The Pushto, or language of the Afghans, is written in the 'naskh' character of Arabic. It was invented in the third century of the Hijrah by Ibn Oklah, and brought to great perfection by Ali Ibn Bowab, who flourished in the following century, and other celebrated calligraphists.

The original Pushto alphabet, before the introduction of foreign words into the language, consisted of twenty-nine different sounds only. But at present, the Afghans also use the twenty-eight Arabian letters, with the addition of the extra four adopted by the Persians, altogether making a total of forty characters, the whole of which are consonants. Several letters assume different shapes according to their position at the commencement, middle, or end a word.