Hi Doug,

The tribal groups included Tajiks, Uzbecks both of who were suspicious of the majority Pashtuns (and remain so today).

I don't know about the case in 1747, but the Pashtun aren't the majority in Afghanistan today. (I note that you're not saying they are. Your post is just a convenient place to make this point. :-) I think it needs to be made because much of the US press is reporting that the Pashtun is the majority ethnic group in Afghanistan today.)

[link|http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html|The CIA Factbook] says the following about Afghanistan's ethnic groups:

Ethnic groups:
Pashtun 38%, Tajik 25%, Hazara 19%, minor ethnic groups (Aimaks, Turkmen, Baloch, and others) 12%, Uzbek 6%

Religions:
Sunni Muslim 84%, Shi'a Muslim 15%, other 1%

Languages:
Pashtu 35%, Afghan Persian (Dari) 50%, Turkic languages (primarily Uzbek and Turkmen) 11%, 30 minor languages (primarily Balochi and Pashai) 4%, much bilingualism

[...]

Infant mortality rate:
147.02 deaths/1,000 live births (2001 est.)

Life expectancy at
birth:
total population: 46.24 years
...male: 46.97 years
...female: 45.47 years (2001 est.)

Total fertility rate:
5.79 children born/woman (2001 est.)

[...]

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write

total population: 31.5%
male: 47.2%
female: 15% (1999 est.)

There's lots more info about Afghanistan there, but little history.

The Pashtun have a [link|http://www.dictionary.com/cgi-bin/dict.pl?term=plurality|plurality], but not a [link|http://www.dictionary.com/cgi-bin/dict.pl?term=majority|majority]. They aren't >= 50% of the population. The press members who reports these things should know better.

Thanks for letting me rant a bit here. :-)

The extremely low literacy rate, especially among women, makes it difficult for things like pamphlet drops and food drops to have the desired results. :-(

Interesting writeup, Doug. Thanks.

Cheers,
Scott.