The Durrānī (, ), formerly known as Abdālī (), are one of the largest tribal confederation of

Pashtuns Pashtuns (, , ; ;), also known as Pakhtuns, or Pathans, are an Iranian peoples, Iranic ethnic group primarily residing in southern and eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. They were historically also referred to as Afghan (ethnon ...

. Their traditional homeland is in southern

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

(

Loy Kandahar Lōy Kandahār (, ) is a historical and cultural region of Afghanistan, comprising the modern Provinces of Afghanistan, Afghan provinces of Kandahar Province, Kandahar, Helmand Province, Helmand, Farah Province, Farah, Uruzgan Province, Uruzgan, a ...

region), straddling into Toba Achakzai in

Balochistan Balochistan ( ; , ), also spelled as Baluchistan or Baluchestan, is a historical region in West and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. This arid region o ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

, but they are also settled in other parts of Afghanistan and parts of

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ; , ; abbr. KP or KPK), formerly known as the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Northern Pakistan, northwestern region of the country, Khyber ...

Ahmad Shah Durrani Ahmad Shāh Durrānī (; ; – 4 June 1772), also known as Ahmad Shāh Abdālī (), was the first ruler and founder of the Durrani Empire. He is often regarded as the founder of modern Afghanistan. Throughout his reign, Ahmad Shah fought ov ...

, who is considered the founder of the modern state of Afghanistan, belonged to the Abdali tribe. In 1747 after establishing the

Durrani Empire The Durrani Empire, colloquially known as the Afghan Empire, or the Saddozai Kingdom, was an Afghanistan, Afghan empire founded by the Durrani tribe of Pashtuns under Ahmad Shah Durrani in 1747, which spanned parts of Central Asia, the Iranian ...

based in

Kandahar Kandahar is a city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city, after Kabul, with a population of about 614,118 in 2015. It is the capital of Kandahar Pro ...

, he adopted the epithet ''Shāh Durr-i-Durrān'', "King, Pearl of Pearls," and changed the name of his Tareen Abdali tribe to "Durrani" after himself.The Hephthalites: Archaeological and Historical Analysis, Aydogdu Kurbanov, Berlin, 2010, page 242.
/ref>

Origins

The origins of the Durrani, formerly known as the Abdali, are unclear and there is no consensus among scholars. Many scholars such as Georg Morgenstierne, Aydogdy Kurbanov, Charles Masson, Henry Walter Bellew, Joseph T. Arlinghaus and Yu. V. Gankovsky have suggested that the Durranis are descended from the

Hephthalites The Hephthalites (), sometimes called the White Huns (also known as the White Hunas, in Iranian languages, Iranian as the ''Spet Xyon'' and in Sanskrit and Prakrit as the ''Sveta-huna''), were a people who lived in Central Asia during the 5th to ...

. The evidence for this includes the phonological similarity of the Hephthalites'

endonym An endonym (also known as autonym ) is a common, name for a group of people, individual person, geographical place, language, or dialect, meaning that it is used inside a particular group or linguistic community to identify or designate them ...

, ''Ebodalo'', to the name Abdali. However, this theory has remained a matter of debate.

History

Early history

The Abdalis were recorded to have been a Sheep herding nomadic tribe, According to some traditions, the Abdalis migrated to southern Afghanistan in early 15th century, probably migrating from Ghor. One of the earliest mention of Abdalis is during the early 16th century, When

Shah Abbas I Abbas I (; 27 January 1571 – 19 January 1629), commonly known as Abbas the Great (), was the fifth Safavid shah of Iran from 1588 to 1629. The third son of Shah Mohammad Khodabanda, he is generally considered one of the most important rulers ...

bestowed supreme command of it to Sado, chief of the Popalzai tribe, With the title Mir-i Afāghina. According to Safavid sources, it suggests that there was some kind of political unity that have been established among Abdali tribes. This union was established to probably fight against rival tribes such as the Yusufzai, Muhammad and others. The Abdalis were successful at displacing these rival tribes with the aid of the

Safavids The Guarded Domains of Iran, commonly called Safavid Iran, Safavid Persia or the Safavid Empire, was one of the largest and longest-lasting Iranian empires. It was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often considered the begi ...

