Theories of Pashtun origin

The Pashtun people are classified as an Iranian ethnic group. They are indigenous to southern Afghanistan and western Pakistan. Although a number of theories attempting to explain their ethnogenesis have been put forward, the exact origin of the Pashtun tribes is acknowledged as being obscure. Modern scholars have suggested that a common and singular origin is highly unlikely due to the Pashtuns' historical existence as a tribal confederation, and there is, in fact, no evidence attesting such an origin for the ethnicity. The early ancestors of modern-day Pashtuns may have belonged to the old Iranian tribes that spread throughout the easternmost Iranian plateau.