Pashtun colonization of northern Afghanistan

Starting in the 1880s, various Pashtun-dominated governments of Afghanistan have pursued policies, called Pashtunization, aimed towards settling more ethnic Pashtuns in the northern region of Afghanistan. The ethnic Pashtun population in northern Afghanistan was almost nonexistent when Emir Abdur Rahman Khan's came to power in 1880. During his reign, Abdur Rahman Khan initiated a process of ethnic Pashtun settlement and colonization called Pashtunization in northern Afghanistan. These Pashtun colonization policies had three major purposes: to strengthen the Pashtun-dominated government's hold on the Persian-speaking people living in the northern territories, to allow Afghan governments to deport their opponents to the north (where they would be comparatively less able to cause trouble to the government), and to help supposedly economically develop northern Afghanistan. Abdur Rahman himself stated that since the King of Afghanistan is Pashtun, Pashtuns should watch over the Afghan-Russian frontier. In order to achieve this goal, both Abdur Rahman Khan and his successors utilized land confiscation from the Persian-speaking non-Pashtuns of northern Afghanistan, Pashtun nationalist ideology, pro-Pashtun forced resettlement, and taxation policies that were discriminatory against the many non-Pashtun tribes living in northern Afghanistan. The British Empire supported the Pashtun colonization of northern Afghanistan due to Britain's desire to reduce Russian influence in Afghanistan (see the Great Game). In 1893, British Army Major Charles Yate wrote that only the non-Pashtun tribes have any contact and interactions with the Russians, and that surrounding these tribes with Pashtuns would end these tribes' interactions with the Russians. The Pashtun colonization of northern Afghanistan allowed Abdur Rahman Khan to strengthen his rule over the non-Pashtun lands in Afghan Turkestan. In addition to this, this Pashtun colonization resulted in Pashtun settlers acquiring the best land in northern Afghanistan at the expense of the Tajiks, Turkmens, Uzbeks, Hazaras, and other peoples who previously owned this land.