. some of the Abdali tribal confederation lived in east of

. By the 18th century, many Abdali tribes were displaced by the Ghalji tribe, they were forced to migrate to Mountains of

Herat Herāt (; Dari/Pashto: هرات) is an oasis city and the third-largest city in Afghanistan. In 2020, it had an estimated population of 574,276, and serves as the capital of Herat Province, situated south of the Paropamisus Mountains (''Se ...

region. There they were able to take control of the region and established the Abdali principality of Herat. The Abdali tribal confederation increased in numbers, due to many other local tribes in Herat region joining the Abdali tribal confederation. The principality was short lived as it was conquered by

Nader Shah Afshar Nader Shah Afshar (; 6 August 1698 or 22 October 1688 – 20 June 1747) was the founder of the Afsharid dynasty of Afsharid Iran, Iran and one of the most powerful rulers in History of Iran, Iranian history, ruling as List of monarchs of Per ...

. Nader Shah recruited many Abdali tribesmen into his army. one of the Abdali tribal contingent commander was Ahmad Khan, the second son of Muhammad Zaman Khan chief of the Sadozai branch of Abdalis. Due to their service in the Afsharid army, Nader Shah rewarded the Abdalis by restoring their lands in Kandahar.

Durrani Empire

In 1747, Ahmad Shah Durrani established the

with its capital at

. He adopted the title ''Shāh Durr-i-Durrān'', "King, Pearl of Pearls," and changed the name of his tribe "Abdali" to "Durrani" after himself. Ahmad Shah is now regarded as the founder of the modern state of Afghanistan. Within a few years, he extended his control from Khorasan in the west to

Kashmir Kashmir ( or ) is the Northwestern Indian subcontinent, northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term ''Kashmir'' denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir P ...

and

North India North India is a geographical region, loosely defined as a cultural region comprising the northern part of India (or historically, the Indian subcontinent) wherein Indo-Aryans (speaking Indo-Aryan languages) form the prominent majority populati ...

in the east, and from the

Amu Darya The Amu Darya ( ),() also shortened to Amu and historically known as the Oxus ( ), is a major river in Central Asia, which flows through Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Afghanistan. Rising in the Pamir Mountains, north of the Hindu Ku ...

in the north to the

Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea () is a region of sea in the northern Indian Ocean, bounded on the west by the Arabian Peninsula, Gulf of Aden and Guardafui Channel, on the northwest by Gulf of Oman and Iran, on the north by Pakistan, on the east by India, and ...

in the south.

Barakzai dynasty

In 1823, Emir

Dost Mohammad Khan Dost Mohammad Khan Barakzai (Pashto/; 23 December 1792 – 8 June 1863), nicknamed the Amir-i Kabir, was the founder of the Barakzai dynasty and one of the prominent rulers of Afghanistan during the First Anglo-Afghan War. With the decline of ...

, who belonged to the Barakzai tribe of Durranis, founded the Barakzai dynasty centered at

Kabul Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...

. Thereafter, his descendants ruled in direct succession until 1929 when King Amanullah Khan, under whom Afghanistan gained independence over its foreign policy from the

British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

, was forced to abdicate and his cousin Mohammed Nadir Shah was later elected king. The Barakzai dynasty ruled present-day Afghanistan until 1973 when Mohammed Zahir Shah, the last Barakzai king, was overthrown in a bloodless coup by his cousin Mohammed Daoud Khan. The coup ended the Barakzai kingdom and established the Republic of Afghanistan (1973—1978).

Contemporary period

Contemporarily, the former Afghan president Hamid Karzai (2001–2014), like Ahmad Shah Durrani, also belongs to the Popalzai clan of Durranis. The current leader of the

Taliban , leader1_title = Supreme Leader of Afghanistan, Supreme leaders , leader1_name = {{indented plainlist, * Mullah Omar{{Natural Causes{{nbsp(1994–2013) * Akhtar Mansour{{Assassinated (2015–2016) * Hibatullah Akhundzada (2016–present) ...

- Hibatullah Akhundzada is a member of Nurzai Panjpai.

Pashto dialect

Although many are bilingual in Dari Persian, the Durrani of southern Afghanistan speak Southern Pashto, also known as "Kandahari Pashto", the "soft" dialect of

Pashto Pashto ( , ; , ) 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 Khyb ...

