Church of God Message 

Call Us:  8133745451

RACIAL ORIGINS OF PEOPLE IN THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT AND AFGHANISTAN


CHAPTER 5

ETHNIC ORIGINS OF PATHANS/PASHTUNS


MIGRATIONS INTO AFGHANISTAN, PAKISTAN, NORTH INDIA

The earliest settlers of India were the descendants of Cush and Phut. They came from Babylon in modern Iraq by the overland route that passes through Iran and Afghanistan. They were pushed out of the area around Babylon by the brutal Assyrians, who apparently also called themselves Deutsch at that time. The Assyrian brutality has given words to the north Indian languages derived from the word Deutsch such as Dushman [from Deutschmen] which means deadly enemy; Dushmani which means very long-lasting enmity; Dosh which means accuse (also used in the sense of falsely accuse, which the Germans excel in); Doshi which means guilty; Dusht which means the meanest individual who wants to take away even what you need for your barest survival; Daint (or Daitya) which means demonic individual. All these words have come into the vocabulary of north Indian languages because some time ago their ancestors fought with the Assyrians and were sometimes subject to them. These are the words that fitly described the Assyrians based on their dealings with ancestors of the Indians and other subject peoples.

Since Indians, known as Kassites [derived from Cushites, and its derivative name Kshatriya – meaning of the warrior caste] passed through Iran [descendants of Elam], they had interactions and conflicts with Iranians. Some of the Igehalkids dynasty that ruled from 1400 – 1210 BC married Kassite princesses. That explains why some Iranians are darker in color and look like North Indians.

As the Kassites were being pushed east, and as God led them through their migrations to the land allotted to them in God’s colonization plan given to Noah, there were conflicts with the Elamites [or Persians], as well as the Assyrians. Kassites invaded Iran and the Kassite King Kurigalzu II temporarily occupied Elam around 1320 BC. Before that, the Bible mentions Chushan-Rishathaim in Judges 3:8-10 who was king of Mesopotamia. This then was an Indian who had won a war with the Assyrians and briefly ruled over them in Mesopotamia as well as Elam around 1349 BCE.

The upshot of this information is that the Persians and North Indians came into conflict often about control of territory that is now Afghanistan. That’s why a mountain range in Afghanistan is named Hindu Kush, because Indians lived and ruled there. All of Afghanistan was Indian territory at one time till about 1200 BCE, or perhaps 1000 BCE.

Later, two prominent Indian kingdoms were located in what is now Afghanistan: The Gandhara and Kamboja kingdoms. Many Kambojas now live in India.

North of the Indian kingdoms some other people also migrated, descended from the patriarch Abraham through his sons by his wife Keturah. The Bible mentions the sons of Keturah in 1 Chronicles 1:32-33, “32 Now the sons of Keturah, Abraham's concubine: she bare Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah. And the sons of Jokshan; Sheba, and Dedan. 33 And the sons of Midian; Ephah, and Epher, and Henoch, and Abida, and Eldaah. All these are the sons of Keturah.”

Abraham gave gifts to all of them and sent them east from the holy land to separate them from his son Isaac through his wife Sarah. 

Turks are the descendants of Esau or Edom the grandson of Abraham and son of Isaac and brother of Jacob, the father of the Israelite tribes. Besides Turkey, and later some parts of Europe, some of them migrated towards the east and have given their name to Turkmenistan. The Amu Darya takes its name from Amalek, a grandson of Esau. These people also settled north of the Indian kingdoms, meaning north of Afghanistan. They would have come into conflict with descendants of Japheth who were settling in what is now China and Central and Eastern Russia and racially mixed with them.

Later, coming into conflict and mixing with the people of Persian, Indian, Turkic and Abrahamic origin through his wife Keturah were the descendants of the ten tribes of Israel and the tribe of Judah or the Jews after their captivity and deportation from their lands. After the dissolution of the Assyrian Empire at the hands of the Babylonians and Medes in 612 BCE, the captive Israelites and the Jews among them gained their independence and wandered in the vast steppes of Eurasia. In history they have been known by various names such as the Scythians, Sakas, Sacas, Parthians, Hephthalite Huns and Yueh Chih by the Chinese. 

