Why do the Pashtuns (who form a significant amount of the Pakistani population and are the largest group in Afghanistan) have such an extreme amount of self hate regarding what they are?
Historically, they are tied to South-Central Asia. Genetically, they're CLOSELY linked with other South Asian populations such as the Punjabi Jatts, Kashmiris, and Sindhi's. Geographically, most of them live in Pakistan. after that Afghanistan. Last time I checked Pakistan was South Asia, and Afghanistan lies both in South Asia and Central Asia.
Pashtuns are clear cut South Asian people by genetics. They cluster with other Northwest South Asians. I was reading some comments on this forum, and once again I noted that there are Pashtuns who live in some bubble regarding this fact.
They think that because they speak an Iranic language, they are somehow not related to their closest geographical and historical brothers; the Indic Pakistanis and Northwest Indians.
This menace needs to stop. A Turkic speaking Turk from Turkey is closer genetically to a Semitic speaking Syrian, an Iranic speaking Kurd or Persian, than to a Turkic speaking Central Asian, by genetics. A Turkic speaking Azerbaijani is genetically much and much closer related to a Persian speaking Iranian, or a Kartvelian speaking Georgian, than to a Turkic speaking Uyghur. By the same logic, an Iranic speaking Pashtun is closer to an Indo-Aryan speaking Sindhi, Kashmiri, Himachali, and even up to
including High Caste Hindu's from Central India, than to
any West Asian group. Linguistics =/= genotype, the same way all people know and acknowledge that phenotype =/= genotype.
Pashtuns don't just ''cluster'' somewhere loosely in South Asia, no they cluster firmly in South Asia genetically. Some South Asians just sound so self-haterish on the internet. For outsiders its very confusing and quite a hilarious scene. I assume the ''lightness'' factor plays a role as well considering what role it always has played in south asia. Would be the reason why Pashtuns (as they are so-called the lightest south asians, no?) find it so insulting to be compared to their darker but close genetic brothers, the Sindhi's, high caste Hindu Indians, Kashmiri's, etc.
The haplogroup R1a (Y-DNA) is found at a frequency of 51.02% among the Pashtun people. Paragroup Q-M242 (xMEH2, xM378) (of Haplogroup Q-M242 (Y-DNA)) was found at 16.3% in Pashtuns.[89] Haplogroup Q-M242 is also found at a frequency of 18% in Pashtuns in the Afghan capital of Kabul.[90]
According to a 2012 study:
"MDS and Barrier analysis have identified a significant affinity between Pashtun, Tajik, North Indian, and West Indian populations, creating an Afghan-Indian population structure that excludes the Hazaras, Uzbeks, and the South Indian Dravidian speakers. In addition, gene flow to Afghanistan from India marked by Indian lineages, L-M20, H-M69, and R2a-M124, also seems to mostly involve Pashtuns and Tajiks. This genetic affinity and gene flow suggests interactions that could have existed since at least the establishment of the region's first civilizations at the Indus Valley and the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex."
source: Haber M, Platt DE, Ashrafian Bonab M, Youhanna SC, Soria-Hernanz DF et al. (2012). "Afghanistan's Ethnic Groups Share a Y-Chromosomal Heritage Structured by Historical Events". PLoS ONE 7 (3): e34288. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0034288. PMC 3314501. PMID 22470552.
World plots/PCA's.
As compared to West Asia/European/Eurasia plots
Sure they're not the same as other South Asians etc in all aspects, but genetically, geographically and to a certain good extent phenotypically, they are firmly South Asian. Culturally however they received influence from wider regions.
Pashtuns, like all other South Asian populations are very far from West Asians genetically, and even more further from Europeans. (Tbh, even hilarious to discuss all this)
A Pashtun is genetically closer to Indians all the way up to South India, than he is towards a West Asian Georgian.
A population hailing mostly from Pakistan (clear cut South Asia) and from Afghanistan (a nation in South Asia and Central Asia), that genetically cluster
and overlap with peoples such as Punjabi Jatts, Baloch, Sindhi's, and high caste Hindu Indians, are just South Asian.
"South Asian" doesn't equate Punjabi/Tamil/Sindhi etc. it's a wide diverse region. We're talking about genetics however. Genetically they overlap and cluster with other South Asians (or either Punjabi Jatts, Kashmiri, Himachali people are not South Asian anymore genetically?), geographically they are also mostly South Asian (worlds
largest amount of Pashtuns live in South Asian Pakistan), so they are South Asians. Of course their language and culture differs somewhat from other close clustering South Asians (Punjabi Jatts, Kashmiri's etc), but did/does it change their genetics remotely significantly? No.
Pashtuns, should embrace their closest genetic, historical, and cultural brothers, the Indic Pakistanis, and the Northwest Indians, and not be such self haters on the internet. It all doesn't change reality and neither does it bring anything to either peoples other than more chisms and hate in that already troubled region of the world.
Originally Posted by Truthbetold
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