46-467: The Spīn Ghar ( Pashto : سپین غر ) or Safēd Kōh ( Dari : سفیدکوه , less used in this area) meaning both White Mountains , or sometimes ( Pashto : Selseleh-ye Safīd Kūh ) meaning white mountain range , is a mountain range to the south of the Hindu Kush . It ranges from eastern Afghanistan into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa , Pakistan , and forms a natural border between the two areas. Its highest peak
92-772: A British army officer of the Bengal Native Infantry . who collected it during a 1823–25 military survey in India. It was first published in A.B.Lambert, Descr. Pinus, ed. 3, 2: 144 bis in 1832. P. gerardiana is native to Afghanistan , Pakistan , Jammu and Kashmir , and Tibet . It grows at elevations of 1,800–3,350 m (5,910–10,990 ft). It inhabits valley floors in the Himalayas , tending to grow among open vegetation on dry, sunny slopes. It often occurs in association with Cedrus deodara , and Pinus wallichiana . Since their seeds do not have
138-453: A royal decree of Zahir Shah formally granted Pashto the status of an official language, with full rights to use in all aspects of government and education – despite the fact that the ethnically Pashtun royal family and bureaucrats mostly spoke Persian. Thus Pashto became a national language , a symbol for Pashtun nationalism . The constitutional assembly reaffirmed the status of Pashto as an official language in 1964 when Afghan Persian
184-560: A device). Post-7th century borrowings came primarily from Persian and Hindi-Urdu , with Arabic words being borrowed through Persian, but sometimes directly. Modern speech borrows words from English, French , and German . However, a remarkably large number of words are unique to Pashto. Here is an exemplary list of Pure Pashto and borrowings: naṛә́i jahān dunyā tod/táwda garm aṛtyā́ ḍarurah híla umid də...pə aṛá bāra bolә́la qasidah Pinus gerardiana Pinus gerardiana , commonly known as
230-712: A few notable mountain passes in or near the Spīn Ghar mountain range. The famous Khyber Pass crosses a spur of the Spīn Ghar. A second crossing, near Mount Sikaram , is called Peiwar Pass or Gawi Pass and connects Parachinar city on the Pakistani side with the Aryob Valley of Paktia Province , Afghanistan. The most viable route over the main ridge of the White Mountains is the Agam Pass (3586 m), over which
276-654: A narrow trough through the Spīn Ghar mountains to flow eastward into the Indus River . The range connects directly with the Shandur Top offshoot of the Hindu Kush mountain system. The highest peak is Mount Sikaram (Sikaram Sar) , near the Pakistani town of Parachinar in the Kurram Valley . From here it passes to Tari Mangal , Pewar , Alizai , Khewas, Shilawzan, Luqman Khel, Maikay, Chappri Rest House, Zeran, and Upper Khyber Agency . The Spīn Ghar form
322-665: A promoter of the wealth and antiquity of Afghanistan's Pashto culture." From the 16th century, Pashto poetry become very popular among the Pashtuns. Some of those who wrote in Pashto are Bayazid Pir Roshan (a major inventor of the Pashto alphabet ), Khushal Khan Khattak , Rahman Baba , Nazo Tokhi , and Ahmad Shah Durrani , founder of the modern state of Afghanistan or the Durrani Empire . The Pashtun literary tradition grew in
368-522: A variety very similar to it, while others have attempted to place it closer to Bactrian . However, neither position is universally agreed upon. What scholars do agree on is the fact that Pashto is an Eastern Iranian language sharing characteristics with Eastern Middle Iranian languages such as Bactrian, Khwarezmian and Sogdian . Compare with other Eastern Iranian Languages and Old Avestan : Zə tā winə́m /ɐz dɐ wənən/ Az bū tū dzunim Strabo , who lived between 64 BC and 24 CE, explains that
414-463: A wing capable of enabling effective dispersal by wind, the seeds of P. gerardiana are dispersed by birds. The Eurasian nutcracker ( Nucifraga caryocatactes subsp. multipunctata ) is one such species that does so. P. gerardiana is also a secondary host for Himalayan dwarf mistletoe . In 2011, this species was listed as near threatened on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . It
460-727: Is Mount Sikaram on the Afghanistan–Pakistan border , which towers above all surrounding hills to 4,755 m (15,600 ft) above mean sea level . The lower hills are mostly barren and treeless, but pine grows on the main mountains that form the East Afghan montane conifer forests . The range extends from the Peshawar valley in the east about 160 kilometers west to the Logar valley in Afghanistan. The Kabul River cuts
506-421: Is "one of the primary markers of ethnic identity" amongst Pashtuns. A national language of Afghanistan , Pashto is primarily spoken in the east, south, and southwest, but also in some northern and western parts of the country. The exact number of speakers is unavailable, but different estimates show that Pashto is the mother tongue of 45–60% of the total population of Afghanistan . In Pakistan , Pashto