Jews (from the tribe of Judah mainly with some from the tribes of Levi and Benjamin) came to North India in two waves and their modern descendants can be easily identified. Besides taking the northern ten tribes captive and removing them from their land, ten years later the Assyrian king Sennacherib also took many Jews captive and put them all together. After the Assyrian Empire was uprooted from Mesopotamia (land between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers) these captives received their freedom and wandered the steppes of Eurasia. The descendants of the Jews among them intermarried with Indians and are known today as Jats (a Hindi word) who are Hindus or Jutts (a Punjabi word, variation of Jat) who are Sikhs. About 50% of the Jats live in Pakistan and had converted to Islam. About 35% living in India converted to Sikhism and are known as Jutts while about 15% of their descendants converted to Hinduism and are known as Jats.

About 135 years after the Assyrian captivity of the northern ten tribes, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon took the remaining Jews in the southern kingdom of Judah captive, removed them from their land and settled them in the provinces of Babylon. Later, the Persians/Medes defeated the Babylonians and absorbed the entire Babylonian empire into the Persian Empire. Cyrus the Great of Persia made a decree to allow the Jews in his kingdom to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple and restore the Jewish worship system. But only about 15% of the Jews went back. The descendants of these Jews are known as Jews around the world today because they have maintained their identity by keeping the Sabbath day (from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset) holy as day of worship. The vast majority of the remaining Jews did not return to Jerusalem or Israel. Many of their descendants had settled in Iran and North India. In North India today they are known as Saini, Sahni, Soni and Sawhney (Saini being the generic name), though many now use their different gotras or subcastes as their last names. It seems none of the Sainis converted to Islam. Today, about half of them are Hindus and half of them are Sikhs. All my father’s side are Sikhs and all on my mother’s side are Hindus.

The fact that the Assyrians placed the descendants of the northern ten tribes and the Jews they took captive together means that we should expect to find the Jats living among the modern descendants of the ten tribes. This means that most of the Punjabi Kshatriyas living in North India are descendants of the ten tribes of Israel mixed with the North Indian Kshatriyas through intermarriages. The Jats live among them. The Israelite tribes (the Scythians, Sakas, Sacas, Parthians, Hephthalite Huns and Yueh Chih) would have married among the Brahmins as well because these tribes were rulers as were the Kshatriyas and Brahmins. But the Iranians and Pathans who came more than 1,500 years after the Israelite tribes married among the Brahmins, called themselves Brahmins and subsumed all the Brahmins among them. Through the centuries, they have passed down through the generations the information that they are Pathans while other Indians simply know them as Brahmins, the highest caste in the Indian caste system. That’s how all Brahmins, all over India, know themselves to be Pathans.  

WHO ARE THE PASHTUNS

There are many competing theories about the racial and ethnic origins of the Pashtuns, which include a) East Iranian origin, b) descent from the ten tribes of Israel, c) descent from the Pakthas, an ancient people referenced in Sanskrit and Greek sources who inhabited what is today southeastern Afghanistan and northern Pakistan, and d) descent from the ancient Greeks and Rajputs.

Some Pashtun tribes claim descent from Arabs, others from Greeks who came with Alexander, or Greeks brought as slaves by the Persian Emperor Xerxes, while some claim descent from the Turks. It seems that whichever people passed through or ruled the land, some Pashtun tribes claim descent from those people. While a few may be descendants of such mixed races, the reason for such claim in some cases may simply be a desire to claim lofty descent from an ancient conqueror who conquered the land and ruled it.

The ten tribes of Israel in the region were known by different names such as Scythians, Saka, Saca, Parthians, Hephthalite Huns Yueh Chih by the Chinese who ruled Afghanistan and interacted with Afghans over a period of about 1,000 years. 

