The Mohmand () or Momand is a prominent tribe of

Pashtun Pashtuns (, , ; ;), also known as Pakhtuns, or Pathans, are an Iranic ethnic group primarily residing in southern and eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. They were historically also referred to as Afghans until 1964 after the ...

people.

Distribution

They are based primarily in the Mohmand territory, which is located in Nangarhar,

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 ...

and

Mohmand Agency Mohmand District (, ) is a district in Peshawar Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. Until 2018, it was an agency of Federally Administered Tribal Areas, with merger of FATA with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, it became a district. It ...

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# ...

. In Afghanistan, their areas of presence include Nangarhar,

Ghazni Ghazni (, ), historically known as Ghaznayn () or Ghazna (), also transliterated as Ghuznee, and anciently known as Alexandria in Opiana (), is a city in southeastern Afghanistan with a population of around 190,000 people. The city is strategica ...

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 ...

, Kunar, Logar and

Kunduz Kunduz (; ; ) is a city in northern Afghanistan and the capital of Kunduz Province. The city has an estimated population of about 268,893 as of 2015, making it about the List of cities in Afghanistan, seventh largest city of Afghanistan, and the ...

. In

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 ...

they predominantly reside in the Mohmand Agency (formerly part of the Tribal Areas), with others later settling in Charsadda,

Mardan Mardān is a city in the Mardan District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan. Located in the Valley of Peshawar, Mardan is the List of cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by population, second-largest city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (after Peshawar). ...

and

Peshawar District Peshawar District (, , ) is a Districts of Pakistan, district in the Peshawar Division of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It is located about 160 km west of the Pakistan's capital Islamabad. The district headquarter is the city of ...

History

The Mohmand

Ghoryakhel The Ghoryakhel () is a Pashtun sub-tribe. Ghoryakhel consists of tribes led by the son of Kand, son of Kharshbun, son of Sarban, and son of Qais Abdur Rashid, who lived in Ghwara Marghay Arghistan Qandahar, mostly in Ghazni, Nangarhar, Loga ...

originally lived in the present-day Mohmand region, as well as in areas of

Ghor Ghōr, also spelled Ghowr or Ghur (), is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. It is located in the western Hindu Kush in central Afghanistan, towards the northwest. The province contains eleven districts, encompassing hundreds of vil ...

, and between the basins of the Tarnak,

Oxus 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 ...

and

Indus The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans- Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in the Western Tibet region of China, flows northwest through the dis ...

rivers, along the present Afghanistan-Pakistan border. Ghoryakhel consists of tribes descended by the son of Kand, son of Kharshbun, son of Sarban, and son of

Qais Abdur Rashid Qais Abdur Rashīd or Qais Abdul Rasheed () is said to be, in post-Islamic lore, the legendary founding father of the Pashtuns. It is believed that the conception of such a figure was promoted to bring harmony between religious and ethnic identit ...

, They originally lived in Ghwara Marghay, Arghistan, Kandahar, and are now mostly found in

, Nangarhar, Logar,

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 ...

, Kunar,

Paktia Paktia (Pashto – ''Paktyā'') is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the east of the country. Forming part of the larger Loya Paktia region, Paktia Province is divided into 15 districts and has a population of roughly 623,0 ...

Zabul Zabul (Pashto/Dari: ) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the south of the country. It has a population of 249,000. Zabul became an independent province from neighbouring Kandahar in 1963. Historically, it was part of the Zab ...

and

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 ...

. Ghoryakhel had four sons: Chamkani, Daulatyar, Khalil, and Zirani. Daulatyar had two sons Mohmands and Daudzai The Mohmand are historically known for resisting outside forces. From 1672 to 1676, under the leadership of Aimal Khan Mohmand, they rebelled and fought deadly wars against the

Mughal Army The army of the Mughal Empire was the force by which the Mughal emperors established their empire in the 16th century and expanded it to its greatest extent at the beginning of the 18th century. Although its origins, like the Mughals themselve ...

. They also battled the British Empire in multiple wars, including taking part in the 1897 Frontier Revolt, alongside other rebellions across Pashtunistan, for Afghan Independence in the 1919 Anglo-Afghan War and they also fought independently in the 1935 Mohmand Campaign. Additionally, the Mohmand people resisted other invaders of Afghanistan, such as during the

Soviet–Afghan War The Soviet–Afghan War took place in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from December 1979 to February 1989. Marking the beginning of the 46-year-long Afghan conflict, it saw the Soviet Union and the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic o ...

as well as the American War in Afghanistan including against Pakistan Security Forces.

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

(2010)
‘As if Hell fell on me’
' Crisis in North West Pakistan In May 2018, Mohmand tribal elders condemned the merger of the

Federally Administered Tribal Areas The Federally Administered Tribal Areas, commonly known as FATA, was a semi-autonomous tribal region in north-western Pakistan that existed from 1947 until being merged with the neighbouring province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2018 through the ...

with

and expressed support for the creation of a separate province, Qabailistan.

Notables

* Rahman Baba Abdur Rahmān Mohmand (1632–1706) (Pashto: عبدالرحمان بابا), or Rahmān Bābā (Pashto: رحمان بابا), was a renowned Pashtun Sufi Dervish and poet. * Abdul Hamid Baba Abdul Hamid Mohmand ( –1732) (Pashto: عبدالحميد ماشو گگر), or Abdul Hamid (Pashto: عبدالحميد ), was a Pashtun poet and a Sufi figure. * Aimal Khan Mohmand, Afghan warrior ruler who fought in the Afghan-Mughal Wars of the 17th Century against Emperor

Aurangzeb Alamgir I (Muhi al-Din Muhammad; 3 November 1618 – 3 March 1707), commonly known by the title Aurangzeb, also called Aurangzeb the Conqueror, was the sixth Mughal emperors, Mughal emperor, reigning from 1658 until his death in 1707, becomi ...

* Qalandar Momand, Pashto scholar, poet, critic, short story writer, journalist, linguist, lexicographer and academic. * Mohammad Gul Khan Momand, Afghan Army Officer during the 1919 Anglo-Afghan War * Abdul Ahad Momand, the first Afghan and the fourth Muslim to reach outer space. * Rustam Shah Mohmand, former Chief Secretary of N.W.F.P, Diplomat, commissioner for

Afghan Refugees Afghan refugees are citizens of Afghanistan who were forced to flee from their country as a result the continuous wars that the country has suffered since the Afghan-Soviet war, the Afghan civil war, the Afghanistan war (2001–2021) or either p ...

and

ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...

* Jamshaid Khan Mohmand, Member of Provincial Assembly of

* Imran Khan Mohmand, former ANP and later independent candidate in the Provincial Assembly of

, martyred in a suicide blast in Shergarh * Zain Khan Sirhindi (Mohmand), made Governor (Subahdar) of Sirhind province, India by

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 ...

(Abdali). * Haji Sahab Turangzai (Fazal Wahid 1842-1937), Led resistance against British colonial rule, established over 120 schools, and promoted social reforms in the Pashtun tribal areas

References

External links

* {{authority control Pashto-language surnames Sarbani Pashtun tribes Tribes of Afghanistan Tribes of Pakistan Ethnic groups in Nangarhar Province Ethnic groups in Kabul Province Ethnic groups in Ghazni Province Ethnic groups in Logar Province