Afghan Biographies

Shinwari Tribe


Name Shinwari Tribe
Ethnic backgr. Pashtun
Date of birth
Function/Grade Eastern afghan tribe
History and Biodata

The Shinwari are an ethnic Pashtun tribe of western Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan. In eastern Afghanistan are living 400.000 Shinwaris. This influential tribe is active in trade, commerce, poetry, administrators and politicians within the Afghan- and Pakistani government, where the majority are based in the Landi Kotal region of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Among the greatest poets of the Pashto language in the 20th century was the late Ameer Hamza Shinwari, also known as "Hamza Baba" and "Father of the Ghazal" in Pakistan. The Shinwaris are derived from the Kasi tribe (Kasi reside in Quetta, Pakistan). The Shinwari tribe are further distributed into sub tribes:
1. Khugakhel - divided to Fatmikhel, Kandokhel, Ashaqkhel, Ashrafkhel, Basikhel, Shahikhel, Pasedkhel
2. Mirdadkhel - divided in to Shaheedkhel, Ghanikhel, Soonkhel, Karmukhel (Shitaki)
3. Shekhmalkhel - divided in to Malkana , Pesaidkhel , Shekhan , Ghanidhel , Sherikhel , Baikhel and Totikhel
A major portion of the Shinwari tribe is settled in the areas between Landi Kotal (Pakistan) and Jalalabad (Afghanistan). These Shinwaris are mostly traders and businessmen. And the large number of Shinwari are settled in Nangahar province of Afghanistan some of them are settled in Kunar province of Afghanistan and some in north of Afghanistan (kelegi) a district. They have a history of opposing the British and the central government in Kabul. They are known to have been a major thorn in the side of Amir Abdur Rahman Khan during the 1880s. Shinwaris are classified as Eastern, Sarbani Pashtuns. They are very esteemed, proper Afghans. Historically they have formed alliances with the Mohmand, Safi and Afridi tribes and feuded with the Khogiani.

Thousands of Afghan security forces were deployed in eastern Nangarhar province (20110324) to prevent a possible bloody clash between two sub-tribes over a longstanding land dispute, police said on Thursday. Laced with heavy weapons, men belonging to Se Pai Seh Pay and Ali Sherkheil Alisher, sub- tribes of Shinwari tribe, had taken positions in bunkers against each other in Shinwari, Acheen and Spin Ghar districts.

Last Modified 2011-03-25
Established 2009-10-14