The Pakhtas were in charge of all elephants that were used in battle fields. That indicates an Indian origin. Clearly, Pashtuns in the Paktia province have Indian blood in them.

It should be clear that white people don’t become black or darker in color over the centuries due to the weather or vice versa. White people become darker due to racial mixing. Clearly, the Pashtuns are a mixed group.

There are about 60 major tribes and between 350-400 total tribes, subtribes and clans among the Pashtuns. Pashtuns are really a tribal confederation. That is why modern scholars correctly suggest that the Pashtuns do not have a singular origin. They are a highly mixed bunch.

DNA STUDIES

Mitochondrial DNA analysis of Pashtuns shows that a majority of them share a greater affinity with West Eurasian (covering Europe, southern Russia, Turkey Lebanon and Israel) and Central Asian (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) populations rather than to populations of South Asia or East Asia.

A 2019 study on autosomal STR profiles of the populations of South and North Afghanistan showed that Afghans have a genetic affinity with countries of the near east (countries of the Arabian Peninsula, Cyprus, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestinian territories, Syria, and Turkey). 

The DNA studies thus suggest that a majority of Pashtuns have a Middle Eastern, or more specifically, an East Iranian origin mixed with Turks.

ARE PASHTUNS ISRAELITES

Now let’s examine the claims that the Pashtuns are the descendants of the lost ten tribes of Israel. Those scholars who agree with this view assume that the ten tribes came to Afghanistan and completely mingled with the local population through intermarriages and were subsumed in the Afghan population. Therefore, they are no longer recognizable as the ten tribes of Israel anywhere else.

That view is totally incorrect. The scholars who surmise that the ten tribes completely mixed with other people simply don’t understand that only a small portion in the population of the Sakas, Scythians, Parthians and Hephthalite (or Ephthalite or Naphthalites from the tribe of Naphtali the son of Jacob) Huns mixed with the local populations. Vast majority did not mix with other races and remained racially white and later due to climate change and conflict with people in the east migrated to the British Isles and Northwest European countries of France, Switzerland, Ireland, Scandinavian and Benelux countries, and later to America and British Commonwealth nations. Therefore, the number of the ten tribes of Israel left among the Afghans was small.

God had prophesied that after removal from their ancient land of Israel, He would sift the House of Israel (the ten tribes) through the nations, but not a single grain would fall (Amos 9:9, “9 For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.”

After sifting the House of Israel among many nations, He finally brought them to the British Isles, Europe and later to America and other British Commonwealth nations. (For proof, you may read United Church of God booklet “The United States and Britain in Bible Prophecy” at https://www.ucg.org/.../the-united-states-and-britain-in...).

Previously I believed that some very small mixing of the ten tribes in the Afghan population is indicated by the name Yusufzai, meaning sons of Yusuf or Joseph. Because of this connection, and because of the understanding that the tribes of Israel roamed the lands that are Afghanistan today as well as the steppes of Eurasia for centuries, I tended to believe that the Pashtuns are Israelites mixed with local people, because we know the Jats and Sainis are Jews mixed with the local people in North India. But my further research has led to a change in opinion. Most likely, the name Yusufzai has come from the Arabic word for Joseph which is Yusuf which was just the Muslim name of the Arab or Iranian ancestor of the tribe. Muslims use the name Yusuf for Joseph as Joseph is considered a prophet in the Quran.

As already mentioned, the Jews who mixed with North Indians are easily identifiable as the Jats (a word derived from Judah) and Sainis (which in Punjabi means a person from Sion – another name for Jerusalem). Since the Jats are descended from the Jews who were carried as captives by the Assyrians and were placed among the ten tribes, this shows that other North Indians (Punjabis) and Pakistanis except the Pashtuns are descendants of the ten tribes mixed with the local Indian population. Just as Pashtuns know that their origins are from Iran, the Baluchis also know they are of Iranian origin. This was discovered by my sources of information through electronic surveillance. 

