Theories of Pashtun origin

The Pashtun people are classified as an Iranian ethnic group. They are indigenous to southern Afghanistan and western Pakistan.^[1][2] 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.^[3] 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.^[4] The early ancestors of modern-day Pashtuns may have belonged to the old Iranian tribes that spread throughout the easternmost Iranian plateau.^[5][6]

Varying in their degree of credibility, the most prominent Pashtun ethnogenesis theories propose:

1. Descent from various different groups: Due to their existence as a tribal confederation many scholars believe that the Pashtun people have diverse origins rather than all sharing a common and singular origin.
2. Descent from the Vedic Aryan Pakhtas (or Pactyans, per Herodotus), who are referenced in contemporary sources in Sanskrit and Greek as having lived along the eastern frontier of the Achaemenid Empire;
3. Descent from the Saka, a group of nomadic Eastern Iranian peoples who historically inhabited the Eurasian Steppe and the Tarim Basin;
4. Descent from the Hephthalites, an Iranian nomadic confederation that inhabited Central Asia during late antiquity;^[2][7]
5. Descent from Rajputs, a group of militant clans in South Asia.^[8][9][10] According to Henry Walter Bellew, Pasthun and Rajputs both had similar tribe names that changed over time.

Additionally, a popular theory of origin that has prevailed in Pashtun folklore since the time of the Mughal Empire asserts that the Pashtun people are descended from the Israelites, an ancient Semitic-speaking people who inhabited Canaan during the Iron Age, through the Ten Lost Tribes of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. However, the lack of historical evidence for this theory has complicated scholarly debate on whether or not the Ten Lost Tribes relocated to modern-day Afghanistan during the Assyrian captivity, which began after the Kingdom of Israel was destroyed and annexed by the Neo-Assyrian Empire.