Pashtun in the context of "Southern Pashto"

Khan (/xɑːn/, /kɑːn/, /kæn/) is a historic Turkic and Mongolic title originating among nomadic tribes in the Central and Eastern Eurasian Steppe to refer to a king. It first appears among the Rouran and then the Göktürks as a variant of khagan (sovereign, emperor) and implied a subordinate ruler. In the Seljük Empire, it was the highest noble title, ranking above malik (king) and emir (prince). In the Mongol Empire it signified the ruler of a horde (ulus), while the ruler of all the Mongols was the khagan or great khan. It is a title commonly used to signify the head of a Pashtun tribe or clan.

The title subsequently declined in importance. During the Safavid and Qajar dynasty it was the title of an army general high noble rank who was ruling a province, and in Mughal India it was a high noble rank restricted to courtiers. After the downfall of the Mughals it was used promiscuously and became a surname. Khan and its female forms occur in many personal names, generally without any nobiliary of political relevance, although it remains a common part of noble names as well.

Mohammadzai (Pashto: محمدزی), also spelled Moḥammadzay (meaning "descendants of Mohammad"), is a Pashtun sub-tribe or clan of the Barakzai which is part of the Durrani confederacy of tribes. They are primarily centered on Kandahar, Kabul and Ghazni in Afghanistan as well as in the city of Charsadda in neighbouring Pakistan. The Mohammadzai ruled Afghanistan from 1823 to 1978, for a total of 155 years. Their rule ended under Daoud Khan when the Communists took power via a Soviet-backed coup.

Mohammad Yaqub Khan (1849 – 15 November 1923) was Emir of Afghanistan from February 21 to October 12, 1879. He was a Pashtun and the son of the previous ruler, Sher Ali Khan.

Mohammad Yaqub Khan was appointed as the governor of Herat province in 1863. In 1870, he decided to rebel against his father but failed and was imprisoned in 1874.

The Firozkohi (Pashto: فیروزکوهي) are a sub-tribe of the Chahar Aimaq ethnic group in Afghanistan, one of the four major Aimaq tribes, which also include the Jamshidi, Taymani, and Taimuri. The Firozkohi speak the Aimaq dialect of Dari Persian and Pashto. They claim Achakzai Pashtun descent. They are named after Firozkoh, the medieval capital of the Ghurid dynasty.

The Firozkohi are semi-nomadic and inhabit the valleys of the Murghab River, largely in Badghis Province.

Sikhism in Afghanistan in the contemporary era is limited to small populations, primarily in major cities, with the largest numbers of Afghan Sikhs living in Jalalabad, Ghazni, Kabul, and to a lesser extent in Kandahar and Khost. Sikhs have been the most prevalent non-Muslim minority in Afghanistan, and despite the many political changes in recent Afghan history, governments and political groups have generally not indulged in openly discriminating against the Sikh minority; however, their status have been severely impacted amid the country's conflict since 1978.

The origin of the Sikh community in Afghanistan has broadly two streams, including indigenous Pashto and Dari speakers, descendants of converts to the teaching of the Sikhism’s founder Guru Nanak during his trip to Kabul around 1520. The second stream derive from the later Sikh Empire as it pushed westward, establishing trading routes for Sikh merchants into Kandahar and Kabul; this group speak Hindko, a dialect of Punjabi. Due to this mixed ancestry, Afghan Sikhs are from various ethnolinguistic backgrounds including Pashtun, Hindkowan or Punjabi.

Mansehra District (Urdu, Hindko: ضلع مانسہرہ) is a district in the Hazara Division, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, northern Pakistan. The city of Mansehra serves as the headquarters of the district. The district has a Hindkowan majority, with a small Pashtun and Kohistani population.

Mansehra was established as an independent district in 1976. It was previously a tehsil within the broader Hazara District. In 1993, a former subdivision of Mansehra, Battagram, was separated as an independent district. Similarly, in 2011, another subdivision of Mansehra, Kala Dhaka, was separated which is now known as Torghar District.