Those who advocate the theory cite oral history and the names of various clans, which resemble the names of the Israelite tribes that were exiled by the Assyrian Empire 2,700 years ago, as evidence for this claim. Numerous ancient texts, such as the Rig Veda, composed before 1200 BCE, which mentions the "Paktha" as an enemy group (e.g. in 4.25.7c), and Herodotus in his Histories composed circa 450 BCE which mentions the Pashtuns as "Paktyakai" (Book IV v.44) and as the "Aparytai" = Afridis (Book III v.91) in what is now Afghanistan and Pakistan, yet no sources before the conversion of the Pashtuns to Islam mention any Israelite or Jewish connection, nor is the Eastern Iranian language of the Pashtuns taken into account when examining the claims of Hebrew ancestry.
It could be concluded that these claims appear to have emerged amongst the Pashtuns following the Islamic conquest of Afghanistan; it is conceivable that many tribes have created elaborate ancestral lineages to link themselves to prominent peoples mentioned in the Qur'an such as Jews, Greeks (see Alexander the Great in the Qur'an), and Arabs, all of whom have come to the region, but appear to have contributed a very small genetic input into the population rather than drastically altering the demographics of Afghanistan.
Pashtun Medieval texts
Some anthropologists lend credence to the oral traditions of the elder Pashtun tribes themselves. For example, according to the Encyclopaedia of Islam, the theory of Pashtun descent from Israelites is traced to Maghzan-e-Afghani, a history compiled for Khan-e-Jehan Lodhi in the reign of Mughal Emperor Jehangir in the 16th century CE. The Maghzan-e-Afghani's Bani-Israel theory has been somewhat discounted by modern authorities, due to some historical and linguistic inconsistencies.
Some sources state that the Maghzan-e-Afghani, from an oral tradition, may be a myth which grew out of a political and cultural struggle between Pashtuns and the Mughals. This explains the historical backdrop for the creation of the myth, the inconsistencies of the mythology, and the linguistic research that refutes any Semitic origins.[1]
There are also other groups who disagree strongly with the hypothesis of the Pashtun having Israelite origins, such as the British Israelites. [2]
There is a hill in the Pashtun city of Kohat in the North Western Frontier province of Pakistan. this hill is topped with a huge rock that makes up the upper part of the hill. This rock is covered with ancient inscriptions in the Hebrew language; further evidence of the Hebrew origins of the Pashtuns.
