Ghilji
![](/Images/godic/202501/15/Tribal_and_religious_leaders_in_southern_Afghanistan1144.jpg")
![Tents of Afghan nomads in Badghis Province who are known in Pashto language as Kuchans. They migrate from region to region depending on the season.[1] Early peasant farming villages came into existence in Afghanistan about 7,000 years ago.[14]](/Images/godic/202501/15/Nomads_in_Badghis_Province1144.jpg")
![Photograph of a group of Afghan chieftains (Ghilzais) taken at Kabul in Afghanistan by John Burke in 1879–80](/Images/godic/202501/15/Sirdar_Habibullah_Gilzai_and_other_Khans_in_1879-801145.jpg")
The Ghilji (Pashto:غلجي), also known as Khilji (Pashto:خلجي), Ghilzai (Pashto:غلزی), and Gharzai (Pashto:غرزی, ghar literally means "mountain" and zai "born of"), are the largest Pashtun tribal confederacy.
The Ghilji at various times became rulers of present Afghanistan region and were the most dominant Pashtun confederacy from c. 1000 A.D. until 1747 A.D., when power shifted to the Durranis. The Ghilji tribes are today scattered all over Afghanistan and some parts of Pakistan, but they are most concentrated in the region from Zabul to Kabul province, with Ghazni and Paktika provinces in the center of their region. The Ghilji tribes are also settled in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan. Many of the migrating Kochi people of Afghanistan belong to the Ghilji confederacy.