In what world is Afghanistan Central or South Asian?

[vsdoc]

He would probably better fit in Syria, rather then India

Having seen the fighters on Al Jazeera, I would have to agree with you.

[vsdoc]

Afghanistan is often classified as to belonging to South Asia, this is incorrect though:



as you can see even Afghanistan is too far away from India to be South ASia, but due to cultural ties to India, Pakistan is definitely South Asia, at least from Indus River.

Nations that are part of the Indic linguistic and cultural family tree should be classified as South Asia (Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, India, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, etc.)....

While what you say has substance (historically, civilizationally, genetically), color Tibet and Myanmar in the above map and you have an accurate representation of AKHAND BHARAT. Historically politically.

Cheers, Doc

[Karachi]

In my opinion there is India and there is Indian influenced zone. Afghanistan belongs to the latter. India is basically modern day Pakistan (Desi areas) India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Maldives. But Indian Influenced zone includes countries like Afghanistan, Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and even Philippines. Historically all these areas were influenced by Indian culture and religions, but of course they are not really Indian ethnically/culturally, though genetically all these zones have some Indian genes, roughly 10-20%

[Karachi]

This is a good map:

[Karachi]

@mungojerry Lol at your desperation to try to claim Pashtuns as Desi with the example of beds used in all third world countries?

http://makezine.com/wp-content/uploa...o_maya2_r1.jpg

Are Somalis Desi now? In fact, Desis resemble Somalis more than they do White people.

Somalies actually do look more Desi then Pashtuns, I swear, I often confuse them with south Indians.

[vsdoc]

This is a good map:

I have no argument personally about the color code for Afghanistan and Tibet. I do disagree with Myanmar though.

The other SE Asian countries from the naval conquests and spread of Hinduism from South Indian dynasties is spot on.

[Forreigner]

In my opinion there is India and there is Indian influenced zone. Afghanistan belongs to the latter. India is basically modern day Pakistan (Desi areas) India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Maldives. But Indian Influenced zone includes countries like Afghanistan, Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and even Philippines. Historically all these areas were influenced by Indian culture and religions, but of course they are not really Indian ethnically/culturally, though genetically all these zones have some Indian genes, roughly 10-20%

Calling Afghanistan Indian influenced makes no sense what so ever in this day and age....Afghanistan is a very historic nation, and has history with many nations of the world from all continents and regions. It was even for shorts time part of Alexanderian Empire and later Greco-Bactrian kingdoms as well at some point, so Greek influence was there at some point but today there is no Greek influence on culture neither Indian...so in what world Afghanistan is Indian influenced zone?

There is no Indian cultural influence today, and thats all that matters if you want create an artificicial region based on culture like "South Asia" or "Greater India"

I am not sure what you say genetics percentage are true. If that was the case they would look like somewhat Indic, but the contrast is large even between Punjabis and Pakistan Pashtuns...let alone Afghans.

Indian genetic influence in Afghanistan is pretty much nonexistent....if Ancient people of Afghanistan were Hindus and Buddhists, this doesnt mean they look same as Indians, just that practised these religions which Indians also do, same as Afghans now practise Islam without necessarily having anything to do with Arabs...

[Karachi]

Calling Afghanistan Indian influenced makes no sense what so ever in this day and age....Afghanistan is a very historic nation, and has history with many nations of the world from all continents and regions. It was even for shorts time part of Alexanderian Empire and later Greco-Bactrian kingdoms as well at some point, so Greek influence was there at some point but today there is no Greek influence on culture neither Indian...so in what world Afghanistan is Indian influenced zone?

There is no Indian cultural influence today, and thats all that matters if you want create an artificicial region based on culture like "South Asia" or "Greater India"

I am not sure what you say genetics percentage are true. If that was the case they would look like somewhat Indic, but the contrast is large even between Punjabis and Pakistan Pashtuns...let alone Afghans.

Indian genetic influence in Afghanistan is pretty much nonexistent....if Ancient people of Afghanistan were Hindus and Buddhists, this doesnt mean they look same as Indians, just that practised these religions which Indians also do, same as Afghans now practise Islam without necessarily having anything to do with Arabs...

the genetics of ancient Indians is there, almost every study has shown that, Having 10-15% of dna from some one, doesn't mean you will look like them and I have seen some like 5% of Afghans who do look desi. Majority of Afghan Dna is West Asian/Caucasian in nature

Indian genes are also present in south east asians, Malaysian, Indonesians and even aboriginal Australians

[Sarbani]

Some Pashtuns do look little Desi influenced...more common among Paki Pashtuns though....

