Afghan Turkmens or Turkmens of Afghanistan (Persian: ترکمن‌های افغانستان; Turkmen: اۇوغان تۆرکمنلری Owgan türkmenleri, [oʊˈɢɑn tʏɾkmønˈløɾʏ]) live in the north-west of Afghanistan along the border with Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, surrounded by a larger group of Afghan Uzbeks. The number of Turkmens in Afghanistan is estimated at 1 million people or roughly 2-3% of the population of Afghanistan.^[1][2]

Turkmens were one of the divided peoples in Central Asia nearing the end of the 19th century as a result of British, Iranian and Afghan counteraction, as well as the halt of the Russian expansion into Turkestan and Transoxiana.^{[citation needed]}

The original Turkmen groups arrived from the east of the Caspian Sea into northwestern Afghanistan at various periods, particularly after the end of the 19th century when the Russians moved into their territory. They established settlements from Balkh Province to Herat Province, where they are now concentrated; smaller groups settled in Kunduz Province. Others came in considerable numbers as a result of the failure of the Basmachi revolts against the Bolsheviks in the 1920s.^[3]

Though the majority of Turkmens are recent immigrants who crossed the Soviet border in the years between 1915 and 1940, the chronicles of the 18th and even 17th centuries show that large groups of Turkmens were already present in Afghan Turkestan.^[4]

Turkmen tribes, of which there are twelve major groups in Afghanistan, base their structure on genealogies traced through the male line. Consequently, senior male members of the family wield considerable authority. The following major Turkmen tribes live in Afghanistan: Ersari, Teke, Alili, Saryks and Salyrs. More than half of the Afghan Turkmens are descendants of the refugees who escaped collectivization in Soviet Turkmenistan in the 1920s.^{[citation needed]}

• Eypio- Afghan-born Turkish rapper, songwriter and musician.

• Turkmen people
• Turkic people in Afghanistan
• Turkoman horse
• Iranian Turkmens
• Turkoman (ethnonym)
• Oghuz Turks
• Afghan Turkestan