Indigenous Communities from Afghanistan

Aimaq | Arab-Arabic Speaking | Arab-Persian Speaking | Baloch | Brahui | Firuzkuhi | Hazara | Ismaili-Hazara | Jamshidi | Maliki | Mauri | Mishmast | Pashtun | Qatagan-aimaq | Sunni-Hazara | Tahiri | Taimani | Tajik | Timuri | Turkmen | Uzbek | Zuri |

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Aimaq
Indigenous Group	Aimaq (Also known as: Aimak, Aimagh, Chahar Aimaq, Char Aimaq, Four Aimaq, Aimaq-e-digar).
Location	Afghanistan, compact areas in the west of the country, especially in provinces Herat, Badghis, Ghowr and Farah; few isolated communities elsewhere in the country. Aimaq are not a single ethnos, but a but a commonly used collective ethnonym for the following Farsi/Dari-speaking western Afghanistan ethnic groups: Taimani, Firuzkuhi, Sunni Hazara, Jamshidi, Timuri, Zuri, Maliki, Mishmast, and Tahiri (see separate listings). The first four of these ethnic groups are members of the Chahar (4) Aimaq tribal confederation, while the rest are known as Aimaq-e-digar. Isolated groups of Aimaq in provinces Kunduz, Baglan and Tahar are known as Qatagan-Aimaq.
Estimated Population	500,000-800,000 (2005, Library of Congress, Afghanistan country study), but some estimates go as high as 2 million
Environment	Plain / Valley / Desert
Lifestyle	Sedentary / Semi-nomadic / Nomadic
Subsistence	Animal Husbandry / Agriculture
Level of Assimilation	Fairly Traditional
Language Family	Aimaq Classification: Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Iranian, Western, Southwestern, Persian Alternate names: Aimaq, Barbari, Berberi, Chahar Aimaq, Char Aimaq, Farsi, Parsi, Eastern Persian, Eastern Farsi, Eastern Parsi Aimaq ethnic groups speak many regional/tribal eastern Persian languages/dialects. Aimaq languages/dialects are related to Dari (spoken by Tajiks and other ethnic groups in Afghanistan and having national language status). Linguistic variation corresponds to ethnic/tribal divisions among the Aimaq. Dialects include all of the ethnic groups listed above and several additional dialects (Chinghizi, Zainal, etc.) about which there is very little information available.
Website URLs	Afghanistan Online Afgha.com (an expatriate site) Afghanistan country study (US Government), Aimaq Ethnologue : Aimaq a language of Afghanistan Afghanistan ethnolinguistic map
NGOs	USAID UNHCR The UN Refugee Agency OXFAM Canada Afghan Development Association Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief (ACBAR)