The Jews are easily identifiable among North Indian Punjabis by their names though they did not know they were Jews. But the Jews who had settled in Afghanistan and were recognized as Jews, descended from the Jews who went back to Jerusalem and Israel after King Cyrus’s edict, but were then displaced from the land of Israel by the Romans. The Jews who did not go back to Jerusalem after Cyrus’s edict, and the Jews who were held captive with the ten tribes are not recognizable anywhere in Afghanistan, as are the Jats and Sainis in India.

In my opinion, what really took place is that while all of Afghanistan was Indian territory till around 1,200 BCE or even up to 1000 BCE, as populations expanded, East Iranians began encroaching on their territory through warfare. They became known as the Pashtuns because of their language Pashto, which is of East Iranian origin. 

Thus, the language, DNA studies, and various invasions from East Iran indicate a primarily East-Iranian origin for the Pashtuns. But some mixture with the Pakhtas, Gandharas and Kambojas had occurred. Later, to these people, the ten tribes of Israel were added as they established their rule in parts of Afghanistan and not through marriages with the local tribes, particularly after 612 BCE destruction of the Assyrian Empire. Till about 1000 A.D. Indians held on to part of Afghanistan in their Gandhara kingdom (Kandahar takes its name from that Kingdom), whereas the Kamboja kingdom lasted till about 100 BCE, before they migrated to other parts of India. Those who claim that the Pashtuns are descendants primarily of the ten tribes of Israel state that it is an irony that the vast majority of Pashtuns themselves reject their origin from the Jews or the ten tribes of Israel. I believe it is not an irony. The Pashtuns are right in this belief. They are primarily of East Iranian origin. 

TRAITS OF ISRAELITES AND PASHTUNS

After their defeat and captivity at the hands of the Assyrians, the ten tribes of Israel roamed the steppes of Eurasia which suited their cattle grazing and agricultural economy. But other people already lived in those territories. Though there were enough land and resources for the populations at that time, conflict invariably develops between different people. Some Israelite tribes moved into area known as Afghanistan. But because of better agricultural land, Israelites moved further east and south into the fertile plains of Punjab. That’s why we find the Jats, Sainis and descendants of the other tribes of Israel in the Greater Punjab area (consisting of Punjab states in Pakistan and India, and the states of Kashmir, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand). That is another reason I believe most of the Israelites and Jews moved on into India and mixed with the local population there, though they came via Afghanistan.

There are two broad ways of life. One is working hard with your own two hands to make a living. The other is the way of conquest and enslaving other people, plundering their wealth, or putting them to tribute and ruling over them. The Amalekites, descendants of Esau who gave their name to the Amu Darya, epitomized that way of life. In the Bible, other traits of the Amalekites include attacking and killing the vulnerable (Deuteronomy 25:17-19), and treachery. Pashtuns seem to have picked up those traits from the Amalekites. Even the Elamites, ancestors of Iranians had the trait of conquering people and imposing tribute on them in the days of Abraham soon after the Flood as mentioned in Genesis 14:1-4:

“1 And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations; 2 That these made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, which is Zoar…4 Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled.”

Here, Chedorlaomer, the king of Elam [Elam settled in Persia/Iran] had conquered the five kings of the Canaanites and put them to tribute. When the Canaanite kings did not bring tribute in the 13th year, they were attacked by Chedorlaomer and his Assyrian allies and looted. Abraham’s nephew Lot and his family were taken captive to be enslaved. Abraham then mounted a rescue mission in which he slew the three kings of the Assyrians and Chedorlaomer the king of Elam.

Over the centuries, Iranians and Afghans have invaded India to loot, plunder, enslave and rule over the Indians. Because of their clearly demonstrated traits, I believe that there are no Israelites mixed among the Afghans. Those who married local women moved on into Punjab because of the fertility of the soil because they believe in making a living with their own two hands through hard work. Those who did not mix with the local populations migrated to the British Isles and Northwest Europe.  

