Pashto (also called Pushtu, Pakhto, or Afghan), is spoken by 25 to 30 million people by the Pashtoon in Afghanistan and northern-western and western Pakistan and is divided into plenty of dialects, of which southern, western and northern groups are the widest. Its dialects fall into two main divisions: the southern, which preserves the ancient sh (as in "Pashto"), and the northern and eastern, which has kh (as in "Pakhto") sound. Written in a modified Arabic alphabet, Pashto shows strong Sansicrit influence, some Arabic and Persian loanwords, and numerous archaic Sinsicrit features. It is written in the Perso-Arabic script, but the alphabet contains a number of letters not to be found in either Persian or Arabic. The term "Pashto" actually refers to the more important of the two dialects- the so-called soft dialect of Afghanistan which preserves the ancient sh and zh sounds. For those parts of Pakistan where the "hard" kh and gh prevail, the language is generally referred to as Pakhto.

Pashto grammar shows wide usage of inflections, which can be either suffixed or interfixed (suffix inside the word), in verb conjugation and nominal declension. The verb has the branched system of aspect category. The ergative construction with object declination is of great importance in the language.

Pashto literature exists from the 7th century, the first Pashto poem that has been documented was written in the 7th century by Amir Karoor (Le Ma Atal Nashta). The national poet of Afghanistan, Khushhal Khan (1613-94), chief to the Khatak clan, wrote spontaneous and forceful poetry of great charm. His grandson Afdal Khan was the author of a history of the Pashtoon. Popular mystical poets were 'Abd ar-Rahman and 'Abd al-Hamid, in the late 17th or early 18th century, and Ahmad Shah Durrani, founder of the modern Afghan nation, was himself a poet.

Pashto is developing in Afghanistan/NWFP Pakistan. Earlier Pashto was not used in official documents and in social and political life, but nowadays the sphere of its use is widened all the time. Active efforts are made to normalize the language and to create the single norm of literature tongue.

Many individuals have taken open themselves to seek that it maintains a long healthy influence on the people of Afghanistan and Pakhtunkhwa NWFP Pakistan.

Pashto History on the Net :History 1: :History 2: :History 3: :History 4: :History 5:

Note: The information on most of the history links is old, which also demonstrates a good example of how the Pashto and the Pashtoon community has been misrepresented in this age.