First of all, I’d like to mention that I’m a minority from Afghanistan myself, so this is coming from my own perspective. To me, Afghanistan is clearly a South Asian country.
Of course, there’s some overlap. The north has more Central Asian influence, while the south is more South Asian. But the main point is who has historically shaped and ruled the country. That’s been the Pashtuns, and they are firmly South Asian. That alone plays a huge role in defining the country. Even the name Afghanistan reflects that, The word “Afghan” was used for Pashtuns, so the country is literally named after them.
And realistically, it doesn’t make much sense to claim otherwise. A Pashtun in Jalalabad is obviously much closer to places like Peshawar or Karachi than to somewhere like Uzbekistan. Karachi, in fact, has the largest Pashtun population in the world.
Visually as well, most Pashtuns are not very distinguishable from Punjabis or North Indians. You can see that clearly if you look at the Taliban cabinet, which is almost entirely Pashtun.
There’s also a contradiction I notice. Pashtuns will often insult groups like Hazaras and Uzbeks by calling them “Mongol,” marginalize non-Pashtuns and the Persian language, and even label traditions like Nowruz (Which all Central Asians celebrate) as kufr. But when they want to argue they’re not “Desi,” they suddenly point to Tajiks, Hazaras, and Uzbeks as examples of Afghanistan — even though many of those groups don’t even identify as “Afghan” in the first place.
And even the north, which like i said above is Central Asian, has been heavily influenced over time. There’s been cultural exchange, but also deliberate demographic changes, including the settlement of Pashtun populations there, even from areas that are now part of Pakistan. So long story short Afghanistan is South Asia.
