Culture

The culture of the region today known as Afghanistan has been around for millennia and is - since the Arab-Muslim conquest - largely influenced by Islam. Different regions of the country have their own unique traditions, reflecting the multi-cultural and multi-lingual character of the nation. For example, the Pashtuns practice Pashtunwali, which is a pre-Islamic cultural tradition. There are also other traces of pre-Islamic traditions, most of all by religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism and Zoroastrianism. Afghanistan has been a crossroads for India, Iran, and Central Asia which has influenced its culture. In recent years, Baha'i Faith has also spread throughout the country.

Art

Local art has spanned many centuries. One of the most famous is the Gandhara art, produced between the 1st and 7th century and based on Greco-Buddhist art. Since the 1900s, Afghanistan began to use Western techniques in art.

Afghanistan is also known for making beautiful oriental rugs. The Afghan carpet has certain prints that make them unique to Afghanistan.

Historic Monuments

Afghanistan has a complex history that has survived either in its current cultures or in the form of various languages and monuments. However, many of the country's historic monuments have been damaged in recent wars. The two famous statues of Buddha in the Bamiyan Province were destroyed by the Taliban, who regarded them as idolatrous. Other famous sites include the very cities of Kandahar, Herat, Ghazni and Balkh. The Minaret of Jam, in the Hari Rud valley, is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The cloak worn by Muhammad is stored inside the famous Khalka Sharifa in Kandahar City.

Clothing

Traditional Afghan clothes vary by province and sometimes ethnicities. However, most traditional Afghan attire for women consists of a long dress with round skirt. Traditional male Afghan clothing usually includes a Pakol (hat), Lungee (turban) and a Chapan (coat). Trousers are loose, but are clasped close to the ankles.

Music

Before the Taliban gained power, the city of Kabul was home to many musicians who were masters of both traditional and modern Afghan music, especially during the Nauroz-celebration.

During the 1990s, the Taliban government banned instrumental music and much public music-making. In spite of arrests and destruction of musical instruments, Afghan musicians have continued to ply their trade into the present. Lyrics across the country are typically in Persian and Pashto. Hindi songs from Bollywood films are also very popular in Afghanistan.

Poetry

Although literacy levels are very low, classic Persian poetry plays a very important role in Afghan culture. Poetry has always been one of the major educational pillars in Iran and Afghanistan, to the level that it has integrated itself into culture. Persian culture has, and continues to, exert a great influence over Afghan culture. Private poetry competition events known as "musha'era" are quite common even among ordinary people. Almost every home owns one or more poetry collection of some sort.

Afghanistan's poetry is primarily written in Persian (known as Dari in Afghanistan) and - to a lesser degree - in Pashto. The most famous forms of poetry in Afghanistan are Ghazal and Charbeiti both of which were originally unique to the Persian language but have since been used by other languages.

Charbeiti is told in four lines and usually describes love, youth, war or events in the poet's life. They are often passed on orally which often leads to multiple variations of a poem.

Sports

The people of Afghanistan are prominent horsemen as the national sport is Buzkashi, similar to polo, but instead which a goat carcass is used instead of a ball. Afghan hounds (a type of running dog) also originated from Afghanistan.

Most official Afghan sports are run by the Afghan Sports Federation which promotes football (soccer), basketball, bullfighting, volleyball, track, bowling and chess. Afghanistan fields 7 players at FIDE (World Chess Federation) with its highest rated being Saifudin Ayyoubi with a rating of 2178.

Ethnic Groups

Pashtuns

The Pashtuns (also known as Pakhtun or Pathan), are people that reside mainly in southern and eastern Afghanistan and are also located in western Pakistan. Considerable pockets also exist throughout other parts of Afghanistan. Pashtun culture is ancient and much of it is yet to be recorded in contemporary times. There are many conflicting theories, some contemporary, some ancient, about the origins of the Pashtun people, both among historians and the Pashtun themselves. The Afghan identity began to develop as Pashtun identity under the rule of Ahmad Shah Durrani, born in Multan, Pakistan, who united the Pashtun (Afghan) chiefdoms in the middle of 18th century and encompassed all of Afghanistan, neighbouring Nishapur district of Iran and all of modern day Pakistan. Another boost took place under the rule of Nadir Shah who with Pashtun support further centralised the government. Until the advent of the modern 'Afghan' state in the 20th century, the word Afghan had been synonymous with Pashtun.

