The Persian name "Afghan" referred specifically to this group long before the word became a geographic designation, With eight million members, these people form the largest ethnic group In multiethnic Afghanistan, where more than 45 languages are spoken. Pakistan is home to more than ten million Pashtun.

Pashtu, an eastern Iranian tongue incorporating numerous words from Persian and Arabic, forms one of Afghanistan's two national languages. (The other is Dari.) Written in a type of Arabic alphabet since the early 1500s, this language has inspired many poets and writers, including Ahmad Shah Durrani, 18th-century founder of the Afghan nation.

Pashtun lands have witnessed tides of invasion by Persians, Alexander the Great, Turks, Mongols, British, and most recently Russians, who invaded Afghanistan in 1979. But the Pashtun have always resisted external control and gained fame as fierce fighters.

The Pashtun make up some 60 tribes, all with separate territories. Together they form the largest tribal society in the world. Central to their lives as farmers, herders, traders, and warriors is the pakhtunwalimale, the Pashtun code of conduct embodying core values of pride, honor, and hospitality. The code's strict rules concern tribal property, succession, the right to speak in gatherings—even how to handle slights.

Most of the men carry guns, and blood feuds frequently erupt over land, water, injury, and women. Tribal ways do erode, though, as electricity, roads, schools, and government officials steadily encroach.