Tarakai

The Tarakai or Taraki (Pashto: تره کي) is a Khilji[1] Pashtun tribe; mainly found in the Ghazni province of Afghanistan and large numbers of tribe mans are also settled in Pakistan mainly in Quetta, Piashine, Zhob, Lorallai, Dukki, Sherani and Swabi. They are divided into several major clans/tribes: Nawrozkhel, Nakhel, Jamalkhel, Harunkhel, Malangkhel, Akhtarkhel, Daryakhel, Mullakhel, Lilizai, Mul, Gurbuz, Badin, Saki, and MurekKhel. These tribes are further divided into more sub-tribes within the above-mentioned clans/tribes.[2]

The Tarakai were one of the Pashtun tribes resettled under the rule of king Abdur Rahman Khan in the late 19th century.[3] The first Communist leader of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, Nur Muhammad Taraki was from the Taraki tribe.

  1. ^ García Ayuso, Francisco (1878). El Afghanistan. Madrid: R. Labajos. p. 99.
  2. ^ Zabul Province. Center for Culture and Conflict Studies, (US) Naval Postgraduate School
  3. ^ Amin Saikal; Ravan Farhadi; Kirill Nourzhanov (2006). Modern Afghanistan: a history of struggle and survival. I.B.Tauris. p. 38. ISBN 978-1-84511-316-2.