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#1732775878007552-468: Is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family , natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan . It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa . It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani ( افغانی , Afghāni ). Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns , it is one of
598-550: Is spoken by 15% of its population, mainly in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and northern districts of Balochistan province. It is also spoken in parts of Mianwali and Attock districts of the Punjab province , areas of Gilgit-Baltistan and in Islamabad . Pashto speakers are found in other major cities of Pakistan, most notably Karachi , Sindh, which may have the largest Pashtun population of any city in
644-564: Is taught poorly in schools in Pakistan. Moreover, in government schools material is not provided for in the Pashto dialect of that locality, Pashto being a dialectically rich language. Further, researchers have observed that Pashtun students are unable to fully comprehend educational material in Urdu. Professor Tariq Rahman states: "The government of Pakistan, faced with irredentist claims from Afghanistan on its territory, also discouraged
690-568: Is very flaky, peeling to reveal light greyish-green patches. The branchlets are smooth and olive-green. The leaves are needle-like, in groups of three, 6–10 centimetres ( 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 –4 in) long, and spread stiffly. They are glossy green on the outer surface, with blue-green stomatal lines on the inner face; their sheaths fall in the first year. The cones are 10–18 cm (4–7 in) long and 9–11 cm ( 3 + 1 ⁄ 2 – 4 + 1 ⁄ 2 in) wide when open, with wrinkled, reflexed apophyses and an umbo curved inward at
736-631: The Eurasian Plate . The base of the mountains consists of Proterozoic gneisses and granites with admixtures of gabbros , mafic metavolcanic rocks , marble and migmatites . On the summit there are cirque glaciers, some of which are filled with scree. On the southern flank of the Sikaram Sar follow from 2500 m from bottom to top: alluvial soils in valleys, limestone and dolomite up to 4000 m, an intermediate zone of slate at 4000 m, above crystalline rock. A 20,000 hectare biotope in
782-477: The chilghoza pine or neja , is a pine species native to parts of central and southern Asia, including the western Himalayas . The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) listed it as near threatened in 2011. The pine nuts are locally collected for consumption. The trees are 15–25 metres (49–82 ft) tall with usually deep, wide and open crowns with long, erect branches. However, crowns are narrower and shallower in dense forests. The bark
828-521: The watershed between the river systems of the Kabul and Kurram . The closest cities to the Spīn Ghar are Jalalabad to the north; Gardez to the west; and Khost , and Parachinar in Pakistan to the south. The range between Herat in the west and Chaghcharan in the east is called Paropamisus Mountains . The White Mountains are part of the western rim that separates the Indian subcontinent from
874-608: The 1930s, a movement began to take hold to promote Pashto as a language of government, administration, and art with the establishment of a Pashto Society Pashto Anjuman in 1931 and the inauguration of the Kabul University in 1932 as well as the formation of the Pashto Academy (Pashto Tolana) in 1937. Muhammad Na'im Khan, the minister of education between 1938 and 1946, inaugurated the formal policy of promoting Pashto as Afghanistan's national language, leading to
920-825: The 8th century, and they use the writings found in Pata Khazana . Pə́ṭa Xazāná ( پټه خزانه ) is a Pashto manuscript claimed to be written by Mohammad Hotak under the patronage of the Pashtun emperor Hussain Hotak in Kandahar ; containing an anthology of Pashto poets. However, its authenticity is disputed by scholars such as David Neil MacKenzie and Lucia Serena Loi. Nile Green comments in this regard: "In 1944, Habibi claimed to have discovered an eighteenth-century manuscript anthology containing much older biographies and verses of Pashto poets that stretched back as far as
966-529: The Pashto Movement and eventually allowed its use in peripheral domains only after the Pakhtun elite had been co-opted by the ruling elite...Thus, even though there is still an active desire among some Pakhtun activists to use Pashto in the domains of power, it is more of a symbol of Pakhtun identity than one of nationalism." Robert Nicols states: "In the end, national language policy, especially in
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#17327758780071012-681: The Pathan community in the city of Kolkata , often nicknamed the Kabuliwala ("people of Kabul "). Pashtun diaspora communities in other countries around the world speak Pashto, especially the sizable communities in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia . Pashto is one of the two official languages of Afghanistan, along with Dari Persian . Since the early 18th century, the monarchs of Afghanistan have been ethnic Pashtuns (except for Habibullāh Kalakāni in 1929). Persian,
