet.

THnak you heaps dear!

It was a great read!

Cyrus,

The first problem with Pashtuns and Parsi is that Pashto is a different language from Parsi.   If there was to be a Parsi literary/linguistic triangle it could threaten the native Pashto speaking populations of Afghanistan. 

The other problem Pashto speakers have with Farsi-speaking people is that a Pashtun is willing to learn Parsi, but Parsis are not willing to learn Pashto (because there was no need to), even though the founder of nation was Pashtun.  Ahmad Shah Abdali, the founder of the Durrani empire and Afghanistan was bilingual in both Farsi and Pashto.  The governments of Afghanistan were to enlist Pashto as a medium of higher education after King Amanullah Khans royal decree, and it was promoted for a time.  Unfortunately, the Soviet Invasion had stopped all plans of development and this has hurt the language more than anything.

In the meantime, in Pakistan where the war in Afghanistan did not destroy their infrastructure , the giant influx of Afghan refugees also helped a revival of Pashto literature, arts, and music there.

During the Civil War, the different factions were split on ethnic lines and language again became a hot issue.   The Pashtun factions blamed the Tajik factions of getting assistance from the Russians, India, and Iran while they received assistance from Pakistan, and Arab countries.  Today, whenever the issue of language arises, it is a contentious issue among all Afghans because Pashtuns do not want to see their language marginalized and many Uzbek or Persian speaking people do not want to speak the language of the people whom they fought during the Civil War.

I hope that explains some of the difficulties of language in Afghanistan to you.

Thank you many times my friend.

One question: I read that Pashtun is classified as Eastern Irani language.
What are your thoughts about this and what does this classification based on ?
I have many Pashtun friends and there are many common words in Pashtun with Parsi, Does it mean Pashtun is just another dialect or it was existed way before Parsi ?

Thank you.

It means they have the same root. IE that they separated from each other and evolved indepentently some three thousand years ago.

Cyrus thank you for your reply. 

First thing we should understand is that Iranian language does not necessarily mean Persian.  Eastern Iranian is a language group that has existed alongside Western Iranian for over a millenia.  The most famous Eastern Iranian language was Bactrian, the language of Bactria.  Parsi and Bactrian both had the same root and were cousins to each other.  When the Arab invasion insued, the Arabs adopted Persian culture and spoke Farsi, while Bactrian was fast being replaced throughout Central Asia by the adopted language of the Arab conquerors.  Some related languages of Bactrian, (which were isolated from Bactrian proper for an untold amount of time), evolved into languages we call Eastern Iranian.

These languages include - Pashto/Pakhto, Roshani/Rokhani, Bartangi, Yidgha-Munji, Sanglechi/Ishkashmi, Wakhi, Bartangi, etc.  Most of these languages are spoken in small pockets throughout the Pamir mountains, witih Pashto being the most prevalent of all.

Sarban, Bitan, Ghurghusht, were supposedly the 3 sons of Qais, a characater that was in the Makhzani Afghani, which is supposed to be the geneology and origin of the Afghans written by Nematullah , a court scribe of the Moghal Emperor Jahangir around 1612.  This and other books like "Khulasat'ul Ansab" were written by descendants of Afghans in India who most likely did not have a good grasping of Pashto.  Most of these books were written in Persian actually.

The 3 sons of Qais were supposedly the patriarchs of the Pashtun tribes.  Sarban had a son named Sharkbun , who then had 2 or 3 sons (depending on which tribe you ask) and they gave rise to such tribes as : Popalzai (Sons of Popal), Alekozais (Sons of Alek), Barakzais, Achakzais, Sadozais/Durranis, etc.

Sarbans other son, Kharshbun, gave rise to tribes like Yusufzais, Ghoriakhels, Mohmands, etc.

There is much more tribes and it would take me very long to go through all of them so I'll leave it at that.

I would take the tribal geneologies with a grain of salt.

