Aimaq people
The Aimaq, also transliterated as Aimak and Aymaq, are a collection of Sunni and mostly Dari Persian-speaking nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes. They live mostly found in the central and western highlands of Afghanistan, especially in Ghor, Badghis, and Herat Provinces, and to a lesser extent in the Khorasan Province of Iran. Aimaqs were originally known as chahar Aymaqs: the Taymani, the Firozkohi, the Jamshidi and the Timuri. Other sources state that the Aimaq Hazara are one of the Chahar, with the Timuri instead being of the "lesser Aimaqs" or Aimaq-e digar.
The Aimaq speak a number of subdialects of the Aimaq dialect of Dari Persian, but some southern groups of Taymani, Firozkohi, and northeastern Timuri Aimaqs have adopted the Pashto language.
Origin and culture
The Aimaqs claim to be descended from the troops of Genghis Khan.Aimaqs is a Turkic-Mongolic word that means "tribe" or "grazing territory". Aimaq Hazara and Timuri are the most Mongoloid of the Aimaqs as they live in yurts, whereas other Aimaqs live in traditional Afghan black tents. The Aimaq are largely nomadic to semi-nomadic goat and sheep herders. They also trade with villages and farmers during migrations for pastures for their livestock. The material culture and foodstuffs of the Aimaq include skins, carpets, milk, dairy products and more. They tend to trade these products to settled peoples in return for vegetables, grains, fruits, nuts, and other types of foods and goods.
Classification of tribes
Aimaq tribes| Name | Tribal kind | Note |
| Aimaq Hazara | Aimaq-e digar | Sunni subtribe of Hazara origin |
| Chagatai | Aimaq-e digar | Turco-Mongols of Chagatai Khanate |
| Changezi | Aimaq-e digar | Named after Genghis Khan |
| Firozkohi | Pashtun-Chahar Aimaq | "The traditional chiefs of the northern Firozkohi, Zay Ḥākem, claim descent from Achakzai Pashtun ancestors, whereas the tribe takes its name from Firozkoh, the capital of the Ghurid dynasty." |
| Jamshidi | Turkmen-Chahar Aimaq | "The Jamshidi, forcibly moved from one exile to the other, became indistinguishable from Turkmen in their way of life. During this period, small groups of Aimaq Hazara and Jamshidi settled in Persian Khorasan and Turkmenistan." |
| Kipchak | Aimaq-e digar | Kipchaks |
| Timuri | "Lesser" Chahar Aimaq | "The Timuri, once the most powerful of the “lesser” Aymaq, had their original homeland in western Badghis. Besides those still living there or in Khorasan, there are settled Timuri south of Herat and near Shindand, as well as to the north of Ghazni in Shiite Hazara country. A group of Pashtunized nomadic Timuri has its winter quarters near Baghlan in northeastern Afghanistan. Some of the best qualities of “Herat Baluch” carpets are woven by Timuri in Badghis, classified by the name of the respective ṭāʾefa such as Kawdanī, Šērḵānī, Yaʿqūbḵānī, or Zakanī." |
| Taymani | Pashtun-Chahar Aimaq | "A Kakar Pashtun from Baluchistan, Tayman, formed a coalition in Ghor around 1650." |
| Zuri | Aimaq-e digar |