Tajiks, Farsiwans and Qizilbash

The Persian-speaking Tajiks are closely related to the Persians of Iran and are amongst the oldest inhabitants of the region. They can trace their roots back to the original Eastern Iranian peoples that settled Central Asia in ancient times, such as the Bactrians, Sogdians, Scythians and Parthians, as well as ancient Persians who fled to Central Asia during the Arab Islamic expansion. Related groups in Afghanistan known as the Farsiwan and the Qizilbash are often affiliated with the Tajiks and are considered a subgroup the Tajiks. The difference between them is that the Farsiwan and Qizilbash are generally of the Shia while the rest of the Tajiks are of the Sunni sect.

Hazaras

Historically, the Hazara seem to have Turkic-Mongolian origins, but with some Caucasoid admixture from surrounding groups. Linguistically though the Hazara speak Persian, their variant is interspersed with more Mongolian words, but this is also the case with many Turkic languages such as Uzbek. It may be the case that the Hazara are of Uyghur Turkic origin as many Turks accompanied the Mongol armies or arrived in the region long before the Mongols. It is however commonly believed by many Afghans that the Hazara are descendants of Genghis Khan's army, which marched into the area during the 12th century. Proponents of this view hold that many of the Mongol soldiers and their family members settled in the area and remained there after the Mongol empire dissolved in the 13th century, converting to Islam and adopting local customs. The theory regarding a more Turkic origin for the Hazara has equal validity and the relatively small number of actual Mongols in comparison to Turks makes it more likely that the Hazara are descendants of Turkic invaders who were Persianised over time. Unlike most Afghans, the Hazara are Shia, which has often set them apart from their neighbours.

Uzbeks

The Uzbeks are the main Turkic people of Afghanistan and are found mainly in the northern regions of the country. Most likely the Uzbeks migrated with a wave of Turkic invaders and intermingled with local Iranian tribes over time to become the ethnic group they are today. By the 1500s, the Uzbeks had settled throughout Central Asia and reached Afghanistan following the conquests of Muhammad Shaybani. Most Uzbeks are Sunni Muslim and are closely related to the Turkmen who also can be found in Afghanistan. The Uzbeks of Afghanistan are usually bilingual, fluent in both Persian and Uzbek.

Turkmen

The Turkmen are the smaller Turkic group who can also be found in neighbouring Turkmenistan, Iran particularly around Mashad and Pakistan. Largely Sunni Muslim, their origins are very similar to that of the Uzbeks. Unlike, the Uzbeks, however, the Turkmen are traditionally a nomadic people (though they were forced to abandon this way of life in Turkmenistan itself under Soviet rule).

Baloch

The Baloch are another Iranian ethnic group that numbers around 200,000 in Afghanistan. They are most likely an offshoot of the Kurds and reached Afghanistan sometime between 1000 and 1300 BC. Mainly pastoral and desert dwellers, the Baloch are also Sunni Muslim.

Nuristani

The Nuristani are an Indo-Iranian people, representing a third branch independent of the Iranian and Indo-Aryan groups, who live in isolated regions of northeastern Afghanistan. Better known historically as the Kafirs of what was once known as Kafiristan (now called Nuristan), they were forcibly converted to Islam during the rule of 'Iron' Amir Abdur Rahman and their country was renamed 'Nuristan' or 'Land of Light' (as in the light of Islam). A small unconquered portion of Kafiristan inhabited by the Kalash tribe who still practice their pre-Islamic religion still exists across the border in Pakistan. Many Nuristanis believe that they are the descendants of Alexander's Greeks, but there is a lack of genetic evidence for this and they are more than likely an isolated pocket of early Aryan invaders. They are largely Sunni Muslims.