List of Afghans
The following is a list of notable Afghan people, which includes all the ethnic groups of the modern state of Afghanistan. Afghanistan has gone through territorial changes. This list generally excludes Ethnic Pashtuns who originate from regions that were not controlled by Afghanistan at the time, though there are exceptions for certain figures who are prominent to Pashtuns. It also includes historical figures coming from the present day borders of Afghanistan, even if they were non-Pashtuns.
Monarchs
- Humayun Second Mughal emperor in India.
- Demetrius I of Bactria King of Bactria
- Eucratides I King of the Bactrian Empire
- Menander I Indo-Greek king
- Mahmud of Ghazni Sultan of the Ghaznavid Empire
- Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad Sultan of the Ghurid Empire
- Muhammad of Ghor Sultan of the Ghurid Sultanate
- Muhammad Shah 13th Mughal Emperor
- Abu Sa'id Mirza Ruler of the Timurd empire
- Alauddin Khalji Turco-Afghan Ruler of Delhi Sultanate
- Ulugh Beg II Timiurd Ruler of Kabul and Ghazni
- Sayed Kayan Sayed Nadir Shah Al-Hussaini Kayani who was known as Sayed Kayan was a prominent Islamic philosopher, religious and political figure.
- Abul-Qasim Babur Mirza Timiurd Ruler of khorasan
- Sher Shah Suri Founder of the Suri Empire in India,
- Sultan Husayn Bayqara Amir of the Timurid Empire
- Ahmad Shah Durrani was the founder of the Durrani Empire and is regarded as the founder of the modern state of Afghanistan
- Jalal-ud-din Khalji Founder of the Khalji dynasty, 12th Ruler of the Delhi Sultanate
- Kalu Khan Yousufzai - Yousufzai Afghan monarch of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. known for the Battle of Malandari Pass
Presidents
- Ashraf Ghani served as the fifth president of Afghanistan and as the second and final president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
- Burhanuddin Rabbani
- Daoud Khan
- Hamid Karzai
- Mohammad Najibullah
- Nur Muhammad Taraki
Politicians and diplomats
- Mohammad Shafiq Hamdam, civil right activists, political and international affairs analyst and tech expert.
- Muhammad Yunus Nawandish, was the Mayor of Kabul from after his appointment by Afghan President Hamid Karzai in January 2010
- Mohammad Siddiq Chakari
- Sayed Mansur Naderi Former Vice-President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
- Abdul Ahmad Zahedi Niqala
- Sadat Mansoor Naderi, Former State Minister for Peace
- Wahid Omar
- Amrullah Saleh the second Panjshir resistance
- Rafael Pinhasi Israeli politician
- Mahmud Tarzi Afghan politician and intellectual, known as founder of Afghan journalism
- Mohammad Ibraheem Khwakhuzhi
- Zalmay Khalilzad Afghan-American diplomat and foreign policy expert
- Rangin Dadfar Spanta
- Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
- Ali Ahmad Khan Afghan politician and self proclaimed Emir of Afghanistan for a few weeks
- Ismael Balkhi Hazara political leader and reformist
- Abdul Rahman Pazhwak diplomat, scholar and poet
- Abdul Qadir Afghan politician, diplomat, and military officer
- Mohammed Aziz Khan Afghan prince and diplomat
- Abdur Rahim Khan Afghan governor of Herat
- Abdul Rashid Dostum Afghan warlord
- Farkhunda Zahra Naderi, Former MP and Senior Advisor to President Ashraf Ghani
- Juma Khan Hamdard governor of Paktia Province from 2007 to 2015
- Al-Sari ibn al-Hakam served twice as the Abbasid Caliphate's governor of Egypt.
- Sayed Mohammad Ali Jawid Afghan politician
- Khairullah Khairkhwa current Afghan Minister of Information and Culture and a former Minister of the Interior.
- Dawood Laghmani Afghan politician
- Abdur Rahman Mahmudi, medical doctor and politician
- Kubra Noorzai Afghan politician. She was the first woman to become a government minister in the country.
- Nasima Razmyar Afghan-Finnish politician, elected to the Finnish Parliament in 2015
- Mohammad Nabi Omari Afghan politician, governor of Khost province and held for nearly twelve years in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay
- Abdul Ali Mazari political leader of the Hezb-e Wahdat party
- Khushnood Nabizada Chief of Staff to State Ministry for Peace
- Ahmad ibn Nizam al-Mulk born in Balkh, Persian vizier of the Seljuq Empire and then the Abbasid Caliphate.
- Shah Mahmud Khan Prime Minister of Afghanistan from May 1946 to 7 September 1953, under King Mohammed Zahir Shah's monarchy
- Abdul Hadi Dawi Afghan poet, diplomat and government official.
- Naqibullah Orya Khail, leader of Hezb-e-Jawanan Musalman Afghanistan
Military figures
- Kamal al-Din Gurg, general of the Delhi Sultanate ruler Alauddin Khalji.
- Adham Khan general of Akbar the Great, third Mughal empire
- Mullah Omar Mujahideen leader, co-founder of the Taliban and served as its first leader
- Ahmad Shah Massoud military commander - “National Hero of Afghanistan”
- Jalaluddin Haqqani Afghan insurgent commander who founded the Haqqani network
- Ala al-Dawla Mirza Timurid prince and a grandson of the Central Asian ruler Shah Rukh
- Bairam Khan military commander and commander-in-chief of the Mughal army
- Wazir Akbar Khan Afghan prince, general and Emir
- Habibullāh Kalakāni leader of the Saqqawists
- Abdul Qadir military officer in the Afghan Air Force
- Commander Shafi Hazara ethnic Hazara military commander in Afghanistan
- Kabir Andarabi military official
- Sayed Jafar Naderi Military Official and former governor of Baghlan province.