Nematullah, was a story teller at best not a historian or geneologist

afghans come from many different ethnicities, but mostly they are of iranian stock:

Just imagin it brothers if Afghanistan and turkmenistan kazakhstan and Uzbeckistan were back with iran.  That would make Iran one of the largest countries on the planet.  Or at least in the top ten i think.   Other countries with Indo Aryan people are Turkey and i guess thats all i can think of for now. 

Here is some more information about the Sassanian inscription of the word Afghan:

When kaikhusro saw the battle of Turks
In which the sun shone no more on earth,
He glanced at awa and samkanian
Two pugnacious lions of the battlefield

Awa was Samkanian's son, and these tow persons were heroes of the era of Kaikhusro who are mentioned in the great battle with Afrasiab."

More Information located by clicking here: 

http://www.afghanan.net/pashto/pashtunwali/afghan.htm - http://www.afghanan.net/pashto/pashtunwali/afghan.htm

--

Can anybody back up these claims from the Sassanian scripts?  I want to test its validity.

First of all my congrats to Dear brother Afghanan on posting such and informative and detailed article.
It really is a great work and is one which has to be appreciated.

Afterwards!
Dear Rakhsh,
I really don't know if you are just kidding or you don't realy have a detailed knowledge about history.
The words you used in your post were really with no background and prove if you have any please do let me know.
You said:

I would like to let you know (in case you are not familier), before writing something you better know what you are saying; the country Afghanistan become in to existence in the year 1747 AD which is (259) years from now and you are saying that it did'nt exixt till 100 years ago, I can't do anything else but laughing on this point.
You better check the map of the http://www.allempires.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9491&PN=1 - Durrani Empire and tell me the boundries of it.

Beside that I would like to add one more thing that the Afghans has better than most others, that is they have never been occupied, who ever as come to this land has tasted the real taste of war, a good example of it could be Alexander the Great, the person who defeated the mighty Persian Empire but check out what he said about Afghans.

I guess you have got my points and I also know that I have gone a bit harsh (to me it is) but if my words has hurt anyone, I am extreamly sorry for it but the fact can not be changed.

One more thing that I would like to clearify to all members of All Empires that the word Afghani doesn't show that a person is from Afghanistan but it is the Code for Currency of Afghanistan and national(s) of Afghanistan is/are called Afghan(s); if anyone has any doubt regarding this claim please refere to this site http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/af.html - Click Here .
So please do consider this fact in future.

afghanistan was part of thhe persian empire when alexander invaded. infact, when the king lost in the west, he went to afghanistan, gather up another army of afghans, and lost again.

but the iranians in afghanistan fought a kind of "guerilla" warfare against alexander.

either way, it doesnt matter whether afghanistan was part of iran or not, (actually, when the british took it it was iranian), afghans are iranians, as well as tajiks.

the iranian nations do not need to become one country again, but a union of nations.

I don't think so, you may say they were a part of Iran but you may never say Afghans are Iranians, because Iranians have their custom and Afghans (Pashtuns) have their own, each has his own country, each has different languages, different looks, diiferent attitude and different rules and regulations. So I really don't think if you could say the are Iranians.

no, not afghans are iranian as in from iran, i mean an iranic people.

I would say Gorani Kurds, there are still Zaroastrians among them and their language is very close to Sassanid Pahlavi.

Originally posted by sirius99 A turk guy was caliming about 65% of afghanistan's populatin is turk( turkmen, uzbek, hazara,aymak) and other such as tajiks and pashtuns turk Persianized tribes.

Dear I think you have got it totaly vice-versa, the percentage of Pashtuns in Afghanistan is around 60-65% the rest are the turkmen, uzbek, hazara,aymak, baluch, pashahe and others.

Originally posted by Gharanai Originally posted by sirius99 A turk guy was caliming about 65% of afghanistan's populatin is turk( turkmen, uzbek, hazara,aymak) and other such as tajiks and pashtuns turk Persianized tribes.  Dear I think you have good it totaly vice-versa, the percentage of Pashtuns in Afghanistan is around 60-65% the rest are the turkmen, uzbek, hazara,aymak, baluch, pashahe and others.

who is he caliming %65 afg. turk.please show message

There has NEVER been a proper census done in Afghanistan. 

