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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Southern Pashtun of Afghanistan

The Southern Pashtun of Afghanistan, numbering approximately 13,510,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an Eastern Iranian ethnolinguistic group indigenous to southern and eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan They are an Indigenous people, in the Pashtun people cluster of the Persian-Median Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Islam - Sunni. They primarily speak Pashto, Southern.

Southern Pashtun in Afghanistan photo
Photo courtesy of Joshua Project. Photo Source: chiplanay - Pixabay

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Central Asian Peoples
Country: Afghanistan
People Cluster: Pashtun
Primary Language(s): Pashto, Southern (pbt)
Primary Religion(s): Islam - Sunni
Population: 13,510,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG024009
View on Joshua Project

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Pray for the Southern Pashtun 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: Islam - Sunni
Religious Affiliation: Islam

%
Islam - Sunni Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Pashto, Southern
Language Family: Indo-European

%
Pashto, Southern Speakers

Media Resources in Pashto, Southern:

Films:

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Pashto, Southern:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Pashto, Southern bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Next steps for the Southern Pashtun

The Southern Pashtun are Unengaged and Unreached, 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.

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

Next steps for the Southern Pashtun

The Southern Pashtun 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.

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

Next steps for the Southern Pashtun

The Southern Pashtun 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.

Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Southern Pashtun of Afghanistan

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
readEphesians 2:8-9

Pray that the lost among them will receive the gift of salvation by grace through faith, not by works, and be created for good works.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
readRomans 3:23

Pray that the gospel will advance and many will acknowledge that all have sinned, fall short of God's glory, and need a Savior to reconcile them to God.

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
readRomans 6:4

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, God will lead those who might hesitate in getting baptized to trust Him as they obey His command, even when obedience is hard.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
readRomans 6:23

Pray that God will bring people to faith who are excited about the eternal life they have in Christ and will want to cross cultures to share this hope with others.

Pashtun, Southern (ROP3 - 109502) 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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