The Israelites and the Jews (“Jats” or “Jutts”) have had a pioneering spirit in working the land for agriculture. They settled wherever they could find land, which no one else was putting to use for agriculture. That’s why they ended up in Punjab. In my own lifetime, during the 1950s and early 1960s, there was some ‘common land’ available for agriculture even in Punjab. That is true of the British and what they did in South Africa, Zimbabwe and other British colonies. In fact, their agricultural practices increased grain production such that it made explosive growth in population possible in former colonies which previously used to experience famines regularly and did not grow much in population.

Ultimately, for any nation to work with other nations, it should make no difference whether you are Israelite, or Jewish or not. What matters is how you deal with them and your history of dealing with them. Here are some examples.

As mentioned earlier, God had prophesied that after removal from their ancient land of Israel, He would sift the House of Israel (the ten tribes) through the nations, but not a single grain would fall (Amos 9:9).  

But the lost ten tribes became ‘lost’ because they lost their identity. God had told the Israelites that the Sabbath would be a sign between Him and His people. The Jews are recognized as Jews and “God’s people” because they keep the Sabbath. The ten tribes lost their identity because they gave up keeping the Sabbath when they separated from the nation of Israel after the death of Solomon.

The Jews who went back to Jerusalem and the land of Israel after King Cyrus’s edict to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem, had it drummed into them by the prophets (Jeremiah 17:27) and Nehemiah (Nehemiah 13:17-18) that one of the main reasons for them going into captivity was not keeping the Sabbath holy. After that, though they were again scattered among the nations after Romans removed them from their land, they kept the Sabbath in some form wherever they went. That’s why they have never lost their identity. They also taught their children about their identity through the generations. 

In contrast, the Jews who did not go back to Jerusalem after Cyrus’s edict, lost their identity as Jews, though some have only recently been recognized as Jews through other signs such as the Jats and Sainis in India. But they had lost their identity because they did not teach their children and future generations about their Jewish identity.

My last name is Saini. The very first message delivered to me by God’s angel in 1994 was that Sainis are Jews. Then four years later, God confirmed to Queen Elizabeth II of England that I was also a descendant of King David who was a Jew. Thus, God confirmed the identity of Sainis as Jews. I have described such messages delivered to me by God’s angels in my eBook “God’s Messages Delivered Through Angels” which is available free to read or download at my religion website www.churchofgodmessage.com.

Another example is the Germans who have not lost their identity because they have taught their children and future generations about their identity. The reason they have taught their children their identity is that Satan has deluded them into believing from the days of their ancestor Asshur, the grandson of Noah, that they are a special creation, that they are divine beings in human flesh. They believe that they only have the divine spark in them and only they have an eternal future whereas the rest of humanity is animal life created to serve them, and that’s why they must bring other people into subjection. That leads them to deal with other nations and human beings in ways to take advantage of them and use them to serve themselves. I have described their beliefs and the ways in which they deal with other nations and people in detail in my free eBook “Crazy, Delusional German Beliefs.” They make sure to pass on this information and their behavioral traits such as brutality and sexual promiscuity to their children and future generations so that they can continue to use other people for their own benefits. That’s why they have not lost their identity. Even when some intermarry with other people, they still diligently pass on the information concerning their identity, their belief that they are a special creation with the divine spark in them to their children, and how they should deal with other people.

That’s why in the USA, when after World War II, Americans of German descent cast in their lot with the Germans from Germany and decided to take over the country for Germany and themselves, they were guided by Satan the devil and committed the most terrible atrocities imaginable such as cremating 5-6 million white Americans of non-German ancestry alive in electric crematoriums, medically murdering 3-4 million more, torturing the elderly in nursing homes by tying their hands to their chairs for long periods of time, with threats forcing many people to marry interracially, and more horrible atrocities that would turn anyone’s stomach so that they cannot be described here.