1058-680: The Society's annual meeting in 1927. In 1955, Pashtun intellectuals including Abdul Qadir formed the Pashto Academy Peshawar on the model of Pashto Tolana formed in Afghanistan. In 1974, the Department of Pashto was established in the University of Balochistan for the promotion of Pashto. In Pakistan, Pashto is the first language around of 15% of its population (per the 1998 census). However, Urdu and English are
1104-511: The backdrop to weakening Pashtun power following Mughal rule: Khushal Khan Khattak used Pashto poetry to rally for Pashtun unity and Pir Bayazid as an expedient means to spread his message to the Pashtun masses. For instance Khushal Khattak laments in : "The Afghans (Pashtuns) are far superior to the Mughals at the sword, Were but the Afghans, in intellect, a little discreet. If
1150-585: The base. The seeds ( pine nuts ) are 17–23 millimetres ( 5 ⁄ 8 – 7 ⁄ 8 in) long and 5–7 mm ( 3 ⁄ 16 – 1 ⁄ 4 in) broad, with a thin shell and a rudimentary wing. P. gerardiana is similar to the closely related lacebark pine ( Pinus bungeana ), another pine with flaking bark. However, P. gerardiana has denser, longer, and more slender needles, as well as larger cones than P. bungeana . The scientific name commemorates Captain Patrick Gerard ,
1196-711: The commission and publication of Pashto textbooks. The Pashto Tolana was later incorporated into the Academy of Sciences Afghanistan in line with Soviet model following the Saur Revolution in 1978. Although officially supporting the use of Pashto, the Afghan elite regarded Persian as a "sophisticated language and a symbol of cultured upbringing". King Zahir Shah (reigning 1933–1973) thus followed suit after his father Nadir Khan had decreed in 1933 that officials were to study and utilize both Persian and Pashto. In 1936
1242-410: The different tribes would but support each other, Kings would have to bow down in prostration before them" Pashto is a subject–object–verb (SOV) language with split ergativity . In Pashto, this means that the verb agrees with the subject in transitive and intransitive sentences in non-past, non-completed clauses, but when a completed action is reported in any of the past tenses, the verb agrees with
1288-513: The distance from Jalalabad to Parachinar is 92 km. The Durand Line border formed in 1893 between Afghanistan and British India cuts through these mountains. According to US military intelligence, many al-Qaeda fighters, including Osama bin Laden , crossed the Spīn Ghar to escape to Pakistan during the Tora Bora offensive in 2001. Bin Laden hid in the sparsely vegetated mountains in
1334-443: The eighth century. It was an extraordinary claim, implying as it did that the history of Pashto literature reached back further in time than Persian, thus supplanting the hold of Persian over the medieval Afghan past. Although it was later convincingly discredited through formal linguistic analysis, Habibi's publication of the text under the title Pata Khazana ('Hidden Treasure') would (in Afghanistan at least) establish his reputation as
1380-451: The field of education in the NWFP, had constructed a type of three tiered language hierarchy. Pashto lagged far behind Urdu and English in prestige or development in almost every domain of political or economic power..." Although Pashto used as a medium of instruction in schools for Pashtun students results in better understanding and comprehension for students when compared to using Urdu, still
1426-399: The government of Pakistan has only introduced Pashto at the primary levels in state-run schools. Taimur Khan remarks: "the dominant Urdu language squeezes and denies any space for Pashto language in the official and formal capacity. In this contact zone, Pashto language exists but in a subordinate and unofficial capacity". Some linguists have argued that Pashto is descended from Avestan or
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1472-617: The literary language of the royal court, was more widely used in government institutions, while the Pashtun tribes spoke Pashto as their native tongue . King Amanullah Khan began promoting Pashto during his reign (1926–1929) as a marker of ethnic identity and as a symbol of "official nationalism" leading Afghanistan to independence after the defeat of the British Empire in the Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919. In
1518-483: The native elements of the lexicon are related to other Eastern Iranian languages . As noted by Josef Elfenbein, "Loanwords have been traced in Pashto as far back as the third century B.C., and include words from Greek and probably Old Persian". For instance, Georg Morgenstierne notes the Pashto word مېچن mečә́n i.e. a hand-mill as being derived from the Ancient Greek word μηχανή ( mēkhanḗ , i.e.
