Editorial guidelines

Care for the record.

Pashtunxwa is built as a careful, living archive. These guidelines help every contributor write about Pashtun history, language, and culture with clarity, context, and respect.

Phase-one framework · October 2026

Purpose and scope

Pashtunxwa documents Pashtun peoples, places, languages, histories, and living traditions. Every page should help a reader understand a subject without reducing the diversity of Pashtun experience to a single story.

The archive is written for readers around the world. Explain unfamiliar terms, identify the limits of a claim, and use English that is welcoming to a reader who is encountering the subject for the first time.

Evidence before certainty

Separate established evidence from oral tradition, interpretation, and an editor’s own synthesis. A source should be linked close to the claim it supports, with enough detail for another editor to find it again.

Prefer primary sources, reputable scholarship, archival material, and community-held knowledge with a clear provenance.
Name disagreement when serious sources differ; do not smooth a contested question into false certainty.
Do not use a source merely because it confirms a preferred political, tribal, religious, or regional view.
Record research notes separately from the public article so later editors can retrace the work.

Language, names, and translation

Use the spelling most useful to the subject and the reader, then include meaningful alternate spellings in the article’s search terms. Preserve Pashto names and quotations accurately, with the original script where it adds meaning.

Translations should communicate meaning without pretending that every cultural expression has a perfect English equivalent. Mark a translation as editorial when the source does not provide one.

People and communities

Describe tribes, clans, regions, schools, and communities with precision rather than ranking them. Do not turn a local custom into a universal rule for all Pashtuns. Use a person’s own name and identity where reliably documented.

For living people, publish only information that is relevant, public, and ethically necessary. Do not include private contact details, sensitive personal data, or unverified allegations.

A useful article structure

A strong article gives the reader orientation before detail. Use a concise summary, clear headings, a timeline when chronology matters, and related articles that genuinely deepen the subject.

Lead with what the subject is and why it matters.
Define specialist terms and identify dates, places, and people precisely.
Keep claims proportional to the evidence and distinguish fact from interpretation.
End with sources, related reading, and any important limits or open questions.