Bible prophecy provides another proof that German masqueraders (GM - people of German ancestry living in other white countries) in all nations are of German ancestry and not falsely claiming it. Revelation 3:9 states: “9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before your feet [the Philadelphia era of God’s Church], and to know that I have loved you.” 

These are German masqueraders (GM) in God’s Church who claimed they were Jews but were lying. That is true of many GM outside the Church in the USA who also claim Jewish ancestry but are lying. This was also confirmed through electronic surveillance. This shows that people of German ancestry in all nations have not forgotten their German ancestry and have passed on that information to their descendants through more than four millennia though they may outwardly claim ancestry of people they live among such as English ancestry in the U.K. and Russian ancestry in Russia.

Their goal has not changed. Their nature has not changed. They still obey Satan the devil and consider him to be a being equal to the Creator God of the Bible and that there are many deities more powerful than the God of the bible. So, what should be the judgment on them? The only appropriate judgment for them is to be exterminated, ‘man, woman and child,’ for all the crimes they have committed and continue to commit. This has been prophesied by God in Ezekiel 9:4-7.

The same has been true of Pathans in India. Even though they have intermarried heavily among Indians, they have diligently taught their children their identity as well as their traits, including cruelty and sexual promiscuity. They too believe they are born to rule over others.  

Here is what a Muslim author, Nur Mohammed, wrote in the mid 18th century about the character of Sikhs and the way they dealt with their adversaries in his “Jangnama” (“war epic”):

“In no case would they slay a coward, nor would they put an obstacle in the way of a fugitive. They do not plunder the wealth and ornaments of a woman, be she a well-to-do lady or a maidservant. There is no adultery among these dogs, nor are these mischievous people [the Muslim author calls them mischievous because they intercepted and confronted the Afghan/Muslim invaders when they came and looted their land, Punjab, and rescued the young girls and women they were carrying to their own lands to be used as sex slaves or servants and took back some of the looted wealth]...There is no thief at all among these dogs [he called them dogs because they as invaders ruled in Punjab], nor is there any house-breaker born among these miscreants. They do not make friends with adulterers and housebreakers, though their behavior on the whole is not commendable.” [Their behavior to this Muslim author is not commendable because they fought his Muslim masters, the invaders from Afghanistan.]  

The Muslim author writes about the chaste and upright character of the Sikhs because he observed them but was himself fully immersed in the unchaste vile sexual conduct of his own Afghan people and their ways of living by plundering the wealth of others rather than making a living through hard work. The chaste conduct is observable only among genuine Punjabi Sikhs and not among Pathan Sikhs. Pathan Sikhs are also promiscuous.    

Germans and Pathans have similar traits, acquired from their original patriarchs. Germans are descendants of Asshur and Pathans and Iranians are descendants of Elam. Elam and Asshur, the grandsons of Noah, were twins with Elam being the elder. 


Another prominent trait of Pathans and Germans is vulgar language, injecting the crudest, filthy words in normal conversation. 

People all over India are promoting the idea that Punjabis and Sikhs are known for filthy language. People who profess to worship God should not be known for such things and people of Israelite origins are not known for vulgar language. Only angry, violent people use such language. 

But it is a fact that vulgar language is used in Punjab, among the Sikhs and in America. Such reputation was disturbing to me until I saw certain demonstrations that made me realize the origins of such vulgar language. I had two personal experiences in India, one with a Pathan Sikh and another with a Rajput Sikh, both masquerading as Punjabi Sikhs. Without any provocation, rhyme or reason, they suddenly burst into vulgar language in normal pleasant conversation. One of them even started shouting it at the top of his voice. I was surprised. Then I realized that it is because of the influence of Pathan Sikhs (Muslims and Pathans ruled India for centuries) and Rajput Sikhs among us that we have acquired a reputation for vulgar language. Certainly, some genuine Punjabis must have learnt and copied the use of vulgar language from Pathan and Rajput Sikhs, but it is the Pathan and Rajput Sikhs who regularly use such language in conversation. They will probably continue to use vile language, and all Punjabis will still keep getting maligned. My advice is that genuine Punjabis should ban filthy language in their households and among themselves. It is not becoming a decent godly people to be known for such conduct.