1564-576: The northern part, called Tora Bora . After 2004, the Spīn Ghar mountain range was a pivotal place and theater of many battles fought between the foreign fighters of al-Qaeda and the joint Northern Command of the Pakistani military , with the latter trying to prevent the foreign fighters' incursion into Pakistan. Pashto language Pashto ( / ˈ p ʌ ʃ t oʊ / PUH -shto , / ˈ p æ ʃ t oʊ / PASH -toe ; پښتو , Pəx̌tó , [pəʂˈto, pʊxˈto, pəʃˈto, pəçˈto] )
1610-422: The pelvis of Jalalabad multiple harvests. Wheat, maize, various types of vegetables (onions, green beans, okra, tomatoes, etc.), cotton, opium poppies, lemons, sugar cane, and olives are also grown around Jalalabad. The Bara high valley in the southeast of the range is one of the most intensively used agricultural areas of the Pakistani tribal areas under Khyber Pakhtunkhwa . Older reports speak of rich orchards in
1656-465: The possessed in the genitive construction, and adjectives come before the nouns they modify. Unlike most other Indo-Iranian languages, Pashto uses all three types of adpositions —prepositions, postpositions, and circumpositions. *The retroflex rhotic or lateral, tends to be a lateral flap [ 𝼈 ] at the beginning of a syllable or other prosodic unit, and a regular flap [ ɽ ] or approximant [ ɻ ] elsewhere. In Pashto, most of
1702-473: The southwest of Spīn Ghar is listed as an important bird area in Afghanistan. Above the nearly barren lower slopes, forests of pine and deodar cedar thrived on the main range, but devastation during the Afghan civil wars reduced timber resources. The valleys still support some agriculture. The rivers of the White Mountains serve the irrigation of the fields in the densely populated river valleys, which allows
1748-444: The subject if it is intransitive, but with the object if it is transitive. Verbs are inflected for present, simple past, past progressive, present perfect, and past perfect tenses. There is also an inflection for the subjunctive mood . Nouns and adjectives are inflected for two genders (masculine and feminine), two numbers (singular and plural), and four cases (direct, oblique, ablative, and vocative). The possessor precedes
1794-491: The tribes inhabiting the lands west of the Indus River were part of Ariana . This was around the time when the area inhabited by the Pashtuns was governed by the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom . From the 3rd century CE onward, they are mostly referred to by the name Afghan ( Abgan ). Abdul Hai Habibi believed that the earliest modern Pashto work dates back to Amir Kror Suri of the early Ghurid period in
1840-486: The two official languages of Afghanistan alongside Dari , and it is the second-largest provincial language of Pakistan , spoken mainly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the northern districts of Balochistan . Likewise, it is the primary language of the Pashtun diaspora around the world. The total number of Pashto-speakers is at least 40 million, although some estimates place it as high as 60 million. Pashto
1886-411: The two official languages of Pakistan. Pashto has no official status at the federal level. On a provincial level, Pashto is the regional language of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and north Balochistan . Yet, the primary medium of education in government schools in Pakistan is Urdu. The lack of importance given to Pashto and its neglect has caused growing resentment amongst Pashtuns. It is noted that Pashto
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1932-445: The valleys of Spīn Ghar with mulberry and pomegranate trees. Wood from the eastern Afghan forests has been exported mainly to Pakistan since the 19th century, and in increasingly irresponsible quantities, so that Afghanistan imposed a complete export ban in 1975, which smugglers circumvented. In addition to the actual forestry there is or was a collection economy for pistachio nuts and the edible seeds of Pinus gerardiana . There are
1978-658: The world. Other communities of Pashto speakers are found in India , Tajikistan , and northeastern Iran (primarily in South Khorasan Province to the east of Qaen , near the Afghan border). In India most ethnic Pashtun (Pathan) peoples speak the geographically native Hindi-Urdu language rather than Pashto, but there are small numbers of Pashto speakers, such as the Sheen Khalai in Rajasthan , and
2024-467: Was found to be very poor. Older trees that do not produce enough cones to harvest pine nuts from are felled for firewood. The wood is also used for local light construction and carpentry. Chilghoza seeds, or pine nuts, are harvested for consumption in autumn and early winter by knocking the cones off of the trees. The trees and seed harvesting rights are owned by local mountain clans and villages in some areas, from which they may be exported to markets in
2070-634: Was officially renamed to Dari . The lyrics of the national anthem of Afghanistan are in Pashto. In British India , prior to the creation of Pakistan by the British government, the 1920s saw the blossoming of Pashto language in the then NWFP : Abdul Ghafar Khan in 1921 established the Anjuman-e- Islah al-Afaghina (Society for the Reformation of Afghans) to promote Pashto as an extension of Pashtun culture; around 80,000 people attended
2116-402: Was previously listed as Lower Risk/near threatened in 1998. P. gerardina forests have declined by an estimated 30% due to conversion of pine forests to farmland , intensive grazing , and overharvesting of the seed cones and timber for firewood . The Himachal Pradesh State Forest Department has tried artificial regeneration of chilgoza pine at many places. However, performance of seedlings
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