Economic Factors

During the early years of Islam, Pakhtoon society were entering an era of transition form the primitive commune society of people to the feudalist structure where specifics of both of these structures were evident in their social life.

In the Arab occupied areas, agricultural land was declared as Bait-ul Mall (the property of the state). This was tenanted to local influential and Arab families against fixed revenues. This exercise helped in establishing the feudal structure. Islamic teaching recommended abolishing the class society, but in practice, it created local landlords, feudal and an upper social class. In addition to animal raising, the irrigation systems and agriculture infrastructures were developed for building an economic bas. Industries such as metal work were common. The Ghor metal and arms industries were famous throughout the whole Central Asia.

For a variety of reasons, Pakhtana started traveling to India for business. This contributed to diverting their attention from animal raising to farming. As their population increased they had to migrate in different directions. They learned about other people, developed their means and facilities and enhanced their thinking and planning skills.

The historical Silk Route passing through Afghanistan connected India and china with the Mediterranean region. This helped in familiarizing Pakhtana with different cultures besides maintaining trade with neighboring and other countries. Large convoys of up to 14,000 camels often traveled on this route in the 16 th century. These convoys carried via Kandahar equivalent the Indian and Kashmiri manufactured textiles to Iran and Central Asia. The Persian authorities collected route tax form the traders in Kandahar equivalent to several kilograms of gold daily.

The Khattak tribe contracted to provide security for the convoys in the eastern parts of Afghanistan, while in the western parts armed Abdali men escorted the convoys.

The Silk Route in the mean time contributed to the growth of Pakhtoon nationalism with its economic and cultural inputs throughout the 17 th century. Earlier in the 11 th century, Pakhtana benefited from the routed for their economic and cultural gains.

The economic decline of the Ghaznavid dynasty similarly contributed to the growth of Pakhtoon political nationalism. The Seljuk’s nomad rebellion in the northern Afghanistan substantially weakened Ghaznavid rule and inflicted on them economic and trade hardships. Their currency “ Durham” was abruptly devaluated to one sixth of its previous value. Farmers were frustrated by heavy taxes and forced labor. They led a general rebellion in southern Khurassan in 1034 AD. All these factors helped in escalating Pakhtoon nationalism.