Pashtun people in the context of "Pashtun tribes"

Barakzai is the name of a Pashtun tribe from present-day Kandahar, Afghanistan. "Barakzai" is a common name among the Pashtuns, and it means 'son of Barak' in Pashto. According to the Encyclopædia Iranica, "In the detailed Pashtun genealogies there are no fewer than seven instances of the ethnic name Bārakzī, at very different levels of tribal segmentation. Six of them designate simple lineages within six different tribes located in the Solaymān mountains or adjacent lands... The seventh instance, on the other hand, designates one of the most important Pashtun tribes in numbers and historic role, part of the Zīrak branch of the Dorrānay confederation.

Zaman Shah Durrani, or Zaman Shah Abdali (Pashto: زمان شاه دراني; Persian: زمان شاہ درانی, 1767 – 1845) was the third King of the Durrani Empire from 1793 until 1801. An ethnic Pashtun of the Sadozai clan, Zaman Shah was the grandson of Ahmad Shah Durrani and the fifth son of Timur Shah Durrani.

Azimabad (Hindi: अज़ीमाबाद, Urdu: عظیم آباد) was the name of modern-day Patna during the eighteenth century, prior to the British Raj. Today, Patna is the capital of Bihar, a state in North India. In ancient times, Patna was known as Pataliputra. This was the capital of the Maurya and Gupta Empires.

Medieval India marked Pataliputra's invasion of Muslim Pashtun Bakhtiyar Khilji and other Muslim rulers. This event is arguably seen by modern historians and scholars as a milestone in the decline of Buddhism in India. Long before Pataliputra was conquered, however, most of the ancient city was abandoned in the seventh century of the Common Era but revived more than 800 years later during the rule of Pashtun emperor Sher Shah Suri as Patna.Sher Shah Suri had moved his capital from Bihar Sharif to Pataliputra. Not long after Sher Shah Suri's death in 1545, Patna and Bihar fell to the Mughals. The name Pataliputra continued to be used, however.

Mohammad Afzal Khan Barakzai (1815 – 7 October 1867) was the governor of Afghan Turkestan from 1849 to 1863 and was Emir of Afghanistan from May 1866 to October 1867. The oldest son of Dost Mohammad Khan, Afzal Khan was born in Kabul in 1815. His father died on 9 June 1863 followed by a civil war among Dost Mohammad Khan's sons. In May 1866 he seized power from his brother Sher Ali Khan and captured Kabul. A year later he contracted cholera and died on 7 October 1867. Following Afzal Khan's death, Mohammad Azam Khan was proclaimed Amir of Afghanistan. He was an ethnic Pashtun and belonged to the Barakzai tribe.

Mohammad Afzal Khan's third son Abdur Rahman Khan was Emir from 1880 to 1901. Afzal Khan was also responsible for the creation of Takhtapul.

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 Wazirs or Waziris (Pashto: وزير) are a Karlani Pashtun tribe found mainly in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region. The Utmanzai Wazir are settled in North Waziristan and Wazir Tehsil in Bannu, while the Ahmadzai Wazir and Mahsud Wazir are in South Waziristan, and in Domel, Bannu. Those subgroups are in turn divided further into, for example, Utmanzai tribes such as the Baka Khel and Jani Khel.

The Wazirs speak the Waziristani dialect of Pashto, which is similar to the neighboring Banuchi and Dawari dialect but remains distinct.

The Bettani (Pashto: بېټني), also spelled Batani, Baittani or Bhittani, is a Pashtun confederacy located mostly in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Bettani are named after Shaykh Beṭ, their legendary ancestor, who is said to be the third and last son of Qais Abdur Rashid (575 – 661).

The Bettanis are Sunni Muslims of the Hanafi school. The Bettani confederacy includes the tribes of Bettanis, and the Matti tribes, which are the progeny of BiBi Mattu, the daughter of Sheikh Bettan. These include the Lodi, who are also known as Lohani, as well as the tribes of Marwat,Tanoli and Niazi. The Shirani tribe has also been referenced as a component of the Bettani confederacy.

Khel (Pashto: خېل) are sub-tribes of Pashtun tribes in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The title of the tribe ends in Zai and its sub-tribe name ends in Khel. Khel is also a common final element in the names of villages in Afghanistan and in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa of Pakistan, such as Darra Adam Khel.

Some of the clans of Pashtun tribes: