- 1. What are the two largest Pashtun confederations mentioned in the text?
A) Tarino and Waṇetsi
B) Durrani and Ghilji
C) Karlāṇ and Abdali
D) Yusafzai and Kakar
- 2. Which Pashtun group is described as more urban and politically successful?
A) Karlāṇ
B) Yusafzai
C) Ghilji
D) Durrani
- 3. What event in 1978 ended the long period of Durrani rule in Afghanistan?
A) The British Invasion
B) Saur Revolution
C) The rise of Abdul Ghaffar Khan
D) The partition of India
- 4. Which group held power following the 1978 Saur Revolution?
A) Durrani
B) Yusafzai
C) Kakar
D) Ghilji
- 5. How is the Ghilji confederation described in terms of tribal allegiance?
A) Allegiances based solely on land ownership
B) Weak tribal allegiances
C) Non-existent tribal ties
D) Stronger tribal allegiances
- 6. Pashto is categorized as which type of language?
A) Western Iranian
B) Indo-Aryan
C) Eastern Iranian
D) Dravidian
- 7. What is the status of Pashto in Afghanistan?
A) The only official language
B) A banned language
C) A secondary minority language
D) One of the two national languages
- 8. According to Robert Nichols, what is missing from Pashto textbooks in Pakistan?
A) Lessons on Islamic law
B) Lessons on Persian literature
C) Lessons on Urdu grammar
D) Lessons on Pashtun state-builders
- 9. Who does Robert Nichols note is notably absent from Pashto language textbooks?
A) MacKenzie
B) Ibrahim Khan
C) Abdul Ghaffar Khan
D) Pir Roshan
- 10. How does D.N. MacKenzie compare Pashto morphology to Persian?
A) Less archaic than Persian
B) More complex than Persian
C) Simpler than Persian
D) Identical to Persian
- 11. What language family analogy does MacKenzie use for the relationship between Pashto and Persian?
A) German to Dutch
B) Spanish to Italian
C) Icelandic to English
D) Latin to Greek
- 12. Which dialect is noted as distinct from the Northern, Southern, and Central groups?
A) Kakar
B) Yusafzai
C) Tarino or Waṇetsi
D) Abdali
- 13. According to Elfenbein, where do dialect differences in Pashto primarily lie?
A) Syntax and vocabulary
B) Phonology and lexicon
C) Morphology and grammar
D) Only in syntax
- 14. Who developed the first Pashto alphabet in the 16th century?
A) D.N. MacKenzie
B) Ibrahim Khan
C) Pir Roshan
D) Abdul Ghaffar Khan
- 15. When was the present Pashto alphabet standardized?
A) 1958
B) 1950
C) 1978
D) 1918
- 16. What is the phonetic value of the letter ښ in the North Eastern dialect (Yusafzais)?
A) /ʃ/
B) /ç+/
C) /ʂ/
D) /x/
- 17. What is the phonetic value of the letter ښ in the South Eastern dialect (Kakars)?
A) /ç+/
B) /x/
C) /ʃ/
D) /ʂ/
- 18. Which group of tribes speaks the Central dialects of Pashto?
A) Ghilji
B) Durrani
C) Karlāṇ
D) Abdali
- 19. What distinguishes the Central dialects besides the North/South distinction?
A) A loss of vocabulary
B) A different syntax
C) A unique alphabet
D) A vowel shift
- 20. Approximately what fraction of Afghan Pashtuns belong to the Durrani and Ghilji confederations?
A) One-third
B) Two-thirds
C) Three-quarters
D) One-half
- 21. What is the current consensus regarding the ethnogenesis of the Pashtuns?
A) It is proven they are of purely Indo-Aryan descent.
B) It is well-documented by ancient texts.
C) They originated from a single nomadic tribe.
D) It remains unclear.
- 22. According to modern scholars, do all Pashtuns share the same origin?
A) No, they originated from Europe.
B) No, they believe they do not.
C) Yes, they all originated from the Middle East.
D) Yes, they all descend from a single ancestor.
- 23. Who are the ancient tribes mentioned by historians dating back to the 2nd and 1st millennium BC?
A) Huns
B) Scythians
C) Persians
D) Pakthas
- 24. What is Richard N. Frye's stance on identifying Pashtuns with the Pakthas?
A) It is widely accepted by all historians.
B) It is an unproven guess.
C) It is a deliberate falsehood.
D) It is a scientific fact.
- 25. What did Mohan Lal state about the origin of the Afghans in 1846?
A) It is widely known by the tribe's elders.
B) It is clearly defined in ancient texts.
C) It is very obscure.
D) It is traced back to a specific royal family.
- 26. The text compares looking for the origin of Pashtuns to exploring the source of what?
A) The Amazon
B) The Nile
C) The Ganges
D) The Indus River
- 27. What were Pashtuns often referred to as before the 18th century?
A) Afghans
B) Khiljis
C) Ghiljis
D) Sassanians
- 28. What is the Sanskrit word that some scholars believe is the origin of 'Afghan'?
A) Bactrian
B) Aśvakan
C) Sassanid
D) Ghurid
- 29. What does the Sanskrit term 'Aśvakan' literally mean?
A) Desert nomads
B) Mountain dwellers
C) Horsemen
D) River traders
- 30. Which century provides the earliest mention of the name 'Afghan' by Shapur I?
A) 6th century CE
B) 11th century CE
C) 4th century CE
D) 3rd century CE
- 31. In which century were 'Afghans/Afghana' mentioned in Bactrian documents?
A) 5th century CE
B) 3rd century CE
C) 10th century CE
D) 4th century CE
- 32. Who recorded the form 'Avagāṇa' in the 6th century CE?
A) Shapur I
B) Ibn Battuta
C) Varāha Mihira
D) Al-Biruni
- 33. In which work is the 6th-century reference 'Avagāṇa' found?
A) Brihat-samhita
B) Tarikh-ul Hind
C) Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam
D) Tarikh-i Yamini
- 34. In the year 982, which text mentioned a village named Saul inhabited by Afghans?
A) Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam
B) Tarikh-i Yamini
C) Tarikh-ul Hind
D) Brihat-samhita
- 35. According to the Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam, where was the village of Saul located?
A) Near Gardez
B) Near Kabul
C) In Nangarhar
D) Near the Indus River
- 36. Who wrote 'Tarikh-ul Hind' in the 11th century?
A) Al-Utbi
B) Al-Biruni
C) Ibn Battuta
D) Abulfazl Beyhaqi
- 37. Which chronicler recorded that Afghans and Khiljis enlisted in the army of Sabuktigin?
A) Al-Utbi
B) J. W. McCrindle
C) Abulfazl Beyhaqi
D) Christian Lassen
- 38. What mountain did Ibn Battuta identify as the principal mountain of the Afghans?
A) Hindu Kush
B) Karakoram
C) Kuh Sulayman
D) Pamir
- 39. When did the Khilji dynasty begin?
A) 1290
B) 1148
C) 1215
D) 982
- 40. Which scholar is noted for supporting the etymological connection between 'Afghan' and 'Aśvakan'?
A) Varāha Mihira
B) Ibn Battuta
C) Shapur I
D) Christian Lassen
- 41. According to the provided text, who corroborated Mahmud Ghaznavi's punishment of a group of opposing Afghans?
A) Al-Biruni
B) Ibn Battuta
C) Abulfazl Beyhaqi
D) Al-Utbi
- 42. Which province in Iran had records of Durrani Pashtuns as early as the mid-1600s?
A) Azerbaijan
B) Mazandaran
C) Tehran
D) Khorasan
- 43. Who defeated the last independent Ghilji ruler of Kandahar, Hussain Hotak?
A) Nader Shah
B) Sudas
C) Azad Khan Afghan
D) Timur Shah Durrani
- 44. Where did Nader Shah deport large numbers of Ghilji Pashtuns to secure Durrani control?
A) Azerbaijan
B) Khorasan
C) Mazandaran
D) Kandahar
- 45. According to a 1988 survey, what percentage of Afghan refugees in southern Iranian Khorasan were Durrani Pashtuns?
A) 50 percent
B) 75 percent
C) 15 percent
D) 35 percent
- 46. In which countries were modern Pashtun communities established starting around the 1960s?
A) Germany, France, Spain
B) United Kingdom, Canada, Australia
C) Russia, China, Japan
D) Brazil, Argentina, Chile
- 47. What percentage of Pakistani immigrants to the Persian Gulf between 1976 and 1981 were Pashtuns?
A) 75 percent
B) 10 percent
C) 20 percent
D) 35 percent
- 48. In which ancient text are the Pakthas mentioned?
A) Geographica
B) Afsharid chronicles
C) Histories
D) Rigveda
- 49. Who connected the Pakthas to the Pactyans mentioned by Herodotus?
