Siah-Posh Kafirs

Siah-Posh (black-Robed) Kafirs was the former designation of the major and dominant group of the Hindu Kush Kafirs inhabiting the Bashgul (Kam) valley of the Kafiristan, now called Nuristan. They were so-called because of the color of the robes they wore. They were distinguished from the Sped-Posh (white-robed) Kafirs (sometimes also called Lal-Posh or Red-robed) by reason of the color of their dress as also because of their language, customs and other characteristics. The Siah-Posh Kafirs (Nuristanis) have sometimes been erroneously confused with Kalasha people, though they are not directly related to the Kalash of the neighboring Chitral Province in Pakistan.

Pre-1895 (un-Islamized) Kafir society

Prior to 1895, the Kafirs of Hindukush were classified into two groups as (i) Siah-Posh and (ii) Safed-Posh. But the British investigator George Scott Robertson who visited Kafiristan and studied the Kafirs for about two years (1889–1891) had improved upon the old classification and re-classified the Kafirs more scientifically into (1) Siah-Posh, (2) Waigulis, (3) Presungulis, or Viron people and (4) Ashkuns. The Ashukuns are probably allied to the Waigulis. The later three groups of the Kafirs formerly were collectively known as Sped-Posh Kafirs.