There are two official languages in Afghanistan, Pashto and Dari. The national language of the country is Pashto even though only 35% of the country speaks Pashto and approximately 50% speaks Dari. By royal decree in 1936 Pashto was declared the national language for Afghanistan.
Bilinguilism is very common in afghanistan. Besides Pashto and Dari about 11% of Afghanistan speaks Turkic languages. Both Pashto and Dari are written with the Arabic alphabet but there are some modifications. Dari is primarily used for business and government.
"Pashto is a member of the southeastern Iranian branch of Indo-Iranian languages spoken in Afghan, Pakistan and Iran." Khushal Khan Khattak who is known as Afghanistan's national poet is a main influence on Pashto language from the 17th century.
works cited: www.omniglot.com/writing/pashto.htm
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