 What I observed in Punjab, India, I have also witnessed in the USA. In the USA, German masqueraders have injected vulgar language among Americans of Israelite ancestry. Couple of times, I was having a normal conversation with some people when they, men and women, suddenly loudly burst into the vilest language one can imagine. Of course, some Americans of Israelite ancestry who lack self-control and are always in an angry mode must have picked up the trait of using vulgar language from German masqueraders whose conduct was influenced by Satan the devil in the past. Because of my preaching and writing the eBook "Crazy, Delusional German Beliefs", I hope German masqueraders in the USA have given up taking guidance from Satan and will stop influencing the use of vulgar language in the USA. I believe a similar phenomenon is operating among the Punjabis with the Pathans introducing vulgar language among us. However, unlike the Germans in the past, Pathans do not deal directly with Satan. But the bottom line is that genuine Punjabis should get rid of the use of vulgar language in their lives. It will require a great deal of effort with our leaders setting the example, but a God-fearing people like the genuine Punjabis whose ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Jacob of the Bible have known the true God of the Bible must and should be able to accomplish this task.

Even though the ten tribes of the northern kingdom of Israel lost their Israelite identity, they did not lose their broad traits of observing the sanctity of human life, chaste conduct in sexual matters, kindness and forgiveness. The same has been true of Jews by and large. The reason is that their scriptures, the bible, has been their schoolmaster (Galatians 3:24) that inculcated these traits in them. The Germans and Pathans also maintain their traits to this day.

AFGHANISTAN HISTORY

Here is a brief outline of Afghanistan history to show that Persia has had the most interaction with Afghanistan, particularly over the past 1,500 years, indicating that most of the Pashtuns are primarily of East Iranian origin. 

It is important to understand that the chronologies of various kingdoms and empires overlap as they did not rule all of Afghanistan but parts only.

Gandhara Kingdom – (1,500 BCE – 518 BCE) – An Indian kingdom, centered around the Peshawar and Swat valleys, but at times included Kabul and Bamiyan. 

Kamboja Kingdom – (1,200 BCE – 300 BCE) – An Indo-Iranian kingdom located northwest of the Gandhara Kingdom. After the disintegration of their empire, they were assimilated into the local population or migrated to India.

Achaemenid Empire (550 – 330 BCE), a Persian empire.

Greek Empire of Alexander and Seleucids (313 – 304 BCE).

Mauryan Empire (322 – 184 BCE) – An Indian Empire.

Greco-Bactrian Kingdom (250 – 130 BCE)

Indo-Greek Kingdom – (200 BCE – 10 CE)

Indo-Scythians - (150 BCE – 400 CE)

Indo-Parthians - (19 CE – 226 CE)

Kushan Empire – (30-375 CE) – The name Kushan is derived from Cush (or Kush), the ancestor of the dark Indians. From their origins in northwestern China, it is quite clear that these were descendants of Cush mixed with the Chinese (descendants of Magog), because their ancestor Cush and his son Nimrod were forcibly mixing the races. 

Sassanid Empire (224-651 CE) – An Iranian Empire.

Hunas, Huns or Hephthalite or White Huns – (Approx. 370 – 528 CE) – Only the White Huns were Israelites. The others were a Mongol-Turkic group.

Middle Ages (560 – 1,500 CE) – During this period and even extending to 1,750 CE, the eastern part of modern Afghanistan was considered a part of Indian empires, while western Afghanistan was included in Khorasan (northeastern part of Iran). 

Arab/Islamic Conquest – The Arabs conquered the Sassanian Empire in 642 CE and introduced Islam. But eastern Afghanistan remained independent.

Saffarid Dynasty – (861 – 1003 CE) – A Sunni Persian dynasty ruled western Afghanistan but also conquered the Hindu Shahi kingdoms of Kabul and Gandhara.

