Pashto (پښتو; also known as Afghan, Pushto, Pashto, Pashtoe, Pashtu, and Pukhto) is the language spoken by the ethnic Afghan otherwise known as the Pashtun people who inhabit Afghanistan and the Western provinces of Pakistan.

	Results from FactBites:
	History of Pushto language (976 words) The variation in spelling of the language's name (Pashto, Pukhto, etc.) stems from the different pronunciations in the various dialects of the second consonant in the word; for example, it is a retroflex [sh] in the Kandahari dialect, and a palatal fricative in the Kabuli dialect. In Afghanistan, Pashto is second in prestige to Dari, the Persian dialect spoken natively in the north and west. Classical Pashto was the object of study by British soldiers and administrators in the nineteenth century and the classical grammar in use today dates from that period. Pashto language Summary (1282 words) Pashto speakers in Pakistan range from 16% to as much as 20% of the population (including Afghan refugees), but an accurate census remains elusive due to the tribal and migratory nature of Pashtuns and their habit of secluding women. Pashto is spoken by about 12 million people in the south, east and a few northern provinces of Afghanistan and over 28 million in the Northwest Frontier Province, Federally Administered Tribal Areas, and Balochistan. Pashto became one of the official languages of Afghanistan as late as 1936.
	More results at FactBites »