Paper short abstract:

The aim of abstract is to reveal the place and role of the Ephthalites and Turkic dynasties of the Tokharistan Yabghu and the Kabul Teginshahs in the early Middle ages in Tokharistan and the Kabul valley

Paper long abstract:

Socio-political and ethno-cultural processes, that took place in the early Middle Ages in Tokharistan and the Kabul Valley, which were one of the extreme southern territories in Central Asia, occupied the inherent place in the history of the peoples of the region. In Tokharistan, which included the territories of present-day South Uzbekistan, South Tajikistan, and North Afghanistan, and also in northeastern Afghanistan, in particular, in the Kabul valley, which consists of the region of Kabul and its environs, these processes took place in the immediate connections with the central territories of the mentioned region, including with Central Turkestan (the interfluve area of the Syr Darya-Amu Darya/Transoxiana, Semirechye), which has found its confirmation in written sources and archaeological material.

During the period of the Turkic Khaganate, which first captured Tokharistan in the 580s, and then in the 640s – Kabul valley, dozens of Turkic tribes moved to this territory and became actively involved in the affairs of government. In Tokharistan and the valley of Kabul, along with the founding clan of the kaganate - the Ashin Turks, also moved representatives of such Turkic tribes as Khalaj, Oghuz, yamtars (tardushi?), kenjina Turks. They have contributed in an increase in the Turkic ethnic layer that existed in these territories, where a significant part of the population were East Iranian and Indian ethnic groups. Indeed, this is also confirmed by existing opinions about the ethnic affinity with the Turks of the founders of such states as the Kushans, Kidarites, Chionites and Ephthalites ( Khalajs, Turks Kenjine and Abdals as part of the tribal union of Ephthalites), or the presence of Turkic elements.

Tokharistan Yabgu dynasty (620-750), who ruled Tokharistan is about 130 years old, and the Kabul Teginshahs (640-870), who ruled in Kabulistan and its environs for almost 230 years, their origin was associated with the Western Turkic branch of the ruling house of the Turkic Khaganate -Ashina.

The appearance of the ruling dynasties of Turkic origin in dozens of small possessions of Tokharistan, and in the related with the Kabul Valley of Zabulistan, also connected precisely with the Turkic Khaganate.