Khushal Khan Khattak (1613 - 1689) (Pashto: ?????? ??? ???) was a Pashtun warrior, poet and tribal chief of the Khattak tribe[1]. He wrote in Pashto during the reign of the Mughal (Mongol) emperors in the seventeenth century, and admonished Afghans to forsake their divisive tendencies and unite. He was a renowned fighter who became known as the "Afghan Warrior Poet".[2] He lived in the foothills of the Hindu Kush mountains in what is now the North-West Frontier Province of western Pakistan.

His poetry consists of more than 45,000 poems. According to some historians the number of books written by him is more than 200.


A remarkable combination by two of the greatest experts on and lovers of The Frontier and its Pathan residents. Sir Olaf Kirkpatrick Caroe (1892- ), the last British Governor of the North-West Frontier Province and Sir Evelyn Berkeley Howell (1877-1971), some time Political Agent and Resident in Waziristan and author of probably the most famous study ever done of a Pathan tribe, Mizh: A Monograph On Government's Relations with the Mahsuds Tribe (Simla:1931), came together to translate and comment upon the most loved of the poets who wrote in the Pashto language. Their sentiments are reflected in their Dedication: "This work is a joint offering made in discharge of a debt incurred over a period of nearly half a century during which dwelling amongst Pathans we came to know them, to taste the zest of life in their company and to love the land which is theirs." Another passage in the dj blurb perhaps gives a sense of the peculiar attraction the Pathans had for their imperial taskmasters during the period of British rule (as well as for some who came after), "This book will remind all those who have ever crossed the great bridge at Attock, and lived and worked among the Pathans, of the elation that lifted their hearts on entry and the sadness and regrets that accompanied departure." Khushhal Khan Khatak (1613-1689) was chief of the Khatak tribe in the seventeenth century. Maulana Abdul Qadir, Director of the Pashto Academy, in his Introduction, provides a nice background on how the work evolved. Facing pages of the Introduction and English translations are in Pashto.