That Pakistan criketer with last name Afridi is a good example of a Desi looking Pashtun

Afridi does not look Desi at all. The only Desi looking Pashtun cricketers are Mohammad Shahzad and arguably Misbah-ul-Haq.

[Sarbani]

This is a good map:

Bhutan, KPK, Balochistan, NE India, Ladakh, and a few parts of Nepal should be either light-orange or yellow.

[Sarbani]

I'm confused as to why Afghanistan is classified as belonging to South Asia or Central Asia when it belongs to neither the former, nor the latter. Afghanistan is technically not South-Central Asia either. Technically speaking, that is the Indian subcontinent. it's clear cut in West Asia. North vs South wise, Afghanistan is smack down Central, so not in South Asia. Arabia is far more south and in Asia than Afghanistan. In Europe, Spain and Greece are both classed as South Europe even though they are miles apart, but somehow Afghanistan is "South Asia" according to the world and Saudi Arabia is "West Asia."

Afghanistan is nowhere near the center of Asia either, so they aren't Central Asians. They are clear cut West Asians, and are central-east West Asians to be more specific, but nonetheless they are West Asians. Even Turkmenistan and parts of Kazakhstan are part of Northeastern - Western Asia.

Here is a map of Asia and I will explain it under it:


So the big black dot in the center is the center of Asia. The regions circled in red represent the true Central Asia, which is Western-Central China, Central Russia, Western Mongolia, and a portion of Kazakhstan. The light blue represents West Asia which includes the Caucasus, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, parts of Kazakhstan, Tajikstan, the Levant, Iraq, and Northern Saudi Arabia. Yellow is East Asia, and dark blue is South Asia, which includes the Indian subcontinent and the islands below it, South Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Oman (i forgot to highlight the last three). Black is Northern Asia.

The brown dot is where Afghanistan is around, and it is clearly in West Asia.

Afghanistan and even Iran are more Central Asian than West Asian. Afghanistan is more similar to India than to Iraq (that doesn't make it South Asian ofc). You seem to have an agenda of trying to associate Afghanistan with the Middle East.

[Forreigner]

the genetics of ancient Indians is there, almost every study has shown that, Having 10-15% of dna from some one, doesn't mean you will look like them and I have seen some like 5% of Afghans who do look desi. Majority of Afghan Dna is West Asian/Caucasian in nature

Indian genes are also present in south east asians, Malaysian, Indonesians and even aboriginal Australians

I dont know man...i think 10-15% is exaggerated due to some mixed Paki Pashtun or some some Pashtunized Indic....

No way Afghan Pashtuns have any signifikant Indian blood...

Its simply not possible for people who look like this can have even anywhere near that amount:







Even Indo Iranics (most of these Bollywood actors have Afghan origins) of Bollywood still look noticably Desi to pass as locals in Afghanistan:

[Kakar-Wardak]

Afridi does not look Desi at all. The only Desi looking Pashtun cricketers are Mohammad Shahzad and arguably Misbah-ul-Haq.

Nah misbah does not look desi, only that shahzad does.

[Karachi]

Afghanistan and even Iran are more Central Asian than West Asian. Afghanistan is more similar to India than to Iraq (that doesn't make it South Asian ofc). You seem to have an agenda of trying to associate Afghanistan with the Middle East.

Afghanistan is not more similar to India then Iraq now, over the last 800-1000 years, the Indian influence on Afghanistan has been lost, due to the huge West Asian influence. Today Afghanistan is much much more similar to Middle East, then to India.

[Karachi]

I dont know man...i think 10-15% is exaggerated due to some mixed Paki Pashtun or some some Pashtunized Indic....

No way Afghan Pashtuns have any signifikant Indian blood...

Its simply not possible for people who look like this can have even anywhere near that amount:




Even Indo Iranics (most of these Bollywood actors have Afghan origins) of Bollywood still look noticably too Desi to pass as Afghans:

Again, 10-15% of dna will not show up on the faces in most cases. If Afghans had like 30-40% Indian genes, then it would show up. This is even true for some Americans, for example some pure White looking Americans are actually sometime 10-20% Black or native Indian, but it doesn't show up on their faces


Akshay Kumar probably actually has a lot of outside dna in him