. It is considered one of the most prestigious varieties of Pashto. This dialect retains archaic retroflex

sibilants Sibilants (from 'hissing') are fricative and affricate consonants of higher amplitude and pitch, made by directing a stream of air with the tongue towards the teeth. Examples of sibilants are the consonants at the beginning of the English word ...

and , which have merged into other phonemes in other dialects. Southern Pashto also preserves the affricates and , which have merged into and in some dialects. The Tareen (Tarin) tribe is historically closely related to Durranis. Although most Tareens speak Southern Pashto, a small section of the Spin clan of Tareens living east of

Quetta Quetta is the capital and largest city of the Pakistani province of Balochistan. It is the ninth largest city in Pakistan, with an estimated population of over 1.6 million in 2024. It is situated in the south-west of the country, lying in a ...

speaks the unique

Wanetsi Waṇetsi (), commonly called Tarīno (), and sometimes Tsalgari (), is a distinct variety of Pashto dialects, Pashto and is considered by some to be a different language. In some cases, Wanetsi shares similarities with the Pamir languages, Pami ...

(Tareeno) dialect of Pashto, which is considered by some linguists to be distinctive enough to be classified as its own language. According to linguist Prods Oktor Skjaervo: "The Pashto area split into two dialect groups at a pre-literary period, represented today on the one hand by all the dialects of modern Pashto and on the other by Wanetsi and by archaic remains in other southeast dialects."Hallberg, Daniel G. 1992. ''Pashto, Waneci, Ormuri''. Sociolinguistic Survey of Northern Pakistan, 4
LINK
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Subtribes

* Sarban * Tareen * Achakzai * Alakozai * Badozai * Barakzai * Miana * Bamozai ** Nawabi * Barech * Ghoryakhel ** Khalil ** Daulatyar *** Daulatzai ** Chamkani **Mattezai *** Halimzai ** Daudzai ** Mulagori ** Hazarbuz **Bayazidkhel ** Shilmani **Zakhil **Zeerani ** Zakhilwal **Khawezai * Hanbhi * Ishaqzai * Kiral * Loni * Mohammadzai * Nurzai * Panjpai ** Alizai * Zirak ** Popalzai *** Habibzai *** Sadozai *** Sudhan *** Wazirzada

Notables

, Founded Afghanistan * Amanullah Khan, Initiated war on the British Empire for Afghan Sovereignty in the 1919 Anglo-Afghan War * Mohammad Zahir Shah, King of Afghanistan * Mohammad Daud Khan, Afghanistan's first President * Mahmud Khan Achakzai, Pashtun Nationalist Politician of Balochistan and Chairman of the Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PKMAP) * Hibatullah Akhundzada, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan * Hamid Karzai, President of the

Islamic Republic of Afghanistan The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan was a presidential republic in Afghanistan from 2004 to 2021. The state was established to replace the Afghan Afghan Interim Administration, interim (2001–2002) and Transitional Islamic State of Afghanist ...

Abdul Ghani Baradar Abdul Ghani Baradar (born 29 September 1963 known by the honorific ''mullah'') is an Afghan politician and religious leader who is the acting first Deputy Prime Minister of Afghanistan, deputy prime minister, alongside Abdul Salam Hanafi, of the ...

, Afghan Taliban Mullah and Deputy Minister * Pashtana Durrani, Pashtun Educationist Woman's rights activist * Mahmud Ali Durrani, Pakistan National Security Advisor and two-star rank general officer * Mullah Naqib, was a former Mujahideen Freedom Fighter during the Soviet-Afghan War from Southern Afghanistan * Abdul Raziq Achakzai, Afghan Police Chief * Ismatullah Muslim, Militia leader during the war in the 80s who rose in the Afghan Army while collaborating with Pakistani Intelligence and eventually defecting to pro-PDPA government forces * Obaidulah Jan Kandahari, Classical Pashto singer who was prominent in

and

where his music was most popular * Gul Agha Sherzai, former Afghan Mujahideen who became Governor of Nangarhar * Ataullah K. Ozai‐Durrani, Afghan inventor known for a method of creating instant rice, sold to General Foods Corporation. * Abdul Ghafoor Khan Durrani, chief of Popalzai Durrani tribe in Balochistan * Hayatullah Khan Durrani, Pakistani mountaineer * Ayesha Durrani, Afghan poet

Notes

* In Pashto, "Durrani" (, urɑˈni is the plural form of the word. Its masculine singular is "Durranai" (, urɑˈnay, while its feminine singular is "Durraney" (, urɑˈnəy.