Also, some ethnic groups adopt language and customs of another and its very hard to pinpoint who is who.

Pashtun = Pashtuns who are spread in every corner of Afghanistan.  After 200 years, many of them in major cities speak Persian better than local Farsi speakers.

Tajik = Many Tajiks have mixed with Hazaras, Pashtuns, and Uzbeks, some adopting their language and habits as well.  Many Tajiks are very good Buzkashi players and play this game better than the Turkic/Uzbek peoples.

Hazaras = Their Mongol and Turkic pasts do not resemble their Shiite and Persian customs.  Their language is also Persian, but with some Mongol/Turkic admixture and accent.

And finally the Nuristani.  They spoke their own Dardic language and now most of them speak Pashto.

I'm still waiting for some help on this. 

this guys doesnt know what he is talking about.

the culture of the caucuses and central asia is heavily influenced by iranian culture, not the other way around.

oslonor is pretty crazy

Dear oslonor,
That was a very nice reply along with some informative link, thanks alot for sharing the link.

Originally posted by sirius99 humorous Idea.

I think that's the best way to upward the number of your posts, by just saying  .

i dont think oslonor realizes that teh culture celebrated in central asia and the caucusus is actually iranian.

he probably thinks its afghan.

oslonor, afghanistan was part of iran for a very long time, afghan culture is the same as iranian culture. we speak the same language, have the same celebrations, had the same religions, etc....

the iranian empires didnt even originate in afghanistan, but in modern day iran. and the ancient iranian empires of sogdia and bactria were located in north central asia, not in afghanistan.

trust me, turkic nations have more iranian culture in them then we have turkic culture.  iran is not a turkic nation, its an iranian nation, we just have a large turkic population.

infact, my theory is that azari's are actually turkified iranic peoples, and this is supported by facts. 

if you combine the total iranic population of iran to the total turkic population (for this example, including azari's since they are now turkic although not origionally) iranic people are the majority.

the culture of the republic of azerbaijan is now a mixture of iranian, russian and turkish.

the russians, in an attempt to balkanise iran, instilled these differences that we now see today.  azaris and iranians have always been close, the part taken by russia was made to think that we are different when historically, the azari people are just as iranian as me or zagros, or aryan.

botht the safavids and the qajars preserved and even enhanced iranian culture. they adopted all aspects of iranian culture.

infact they became so iranian that they called iran persia, and called themselves kings of persia.

oslonor, you dont know anything about iran, especially by saying that iran is a turkish islamic republic or that isfahan and the other cities have a turkish culture.

are you anti turk or something? thats what it seems like, it seems like you blame everything on turks.

Mohtaram Aghaeh Prsn4life, Oslonor and Gharanai,

Thanks for your replies but please keep them in discussion about Origins of Afghans and not Pan-Iranism.  There is plenty of topics on Pan-Iranism elsewhere.

there is nothing about pan iranism in this thread.

and pan iranism is not only for iranians from iran, there are afghan pan iranists, tajik pan iranists, kurdish pan iranists, etc...

@ oslonor: i want you to tell me in what ways iran is not culturally attached to afghanistan.

Regarding the topic, afghans are just another iranic tribe, am i not correct?

sorry for my ignorance, but i would also like to know more about the origion of afghans.

Majority of Iranians are genetically and culturally distinct from Afghans.

which type of iranian are you talking about? many different ethnicities make up iran.

Yes. There are different ethnic groups in Iran. Some are related to Afghans and some are not.

http://oslonor.proboards60.com/index.cgi?board=af&action=display&thread=1132222702 - This is Persian Afghan Phenotypes click here:

why cant you just tell me? maybe its because you are pulling this stuff out of your a$$?

they havent been to iran have the?

i want you to tell me how the culture of eastern iran differs with the culture of the rest of the iranic world.

enlighten me, i dont care if the other afghans agree with you or not, i just want to know for my own personally knowledge. i waiting....

oslonor, you are a pan iranist, its obvious.  let me tell you the same thing that i tell the pan turks. its a dillusional dream. pans are dangerous, you need to not think the way you do. we are any better than any other race, our cultures are just as mixed as other peoples cultures.

get your dreams of iranic empires out of your head, it will never happen in the modern world.  instead of your imperialistic dream for the iranic race, just try to make our countries better and more united, like the EU.