A) Joseph Marquart
B) Johnny Cheung
C) Heinrich Zimmer
D) Thomas Holdich
- 50. Thomas Holdich linked the Aparytai tribe mentioned by Herodotus to which modern tribe?
A) Ghilji
B) Durrani
C) Afridi
D) Sattagydae
- 51. Who cited the names Parsiētai and Parsioi in 150 CE?
A) Heinrich Zimmer
B) Strabo
C) Herodotus
D) Ptolemy
- 52. Strabo identified which Scythian tribe as being potential ancestors of Pashtuns?
A) Bhalanas
B) Pasiani
C) Alinas
D) Aparytai
- 53. What linguistic classification is noted for Pashto?
A) Eastern-Iranian
B) Vedic Sanskrit
C) Semitic
D) Turkic
- 54. According to Johnny Cheung, what caused the loss of 'r' in the name Pasianoi?
A) Perseveration from the preceding Asianoi
B) Translation error by Ptolemy
C) Linguistic assimilation
D) Scythian dialectical shift
- 55. Which tribe is associated with the Wanetsi dialect?
A) Tareen
B) Wazir
C) Ormur
D) Rohilla
- 56. According to the text, what is the estimated global population range of Pashtuns?
A) 60–70 million
B) 40–50 million
C) 80–90 million
D) 30–40 million
- 57. What is the Hindustani word used for Pashtuns in India?
A) Kabuliwala
B) Afghani
C) Pathan
D) Rohilla
- 58. Which city contains the world's largest urban community of Pashtuns?
A) Karachi
B) Jalalabad
C) Peshawar
D) Kabul
- 59. Approximately what percentage of the Afghan population do Pashtuns constitute?
A) 18–24%
B) 10–15%
C) 42–47%
D) 60–70%
- 60. What is the second language of Pashtuns in Afghanistan?
A) English
B) Hindi
C) Urdu
D) Dari
- 61. In which Indian region is the Rohilla community found?
A) Karnataka
B) Rajasthan
C) Punjab
D) Rohilkhand
- 62. During the 19th century, where were Rohillas sent as indentured servants?
A) Egypt
B) Japan
C) Germany
D) Trinidad
- 63. Which major city in Pakistan serves as a major urban center for Pashtuns with over 20% of its population being Pashto-speaking?
A) Islamabad
B) Attock
C) Lahore
D) Mianwali
- 64. Which language is considered the closest existing language to the extinct Bactrian?
A) Munji
B) Ossetian
C) Sogdian
D) Pashto
- 65. Which linguist described Pashto as a Saka dialect?
A) Cheung
B) Henry Walter Bellew
C) Georg Morgenstierne
D) Firasat
- 66. Where is it suggested by some that Pashto may have originated?
A) Badakhshan region
B) Peshawar
C) Kandahar
D) Oxus Valley
- 67. Which language shares unique cognates with Pashto that other Eastern Iranian languages lack?
A) Munji
B) Khotanese Saka
C) Sogdian
D) Ossetian
- 68. Which historical figure is associated with the potential Greek ancestry of Pashtuns?
A) Alexander the Great
B) Ismail Samani
C) Xerxes I
D) Genghis Khan
- 69. Which haplogroup is found in 6.5% of Greeks and Pashtuns, and 55.6% of the Israelite population?
A) Haplogroup J2
B) Haplogroup R1a
C) Haplogroup Q
D) Haplogroup E1b1b
- 70. Henry Walter Bellew believed Pashtuns likely have mixed Greek and which other roots?
A) Indian Rajput
B) Mongol
C) Scythian
D) Arab
- 71. Which empire took over dominating power from the Seleucid Empire in 305 BCE?
A) Achaemenid Empire
B) Mughal Empire
C) Maurya Empire
D) Hephthalite Empire
- 72. Which specific Pashtun tribe is claimed by some to be connected to Ismail Samani?
A) Bangash
B) Kandahar
C) Peshawar
D) Saka
- 73. Which school of thought includes Huns (Hephthalites) as ancestors of the Pashtuns?
A) Egyptian origin
B) Diverse origin
C) Israelite origin
D) Greek origin
- 74. Who suggested the Khalaj were remnants of the Hephthalite confederacy?
A) V. Minorsky
B) Georg Morgenstierne
C) Josef Markwart
D) Sims-Williams
- 75. What is the currently most prominent view regarding the origin of the Hephthalites?
