The Gawar-Bati of Afghanistan

The Gawar-Bati of Afghanistan, numbering approximately 39,000 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are a subgroup of the larger Dardic ethnic group of northeastern Afghanistan. They mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and Gawar-Bati is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite: Gawar-Bati

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Persian-Median Peoples
Country: Afghanistan
People Cluster: Nuristani
Primary Language(s): Gawar-Bati (gwt)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 39,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG023974
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Gawar-Bati of Afghanistan

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

100%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Gawar-Bati
Language Family: Indo-European

100%
%
Gawar-Bati Speakers

Media Resources in Gawar-Bati:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Bible Resources in Gawar-Bati:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Or check out the Gawar-Bati bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 0), which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations among which there are no known efforts focused on establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.
Lostness Priority Index (LPI): Frontier Unreached People Group, (LPI: 0), < 0.1% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity (GSEC: 1), this people group is less than 2% evangelical, some evangelical resources are available, but there has been no active church planting among them within the past two years

Next steps for the Gawar-Bati:
Begin signifcant prayer and fasting for this group
Send cross-cultural teams to discover and research this people group
Begin gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group

Pray specifically for the Gawar-Bati of Afghanistan

For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.
readLuke 19:10

Pray that those who are lost will respond to the One who came to seek and save the lost, and experience the joy of being found.

Come and see what God has done: he is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man.
readPsalm 66:5

Pray that many here will come and see what the Creator God has done on their behalf.

Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations.
readDeuteronomy 7:9

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will know God's faithful love and keep His commandments, experiencing His steadfast care.

For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
readRomans 12:4-5

Ask God to send believers to people in other cultures and to help them use their gifts in harmony with others so that the body of Christ may be built up.

Gawar-Bati Across Countries (ROP3 - 103257) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Data Standards section.

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