Pashtuns owe a lot to the mountains that they used to, and still dwell in. From the spirit of independence and invincibility, to fighting off super powers over thousand of years; mountains provided them with means, and enabled them to live with pride.

#InternationalMountainDay

Pashtuns are also called Sulemanis for their origin is being attributed to Koh-e-Suleman, the extension of the Hindu Kush mountian range. Our literature, folktales, love stories and poetry, all have frequent mentions of mountains, and may not be the same without it.

Ahmad Shah Durrani expressed his love for mountains in one of his poems where he said:
د دلي تخت هېروومـه چې رایـاد کـړم
زما د ښکلې پښتنونخوا د غرو سرونه

I forget the throne of Delhi,
When I remember the mountain tops of my Pushtun land.

Despite having the means and possibility

to take over the throne of Delhi, he never came back for it, and one of the reasons that he cites himself is his love for the mountains of the Pashtun land.

سپین او سپېڅلۍ غر ېادېږۍپه دنېا او جهان
ځکه چاپېره شنه زمرېان ستا له درباره ګرزۍ

As Mukhtasar Shavedi sahib wrote for Spīn Ghar (سپین غر) or Safēd Kōh, and the brave people that live around it.

Photo Source: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2367275#/media/File:Panoramic_View_of_Village_Borki_Parachinar_Kurram_Agency.jpg

Here is the full poem praising Spīn Ghar, do give it a read.

*I think "Mukhtasar Shavedi" isn't the poet but it means "shortened" and it was written by Sidiqullah Rishteen sahib. Anyone?

The great Iqbal Lahori, addressed Afghans Millat-e-Kuhsar (a nation that lives in mountains).

"Message to the dwellers of the mountains [Afghans]" Allama Iqbal's poetry in his own hand-writing, dated March 24, 1932.

Photo Source Koh-e-Suleman:
Source for photos in the first tweet:
https://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-khyber-pass.htm https://www.nationalgeographic.org/media/khyber-pass/