Friday, November 9, 2018

Kabul Province Ethnic Information


Kabul Province is surrounded by Pashtun areas from South-West, East and South, while North East connects it to Tajik territory. Kabul City and the districts north of it are dominated by farsi speakers, while the rest of the districts are dominated by Pashtuns. Furthermore, Kabul province is congruous with high population density pashtun provinces, wherefrom constant immigration of people from rural areas to metropolis of Kabul takes place. A report dated March 2009 by the Cooperation for Peace and Unity (CPAU), an Afghan not-for profit research think-tank, states that "Kabul city is ethnically varied, with large populations of all major ethnic groups in Afghanistan. The broader province however is dominated by Pashtun and Tajik groups. Kabul province’s population, excluding Kabul city, is around 500,000 people, with the majority (some 70% speaking Pashto has their first language, and 30% speaking Dari). The majority of the Dari speakers live in the Shomali plain". (http://cpau.org.af/manimages/publications/Kabul_Conflict_Analysis_Mar09_Final.pdf)

While according to Mrrd (https://web.archive.org/web/20110727100218/http://www.mrrd-nabdp.org/Provincial%20Profiles/Kabul%20PDP%20Provincial%20profile.pdf), Around 19% of the population of Kabul lives in rural districts while 81% lives in urban areas. Around 51% of the population is male and 49% is female. Pashtu is spoken by around sixty percent of the population and Dari is spoken by around forty percent. A small number of people located in 5 villages speaks Pashaie.

A 2007 provincial overview of Kabul by the US Naval Postgraduate School (NPS), Program for Culture & Conflict Studies states that Kabul province is comprised of various ethnic groups including Tajik, Hazara, Pashtun, Kuchi, Tatar, Hindus, Sikhs and Qizilbash. The report provides the following information on the location of the various ethnic groups within Kabul province:  Tajiks are located throughout most of the province.·  Pashtuns are located throughout the districts of Kabul province.·  Hazara are located in pockets throughout Kabul province.· Kuchi in Kabul are located primarily in the north-west.  The Qizilbash are located in the capital and the surrounding districts.·  Tartar are located in the north-west portion of Kabul province.·  A small number of Hindus are located in the districts surrounding the capital.

Some of the other useful links are reproduced below:

Based on the above, following maps and data is included for visual reference, however, it may be noted that Dari speaking Pashtuns are included with Tajiks, while Kuchi data has not been considered:





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