The exact numbers of speakers are unavailable, but different estimates show that Pashto is the mother tongue of 45–60% of the total population of Afghanistan. Īreas with Pashtun-speakers as mother tongueĪs a national language of Afghanistan, Pashto is primarily spoken in the east, south, and southwest, but also in some northern and western parts of the country. Pashto belongs to the Northeastern Iranian group of the Indo-Iranian branch, but Ethnologue lists it as Southeastern Iranian. The total number of Pashto-speakers is estimated to be 45–60 million people worldwide. Pashto is the main language among the Pashtun diaspora around the world. Pashto is one of the two official languages of Afghanistan, and it is the second-largest regional language of Pakistan, mainly spoken in the west and northwest of the country. It is an Eastern Iranian language, belonging to the Indo-European family. Pashto ( English pronunciation: / ˈ p ʌ ʃ t oʊ/, rarely / ˈ p æ ʃ t oʊ/ Pashto: پښتو Pax̌tō ), also known in older literature as Afghānī ( افغاني) or Paṭhānī, is the South- Central Asian language of the Pashtuns. Without proper rendering support, you may see unjoined letters or other symbols instead of Pashto script. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Provincial in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Federally Administered Tribal Areas, and Northern Balochistan

Pashto poetry books