A brief introduction
Dari, also known as Persian, Farsi, Parsi and Tajiki, is the main language in the group. It is
the only language spoken and understood by a majority in all ethnic groups, by all educated people, and in every city in
the country. Especially the cities of Kabul, Mazar, Herat and Ghazni, being Dari speaking cities, have been important centers of
nurturing and developing Dari language and literature for more than a thousand years. Dari is practically the sole means
of inter-communal and inter-ethnic communication in Afghanistan.
In other words, without Dari, the different ethnic groups in this country would not be able to communicate with one another. This
means that with an exception of Dari speakers, an absolute majority of the membres of all other ethnic groups in Afghanistan
are bi-lingual, speaking Dari next to their native language to be able to communicate with others. Dari is also the
academic language of almost all major universities and colleges. Though its native speakers, comprised of
multiple ethnic groups (Tajiks, Hazaras etc) live mainly in west, north, north-east and central Afghanistan,
including Kabul, one can still say that around 95% of the entire population of Afghanistan are able
to comunicate through this language. All these give Dari actually the status of the national language in the
multi-ethnic/lingual country of Afghanistan, though officially that term is not used for any of the languages there.
It does enjoy the status of the national language in both Iran and Tajikistan under the names Farsi and Tajiki,
respectively. Tajiki is also spoken by millioins of Tajiks living in and around Bukhara and Samarqand in
Pashto rates second in the group of the main languages in Afghanistan. It is the native language of the Pashtun
ethnic group and is spoken mainly by them only. Pashto is spoken majorly in the southern and south-eastern provinces
of the country. It is also spoken by a majority of the Pashtuns who migrated to Dari speaking regions of the country in
central and north Afhanistan at the end of the 19th century and in the course of the 20th. Though a sizeable number of
these migrants have adopted Dari as their language with the passage of time. According to CIA website Pashto is spoken
by 34% op the population of today's Afghanistan.
Uzbeki is the 3rd in the group. It is the native language of the Uzbeks living mainly in the provinves of Juzjan, Faryab and Sarepol in central north. It is spoken by them and also by smaller Uzbek communities in north-eastern Afghanistan. It belongs to the Turkik family of languages. According to governmental data, and some historians, about 8% of the population of Afghanistan speak this language. But since there has never been a population census in Afghanistan, these percentages are not very reliable. Uzbeki is the official language of Uzbekistan and is also spoken in parts of some other central Asian countries.