Ghazanavid Dynasty (977 – 1186 CE) – Persian Muslim dynasty of Turkic Mamluk origin. 

Ghorid Dynasty (1148 – 1215 CE) – A dynasty of Iranian origin.

Mongols and Turks (1221 – 1504 CE) – They fused the Persian and Turkic cultures. Though the rulers were Mongols and Turks, they were ruling over an already established population of Eastern Iranian origin. 

Safavid Rule (1504 CE) – Western Afghanistan reverted back to Persian rule, while Babur ruled eastern Afghanistan, after having established Mughal rule in North India.

From the 16th to the 17th centuries, Afghanistan was divided into three main areas. Western Afghanistan was ruled by the Iranian Shia Safavids, Eastern Afghanistan was ruled by the Sunni Mughals of North India whereas Northern Afghanistan was ruled by the Bukhara Khanate based in modern Uzbekistan.

Hotaki Dynasty (1713 – 1738 CE) – A Pashtun dynasty in Kandahar, Southern Afghanistan.

Nader Shah (1738-1747 CE) – Iranian ruler.

Durrani Empire (1747 – 1823 CE) – Pashtun ruler.

Barakzai Dynasty (1823 – 1973 CE) – Pashtun dynasty.

As this history shows, for about 1,000 years beginning in 1,500 BCE, the most important influence on Afghanistan has been Indian. Then Afghanistan came under Persian rule during the Medo-Persian Empire for about 220 years. After that Greeks held sway for about 300 years, though eastern parts were ruled by the Indian Maurya Empire. After that Israelite tribes ruled parts of Afghanistan for about 375 years. Then the Indian origin Kushan empire ruled for about 345 years, followed by Persian rule for nearly 430 years. Since about 860 CE, Persians ruled Afghanistan till about 1713 CE when Pashtuns finally established their rule over Afghanistan, but primarily in western Afghanistan. Eastern Afghanistan was ruled by India based rulers.

Since Pashtuns are concentrated in West, South and East of Afghanistan, it indicates a very mixed ethnicity, as also indicated by the existence of about 60 major tribes. But the ethnicity of rulers indicates that a vast majority of the Pashtun population is of East Iranian origin, while the east Afghanistan Pashtun population has some Indian blood mixed in it, though the Pashtuns in Pakistan are likely to have more Indian blood than those in Afghanistan.

WHOSE LAND DO THE PASHTUNS OCCUPY

The history of Afghanistan shows that all the land of Afghanistan originally belonged to ancestors of those who live in India. Then Persian conquests began. However, till about 550 BCE, Indians still maintained their Gandhara kingdom, and the Kamboja kingdom till abut 300 BCE in Eastern Afghanistan, all the way south to Kandahar. Indians later established the Kushan Empire. The Maurya Empire also ruled Eastern and Southeastern Afghanistan. Even from 560 CE to about 1710 CE, eastern Afghanistan was for most of the time ruled by India-based rulers. 

Over the centuries, Iranians have been pushing eastwards into Afghanistan by warfare and conquest and from there pushing people into India. The Pashtuns are primarily of East Iranian origin. They occupy much of the land that belonged to Indians. Based on control of land in the past, the lands of the former Gandhara and Kamboja kingdoms in Afghanistan should belong to India. But after more than 300 years of occupation by the Pashtuns and Afghans, that does not seem reasonable.

But I believe God made a judgment through the British Empire by setting the boundaries for Afghans and Indians as they are currently constituted. Therefore, boundaries should not be moved, by claiming any territory that is in Afghanistan. Of course, the Pashtuns have no qualms about pushing people out of their lands and occupying them, which is what they did in Kashmir and what they now plan to do by attacking North India, in collaboration with Pakistani Pashtuns, other Indians allied with the Germans and the Chinese.



Back to Contents

  

Copyright © Church of God Message. All rights reserved.