There has been a legend for at least a thousand years, retold in different versions from Saudi Arabia and Iraq to Iran, India, England and Russia, that the Pashtuns are the descendants of the lost tribes of Israel. The Ten Lost Tribes are tribes of descendants of ten of the twelve semi-mythical tribes of Israel, who, after the destruction of the Kingdom of Israel, supposedly fell into Assyrian and Babylonian captivity, and eventually disappeared from view. Historical information about the ten tribes is very fragmentary, and for many centuries the whereabouts of their descendants remained a mystery, theories, assumptions and hoaxes multiplied related to the identification of the descendants of the ten tribes of Israel among other nations - in Iran, Central Asia, Afghanistan, India, Japan, Africa , among the American Indians (Book of Mormon). Lots of speculation and much less facts. According to guesses, the “exiled people” either assimilated in captivity, mixed with other peoples and disappeared forever, or retained their original characteristics in some regions. The riddle was practically unsolvable. The results of a truly detective investigation are in the new book by A.A. Klyosov and Kh.S. Saidov “Jews and Pashtuns of Afghanistan. The Lost Tribes of Israel: History, Politics, DNA Genealogy", which was recently published by the Conceptual publishing house. The monograph examines the ethnogenesis and ethnic history of the Pashtuns, issues of the historical and modern aspect of Judaism in Afghanistan in the context of the ten lost tribes of Israel (Bani Jisrail), which became truly one of the greatest mysteries of world history. To what extent are modern Jews and Pashtuns related? Are the Pashtuns descendants of the lost tribes of Israel or independent peoples who partially observe some Jewish customs? You can find answers to these and other questions in the book based on data from history, anthropology, archeology, linguistics, written sources, and DNA genealogy. The most convincing here are the DNA genealogy data, which leave practically no other options.

Klesov A.A., Saidov Kh.S. Jews and Pashtuns of Afghanistan. The Lost Tribes of Israel: history, politics and DNA genealogy. M.: Neformat, 2015. - 457 p. — ISBN 978-5-906756-58-9.