Early Life
Yahya Khan was born on 4 February 1917 near Peshawar, in what is now Pakistan. His family descended from the elite soldier class of Nader Shah of Khorasan. Khan is described as an ethnic Pashtun.
Few Pakistanis knew anything about Yahya Khan when he was vaulted into the presidency two years ago. The stocky, bushy-browed Pathan had been army chief of staff since 1966. —Time MagazineIt is unknown if his family was Persian and became Pashtunized or if they belonged to the Abdali Pashtun tribe, who were led by Ahmad Shah Durrani during their 1738 occupation of Peshawar.
Read more about this topic: Yahya Khan
Famous quotes containing the words early and/or life:
“Pray be always in motion. Early in the morning go and see things; and the rest of the day go and see people. If you stay but a week at a place, and that an insignificant one, see, however, all that is to be seen there; know as many people, and get into as many houses as ever you can.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)
“It’s not a matter of revenge, you know that. When a man turns informer, it’s his life or ours.”
—Dudley Nichols (1895–1960)