A particular — yet typical — type of Tajik phenotype (face) is featured, in the photos given below; however, it is a very widespread and representative type in its category. Found throughout my clan, it features a broad face, with prominent bushy eyebrows and small eyes. This kind of face is also found widely distributed in Iran.
The old man to the left is one of my poorer village cousins, Mir Naseemullah Akhundzada (Shalmani) — whose family looks after the shrine of our ancestor Mirsaid Kamil Shah (aka Akhund Zafar Baba) in the lower Mohmand region of Panjpao, adjoining Shabqadar town.
The face of Haji Fazl-e-Ghaffar Shalmani, above — one of the elders of the Shalmani community in Thana, Malakand — is an almost exact copy of my cousin’s pictured above.
Emomali Rahmon, President of the Republic of Tajikistan — also displays the same facial features.
