ABSTRACT
The Wakhi people, according to the present point of view, cannot simply be subordinated under the great Afghan people of the Tajik either linguistically or solely in manifestations of culture. Some 10,000 inhabitants of the Afghanistan part of the Wakhan, with respect to language, form a group in themselves in Badakhshan and this group, in contrast to the West Iranian Tajik, can be traced back to northeast Iranian forebears in Afghanistan. Its language is limited to the large east-west valley of the Wakhan. Besides their mother tongue most Wakhi today understand and speak Dari (a form of the Persian dialect usual in Afghanistan) — the most important lingua franca of the country. But few — and these mostly clergy (Mollahs) or teachers — can read and write Dari.
