Aimaq people in the context of "Aimaq dialect"

As of 2025, Afghanistan has an estimated population of around 49.5 million people. The country is characterized by a highly diverse, multi-ethnic, and multilingual society, reflecting its historical position at the crossroads of Central, South, and Western Asia, along ancient trade and invasion routes. The four major ethnic categories in the country are Pashtun, Tajik/Farsiwan, Hazara, and Uzbek. In addition, Afghanistan has a plethora of minor ethnic categories, including Turkmen, Baloch, Aimaq, Nuristani, Arab and many others. Together they make up the contemporary Afghan people.

Approximately 43% of the population was under the age of 15, and about 74% of Afghans lived in rural areas as of 2016. The country has one of the highest fertility rates in the world outside of Africa, with the average woman giving birth to five children over her lifetime. Around 6.8% of infants die during childbirth or early infancy. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the nation's average life expectancy was estimated at about 63 years as of 2019. The prevalence of HIV remains very low, affecting only about 0.04% of the population.

Afghanistan is a multiethnic country, with its population comprising a variety of social, linguistic, cultural, and tribal communities. The formal categorization of ethnicity in Afghanistan is a relatively recent development, emerging primarily in the 20th century and gaining political significance during the conflicts that began in the 1970s.

Major ethnic categories traditionally identified in Afghanistan include Pashtuns, Tajiks, Hazaras, and Uzbeks. Minor categories include Aimaqs, Turkmens, Balochs, Nuristanis, and Arabs, among others. However, the boundaries between these communities are fluid, with language, self-identification, urban or rural residence, and regional affiliations intersecting in complex ways.

The Aimaq Hazara (Hazara-ye Qala-ye Naw); (Dari: ایماق هزاره, romanized: Aimāq Həzārə) are the Hazara component of the Aimaq confederation. They are mostly Sunni Muslims while other Hazaras are mostly Shia Muslims. Some Aimaq Hazaras are semi-nomadic and live in yurts covered with felt.

The Taymani (Persian: تیمنی) are an Aimaq people in Ghor Province in central Afghanistan. They speak the Aimaq dialect of Persian, but some southern groups of Taymanis speak the Pashto language. The Taymani people claim descent Kakar Pashtuns.

The Timuri or Taimuri (Persian: تیموری) are a sub-tribe of the Aimaq people of Afghanistan and Iran, which also include Jamshidi, Aimaq Hazara, Firozkohi, and Taymani. The Timuri originated in western Badghis Province. They mostly speak the Persian dialects.

The Timuri were once the largest and most powerful of the Aimaqs. They are believed to be descendants of Timur. Nowadays, they live in Afghanistan and Iran. In Iran, they live in the former Khorasan Province and around Mashhad. In Afghanistan, their traditional nomadic homeland is Badghis Province, while others are settled in oases near Herat and Shindand in western Afghanistan and near Ghazni in central Afghanistan. There is also a small group of Pashtunised pastoralist Timuri in Baghlan Province in northeastern Afghanistan.

The First Herat War (Persian: جنگ اول هرات, romanized: Jang-e Avval-e Herāt, 1837–1838) was an attack on the Principality of Herat by Qajar Iran during the Great Game. Herat was held by Kamran Shah and his vizier Yar Mohammad Khan Alakozai. The Shah of Persia was Mohammed Shah Qajar. Four Europeans were involved: the British, Sir John McNeill and Eldred Pottinger as well as the Russians, Count Simonich and Jan Prosper Witkiewicz. Sher Mohammad Khan Hazara, an ally of Kamran and chieftain of the Qala-e Naw Hazaras, helped form a Sunni confederacy of Aimaq, Turkmen, and Uzbek tribes and played a crucial role in defending Herat when the city was besieged. The siege ended when neither side gained a clear advantage, the British threatened to take military action and the Russians withdrew their support.