Chahar Aimaks

the common name for a group of small nationalities of mixed Iranian and Turko-Mongolian descent. The Chahar Aimaks, who comprise the Jamshidis, Taimannis, Taimuris, and Firuzkuhis, live in northwestern Afghanistan. According to a 1975 estimate, they number approximately 450,000. They speak Dari and profess Sunnism.

The Chahar Aimaks have retained vestiges of a clan tribal division. They are primarily engaged in land cultivation and the raising of livestock, especially sheep; the Jamshidis breed Karakul sheep. Handicrafts consist in the working of products obtained from livestock raising; the Chahar Aimaks produce coarse fabrics, blankets, horsecloths, carpets, koshmas (felt carpets), and leather goods. As a result of the development of a money economy, the penetration of commercial and usurer’s capital, a shortage of land, and the intensification of social stratification, the Chahar Aimaks have been leaving their land in increasing numbers, some in order to find work as farm hands.