Khalil (Pashtun tribe)

The Khalil (Pashto: خليل) are a subtribe of the Ghoryakhel tribe of the Sarbani confederacy of Pashtuns, living primarily in the Peshawar Valley of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa of northwestern Pakistan, with some members also living in the Nangarhar, Herat, Ghazni, and Kandahar areas of Afghanistan. The Khalils are settled in Peshawar, to the West are the Afridi tribe, to the North are the Daudzai tribe, and Mohmand are to the South, to East Chamkani tribe.

Ghoryakhel had four sons Khalil, Daulatyar, Zeerani, and Chamkani tribes. The Khalil originally lived in Ghwara Marghay of Qandahar Afghanistan, in the Qalat Zabul and Ghazni. Khalil Mattezai still lives on the Tarnak River basin north of Ghazni. Sheikh Matte BaBa Shrine is close to Tarnak River on the Hill. Mongols invaded the region in 13th century, the Khalils, along with the Mohmands who were also Ghoryakhel son of Daulatyar, Daulatyar had two sons Mohmands and Daudzai, formerly settled in central Afghanistan, were driven out. The Khalil first migrated northeastwards to Kabul and then to Nangrahar further eastwards along the Kabul River. The Khalil came in 1530-1535 from Nangrahar to their present settlement in Western part of the Peshawar valley according to the Babur history book Baburnama and Pashto History Book Pata Khazana written by Abdulhai Habibi.^[1]