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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Southwest Pashayi of Afghanistan

The Southwest Pashayi of Afghanistan, numbering approximately 95,500 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are a linguistic subgroup of the larger Pashayi ethnic group of northeastern Afghanistan. They are also known as Pashai, Southwest Pashai. They are an Indigenous people in the Kashmiri people cluster of the South Asian Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary language is Pashai, Southwest and their primary religion is Sunni Islam.

Photo by Google. (2025). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Southwest Pashayi

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: South Asian Peoples
Country: Afghanistan
People Cluster: Kashmiri
Primary Language(s): Pashai, Southwest (psh)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 95,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG023997
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Pray for the Southwest Pashayi of Afghanistan

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.

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

99%
%

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Pashai, Southwest
Language Family: Indo-European

100%
%

Media Resources in Pashai, Southwest:

Films:

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Provided by the Jesus Film Project

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Bible Resources in Pashai, Southwest:

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Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Pashai, Southwest bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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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 Southwest Pashayi:
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

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Southwest Pashayi 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 Southwest Pashayi:
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

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Southwest Pashayi are No Longer Unreached, which means there are more than 2% evangelical Christian populations and there are churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice. There is still more to be done among them.

Next steps for the Southwest Pashayi:
Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Southwest Pashayi of Afghanistan

And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
readExodus 14:22

Pray that the God who split the sea so that the Israelites might pass through would do another great work among these people, softening the hearts of those who remain lost to the good news and saving them from their sins.

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
readJohn 3:14-15

Pray that the lost will look to Jesus lifted up on the cross and believe in Him, gaining eternal life with God.

For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.
readHebrews 10:26

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will live with reverence for God and not deliberately keep sinning after they receive the knowledge of the truth.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
readEphesians 6:12

Ask God to give those He sends to cross cultures the discernment they need to recognize the spiritual battle they are fighting. Pray God will protect their faith as they abide in Him.

Pashayi, Southwest Across Countries (ROP3 - 109523) reported in the following countries:

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 Definitions page.

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