- Abdul Rasul Sayyaf Mujahideen commander
- Dadullah Taliban's senior military commander in Afghanistan until his death in 2007
- Obaidullah Akhund Defence Minister in the Afghan Taliban government of 1996–2001
- Amin Wardak major Afghan Mujahideen leader
- Abdul Raziq Achakzai Afghan Army Lieutenant General and Police Chief, considered to be one of the most powerful security officials in Afghanistan for the last few years of his life
- Tahir ibn Husayn General and Governor of Khurasan during the Abbasid caliphate
- Masrur al-Balkhi senior military officer in the late-9th century Abbasid Caliphate
- Azad Khan Afghan military commander
- Sardar Shah Wali Khan political and military figure in Afghanistan
- Mohammad Akram, vice Chief of Staff of the Afghan National Army; died in a suicide attack in 2005.
- Mohammad Fahim, Marshal in the Afghan National Army
- Khoshal Sadat Pashtun military officer
Scientists
- Jamal ad-Din al-Afghani philosopher
- Abolfadl Harawi the astronomer of Herat
- Ahmad ibn Farrokh physician of 12th century
- Hedayat Amin Arsala economist
- Mohammad Amin Fatemi physician
- Habib Mangal physician
- Abdul Ahad Mohmand astronaut, he became the first Afghan citizen and the fourth Muslim to visit outer space, he also made Pashto the 4th spoken language in space.
- Abdul Karim Mustaghni
- Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Harawi the physician of 15th century Herat
- M. Ishaq Nadiri professor of economics
- Ghulam Faroq Nijrabi physician
- Abbas Noyan engineer
- Hamidullah Qalandarzai engineer
- Mohammad Qayoumi engineer; president of San Jose State University
- Daud Shah Saba geologist
- Sima Samar physician
- Habiba Sarobi hematologist
- Nazif Shahrani professor of anthropology
- Ishaq Shahryar solar energy inventor
- Kabir Stori psychologist
- Zemaryalai Tarzi archeologist
- Abdul Qayum Tutakhail physician
- Ghulam Sediq Wardak inventor
- Sediq Afghan mathematician
- Abu Ma'shar al-Balkhi astrologer
- Abu Zayd al-Balkhi – geographer and mathematician
- Al-Muqanna chemist, also known for leading an Islamic revolt and claiming to be a prophet
- Al-Sijzi Muslim astronomer, mathematician, and astrologer
Entrepreneurs
- Noor Akbari
- Sadat Mansoor Naderi
- Fahim Hashimy
- Safi Rauf
- Fatema Akbari
- Ehsan Bayat
- Sherkhan Farnood
- Fauzia Gailani, Gilani ethnic Pashtun
- Mahmud Karzai
- Roya Mahboob
- Sher Khan Nashir
- Saad Mohseni
- Kamila Sidiqi
- Khushnood Nabizada
Historians
- Abdul Rauf Benawa Chronicler
- Abd al-Razzaq Samarqandi – chronicler and Islamic scholar
- Abdul Hai Habibi
- Abdul Shakoor Rashad
- Abu Mansour al-Hosein ibn Muhammad al-Marghani
- Akram Assem
- Faiz Mohammad Katib Hazara
- Ghulam Mohammad Ghobar
- Hamid Naweed
- Khvandamir
- Omara Khan Massoudi geographer, historian
- Zalmay A. Gulzad
Actors and film directors
- Latif Ahmadi director of Afghan Film, Afghanistan's state-run film company
- Leena Alam actress
- Siddiq Barmak directed the drama film Osama
- Abdul Ghafoor Breshna painter, music composer, poet and film director
- Sonia Nassery Cole directed the drama film The Black Tulip
- Zohre Esmaeli model, author, designer
- Fahim Fazli actor, author, modification speaker, cultural technical advisor for US Marines
- Azita Ghanizada, actress
- Marina Golbahari
- Haji Kamran
- Kader Khan, Bollywood film actor and producer
- Ahmad Khan Mahmidzada
- Mamnoon Maqsoodi
- Celina Jaitly, actress in Indian cinema
- Shakila, Indian actress
- Anisa Wahab
- Abdul Wahid Nazari
- Nelofer Pazira
- Soosan Firooz
- Arshi Khan, model and celebrity
- Atiq Rahimi – French-Afghan filmmaker, writer
- Salim Shaheen
- Kawa Ada
- Awesta Zarif actress, director, singer
Writers (including journalists)
- Qais Akbar Omar writer, journalist, memoirist
- Abdul Khaliq Hussaini journalist, activist
- Abu Mansur al-Azhari lexicographer, philologist and grammarian of Arabic; prominent philogist of his time
- Abu Ubaid al-Qasim bin Salam philologist and the author of many standard works on lexicography, Qur’anic sciences
- Ahmad Javeed Ahwar
- Aziz Ullah Haidari journalist
- Chékéba Hachemi Afghan feminist and writer
- Dr. Hafiz Sahar
- Fariba Nawa
- Gul Mohamad Zhowandai
- Hafizullah Khaled
- Homeira Qaderi
- Khaled Hosseini
- Khushnood Nabizada, journalist and entrepreneur
- Leila Christine Nadir
- Mahmud Tarzi
- Mohammad Haider Zhobal history writer
- Mohammad Jan Fana
- Nelofer Pazira
- Nelufar Hedayat
- Qiamuddin Khadim
- Rahnaward Zaryab
- Sakena Yacoobi
- Sayed Ihsanuddin Taheri
- Sultan Munadi
- Tamim Ansary
- Yalda Hakim, journalist