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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Northern Pashtuns of United Arab Emirates

The Northern Pashtuns of United Arab Emirates, numbering approximately 663,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an Eastern Iranian ethnolinguistic group indigenous to southern and eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. They mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and Northern Pashto is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Pashtun

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Persian-Median Peoples
Country: United Arab Emirates
People Cluster: Pashtun
Primary Language(s): Northern Pashto (pbu)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 663,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG012231
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Pray for the Northern Pashtuns of United Arab Emirates

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

Pray Now!
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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

95%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Northern Pashto
Language Family: Indo-European

100%
%
Pashto, Northern Speakers

Media Resources in Northern Pashto:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film
MagdalenaView Film
The SaviorView Film

5 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Northern Pashto:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
Revised Yousafzai Pashto Bible 2020✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Northern Pashto bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Northern Pashtuns are Engaged yet Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations but there are sustained efforts at establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Next steps for the Northern Pashtuns:
Continue prayer and fasting for this group
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people

Pray specifically for the Northern Pashtuns of United Arab Emirates

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
readPsalm 51:17

Pray that those who want to achieve salvation through their works will be unsettled in their pursuit and that, with a broken spirit and contrite heart, they will trust in Christ.

Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.
readMatthew 13:8-9

Pray that they will have open hearts and minds to the Word of God, and that it will take root in their lives and bear fruit for His glory.

You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
readDeuteronomy 6:5

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, and might, as they strive to live lives that honor and glorify Him.

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God reigns”
readIsaiah 52:7

Pray that God will provide open doors for believers who cross cultures to share the good news of salvation with those who need it. Pray that He will give them joy as they see Him move.

Pashtun, Northern Across Countries (ROP3 - 107909) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

6 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDName ▲CountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
Eastern PashtunsPG043767Eastern PashtunsAfghanistan2,815,000Engaged yet UnreachedNorthern PashtoSunni Islam
Northern PashtunsPG012231Northern PashtunsUnited Arab Emirates663,000Engaged yet UnreachedNorthern PashtoSunni Islam
Northern PashtunsPG024390Northern PashtunsPakistan19,240,000Engaged yet UnreachedNorthern PashtoSunni Islam
Northern PashtunsPG024585Northern PashtunsTurkiye6,700Engaged yet UnreachedNorthern PashtoSunni Islam
Northern PashtunsPG047285Northern PashtunsUnited States25,000Engaged yet UnreachedNorthern PashtoSunni Islam
Northern PashtunsPG050498Northern PashtunsCanada33,500Engaged yet UnreachedNorthern PashtoSunni Islam

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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