A) Mongolian
B) Indo-Iranian
C) Turkic Gaoju
D) Arabian
- 76. What language did the Khalaj people likely speak originally?
A) Turkic
B) Persian
C) Pashto
D) Arabic
- 77. V. Minorsky suggested the Khalaj were only linked to the Hephthalites in what way?
A) Genetically
B) Politically
C) Culturally
D) Linguistically
- 78. Who compiled a history for Khan-e-Jehan Lodhi in the 17th century?
A) Ibn Battuta
B) Mountstuart Elphinstone
C) Nimat Allah al-Harawi
D) Zaman Stanizai
- 79. Which text discusses the settlement of immigrant Bani Israel in the Ghor region?
A) Tabaqat-i Nasiri
B) The History of the Mughals
C) Encyclopaedia of Islam
D) Maghzan-e-Afghani
- 80. Which empire conquered the Assyrian Empire, potentially explaining the movement of Israelites?
A) Egypt
B) Rome
C) Greece
D) Persia
- 81. What haplogroup is predominant in Pashtun genetic studies?
A) G2a
B) R1a1a*-M198
C) E1b1b
D) J-M172
- 82. What percentage of Ashkenazi Jews exhibit the R1a1a-M198 haplogroup?
A) 50%
B) 80%
C) 15.3%
D) 5%
- 83. Who compared the legend of Pashtun descent from Jews to the Roman and British legends of Trojan descent?
A) Ferishta
B) André Wink
C) Mountstuart Elphinstone
D) Ibn Battuta
- 84. Which dynasty preceded the Durrani Empire according to the text?
A) Khalji dynasty
B) Barakzai dynasty
C) Safavid dynasty
D) Hotak dynasty
- 85. Which family held Afghanistan's monarchy from 1826 to 1973?
A) Khaljis
B) Hotaks
C) Mohamedzais
D) Lodis
- 86. What line divided Pashtun regions during the reign of Abdur Rahman Khan?
A) Curzon Line
B) McMahon Line
C) Radcliffe Line
D) Durand Line
- 87. Who led the bloody coup that assassinated Daoud Khan in 1978?
A) Zahir Shah
B) Nur Muhammad Taraki
C) Amanullah Khan
D) Hafizullah Amin
- 88. Which method of resistance inspired Pashtun leaders like Bacha Khan?
A) Non-violent resistance
B) Guerrilla warfare
C) Armed insurrection
D) Diplomatic lobbying
- 89. In which year did the Afghan monarchy under Zahir Shah end?
A) 1979
B) 1992
C) 1973
D) 1978
- 90. Which country intervened in Afghanistan in 1979?
A) United Kingdom
B) Soviet Union
C) United States
D) China
- 91. Who is the youngest Nobel Peace Prize recipient from the Pashtun community?
A) Ghani Khan
B) Malala Yousafzai
C) Bacha Khan
D) Hamza Shinwari
- 92. What percentage of Pashtuns identified with their Pakistani identity before their ethnic identity in a 2009 study?
A) 75%
B) 92%
C) 50%
D) 88%
- 93. Who served as the acting Prime Minister of the Taliban-led government mentioned in the text?
A) Mullah Yaqoob
B) Hasan Akhund
C) Sirajuddin Haqqani
D) Amir Khan Muttaqi
- 94. What is the frequency of Haplogroup R1a among Afghan Pashtuns?
A) 30–40%
B) 80–90%
C) 10–20%
D) 50–65%
- 95. Which subclade of R1a occurs at a frequency of 40% in Afghan Pashtuns?
A) R1a-M122
B) R1a-J2
C) R1a-G201
D) R1a-Z2125
- 96. What is the second most frequent haplogroup in Pashtuns from southern Afghanistan?
A) R1b
B) J2
C) G-M201
D) L
- 97. Which ethnic group do Pashtuns share ancestral heritage with in Afghanistan?
A) Tanoli
B) Tajiks
C) Gujars
D) Han Chinese
- 98. What is the most frequent haplogroup among Pakistani Pashtuns?
A) G-M201
B) O3-M122
C) E
D) R
- 99. Which haplogroup makes up the majority of Jadoon men?
A) J2
B) O3-M122
C) R1a
D) G-M201
- 100. What is the origin of the Y-haplogroup O3-M122 found in Jadoon men?
A) East Asian
B) West Eurasian
C) Middle Eastern
D) South Asian
|