I just wonder about some connections of the Pahtuns with Huns (present day Uyghur or other Turkic people). The following is some linguistic analysis. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Afghan and Aqhon (The people who built Eftalit empire, the name of which is very popular among Uyghur Turks to add at the end of male name)  

Eftalit and abdal (one of the Tura tribes according to the chinese chronicals)

Huar and Avar (also one of the Tura tribes)

Tura tribes were the descendants of Huns according to Chinese chronicals, including Uyghur, Oghuz etc.  

Pushtu people call themselves Pahtun, and the place as Pahtunhua.

Pahta is cotton in Uyghur, which is related to white colour. Pahthun can be changed as Pahtun. Then can we find relation between Pahtun and Aqhun?

Saka means real brother in Pahtun. There were many places in Uyghur region which are called as Ikkisaq (Two Saks), Oghusaq (Oghuz sak), Toqquzaq (nine saks) etc.

Lastly, Many pahtun people add Khan at the end of their names, which was characteristics of Huns or also present day Uyghur and other Turkic peoples.

The name "Aqhon" probably has no bearing on the Ephthalites.  In the west, the Ephthalites were also called "White Huns" which looks like a transliteration on "Aqhon".    In the east they were called Hayathelites by the Persians, Ye-tai by the Chinese, and simply Hunas by the Indians, but no eastern source called them "White Huns".  The personal name "Aqhon" must therefore have another etymology.

Again, the Chinese called them Ye-tai.

The Chinese called the eastern "Avars" the Ruruan.  As for them being Turkic, the evidence suggest that they were Mongolic of speech, not Turkic.

The real "Tura" tribes were Iranic-speaking, not Turkic-speaking.  "Tura" or "Turan" is merely a borrowing from Persian sources for "eurasian nomad", which during the time of the earliest Iranian history were Iranic-speaking nomads. 

No.  We actually have a correlation between "Pahtun" and the name of an ancient Afghani mountain tribe known to classical Greek historians as the Pactyans.  There were first attested by Herodotus about 430 BC.  This would be more than 200 years before the Hun expansion from Mongolia, and 1000 years before the Gok-Turk expansion.

The ancient Saka language was an Iranian language.

The name "khan" is a word that has been adapted by many peoples of different backgrounds.  Its use may have been an indication of ethnic origin at one time, but because it spread so far and wide, other peoples have adopted its use.  The Rajputs of western India make much use of it themselves.

Incidently, the Huns (Xiongu) didn't use this title, they used the title "shan-yu".  The earliest known people to have made use of the title "khan" were the Ruruan, and they were Mongolic-speaking.

According to Tuoba Wei history in the 4th century AD, Ye tai were related with Yue chi (or Rou zhi or Tohar), though were included in the Tiele tribes. Surely, it was the mixure of Yue chi and Hunnic tribes. While Huihu (Uyghur) were the main body of the Tiele tribes,  Uyghurs and Yetai should have close relationship.

White hun (Aq hun) is still in commonly used as designation in the names of Uyghurs, then this should help us to find some relations.

Again one of the Tiele tribes.

Rouran or Juanjuan were recorded as the descendants of the Huns, though the ruling class might be from eastern hu (proto Tungustic), as they absorbed large number of Hun or Tiele tribes, according to the Tuoba Wei history texts. 

Might be, but they were the main body of the Turkic people. Or we can say that Turkic people emerged after absorbing almost all of the eastern iranic tribes and Hunnic tribes.

Greek name and the current self calling should be examined further.

No, it's not iranian. but it might be eastern iranic.  

What I mean wasn't the early Huns. Actually it was "Chan Yu" in Chinese, "Tengriqut" in Turkic. 

It's only probable that Rouruans used this term first, but it's sure this term became more popular after the Turkic rulings.