Yusufzai (Pashtun Tribe)

Yusufzai (Pashtun Tribe)

The Yūsufzai (Pashto: يوسفزی‎ Yūsufzay, plur. يوسفزي Yūsufzī; Urdu/Persian: یوسف زئی‎), also called Yousafzai, Esapzay or Yūsufī, is one of the largest Pashtun tribal confederations. The majority of the Yusufzai reside in parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Provincially Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan and in Afghanistan. Most Yusafzai speak the northern variant of Pashto (Pukhto) with the hard "kh" replacing the softer "sh" of the southern Pashto dialects.

The Yusufzai are the predominant population in the districts of Swat, Mardan, Malakand, Tor Ghar, Upper Dir, Lower Dir, Swabi, Buner and Shangla in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Across the Durand line, the Yusufzai also inhabit the Kunar, Nangarhar, Kondus, Laghman, Paghman, and Kabul provinces of Afghanistan. In Balochistan, there is also a Yusufzai clan of the Dehwar tribe in the Mastung District which speak Brahui, and Persian with some mixture of Brahui words.