Excellent Heidegger, thanks for you reply. I will reread it carefully. It seems that there are still some dilemmas. I will present my version so as I did in case of Makistan. I don’t think that Slapsie will respond, for some reasons he blocks all my comments (I believe since I semi-jokingly ‘discovered’ that he is a cryptooit guy who finally, but without much pride, came out). It would be useful for global audience if he or someone else answer the meaning of RG. I can’t imagine that I could be an obstacle for such explanation which has a global significance. Stay cool and comment more often.

“Afghan” is the Persian exonym for Pashtun, just like how South Asians refer to us as “Pathan”.

“Afghanistan” simply means “Land of the Pashtuns” in Persian.

Which is why some Tajiks feel that the nation should be renamed “Khurasan”. Much more inclusive.

If it were up to me, Yaghistan would be a good traditional choice (“Land of Rebellion”); the country has been known by that designation for centuries. But again, probably exclusionary of non-Pashtuns, since that designation only applied to the Pashtun region (including contemporary northwestern Pakistan).

With respect to the term itself, the origins are obscure (and open to debate). But it’s certainly an old one (probably much older than “Pathan”, which is just a straightforward Indian corruption of Pashtun/Pukhtun).

^ Slapstik is the man for the job (he’d be able to offer some substantive insight).

With regard to Pashtun/Pukhtun though, it’s generally assumed that “Pashtun” is related to “parswāna” (cognate with Persian).

^ Which is rather interesting; the two greatest Iranian peoples derive their separate names from the same original root!

Again though, Slapstik is the man for the job. Not my field.

Leena is maybe a Muslim girl who took a Friday off or she is too shy to present in front of so many pundits. In this case, neither VV’s hat nor his promising smile can do anything to make a change. Whatever, I have to ask the rest of the audience if anyone amongst them can answer the question about the meaning of the word ‘Pashtun’.

From an Indian perspective, we need to thank our lucky stars. Without the challenges on the western front, Pakistan would have made life much harder for India in Kashmir. It’s not a surprise that India was at its worst in Kashmir in the 1990s- a period that coincided with Pakistan being at its strongest on its Western front.

From a more historical perspective, India got lucky as well. Partition saved India the headache of managing an essentially unmanageable North West frontier. The “loss” of West Punjab, Sindh and a small part of Kashmir is a price worth paying for not having to manage such a difficult frontier- it would have sucked a lot of resources of the Indian state in managing security issues- precious resources that have thankfully been used for welfare measures in the Indian heartland.

Pretty good and informative text and VV’s comment. It would be good if someone in the near future explain the old history of this region when everything started. But this history is still under embargo. I think this is a key reason because we don’t know the exact etymology of the words ‘afghan’ and ‘pashtun’ (pushtun?). Leena promised to explain these meanings but disappeared somewhere. She may come back when she sees above VV’s new hat; (TGH ‘topghan hors’ – sounded to me from this region but he also disappeared). It was mentioned Alexander and I may present my information. In the above text about him I’ve just explained who he was.

Wiki says that ‘afghan’ is a ‘land of pashtuns’ but this does not explain anything. We already know that STAN is a Serbian word that means ‘the place of living’. What about ‘afghan’?

While we are waiting for Leena, let me propose the meaning which is maybe already explained somewhere by someone. The name ‘afghan’ comes from ‘afion’ what means ‘poppy’. We know that the Afghanistan is the biggest producer of opium. It means that we have two countries with same name. Makedonia is ‘POPPY VALLEY’ (in Serbian – ‘mak’ is ‘poppy’) while Afghanistan is MAKISTAN i.e. ‘Poppystan’ ?. Later we will see ‘Pashtun’.
Leena K – all yours!

Afghanistan is a collapsed and failed state – which invites forieign forces. A big myth is spun that Afghanistan cannot be conquered by outsiders , all the way from Alexander to USSR to Donald Trump. The fact is failed states is an open season for outsiders who will withdraw when nothing useful to be gained by interference

Kingdom or later Najibullah rule could have brought peace