The Tanoli (Hindko/Urdu: تنولی‎; Pashto: تنولي‎) might be a Pashtun^[1][2] tribe, possibly connected to the Ghilzai Confederation^{[citation needed]} of Pashtuns. Their origins remain controversial and are subject to much debate. Bernhard Dorn's translation(vol.2) of one of the oldest books on Afghans (Pashtuns), the Makhzan-i-Afghani of Neamat Ullah (Ni'mat Allah al-Harawi); The History of Afghans, asserts that Ghilzai, son of Mato, was blessed with two sons, Ibrahim and Toor.^[3]
The Tanolis mostly inhabit the Tanawal valley, located in the North-West Frontier region of Pakistan; which they took over in about the 14th century and named it after their tribe. Though today Tanawal is part of the Hazara division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, in the past the larger portion of it comprised the two semi-independent native states or principalities of Amb and Phulra, ruled over by Tanoli chiefs of the same family, from about the 1840s to 1972. Prior to that, the area or 'Ilaqa' of Tanawal had remained an independent territory for a long time, from c the 14th to the 19th century.^[4] Across the Durand line, there are also some Tanolis living in Ghazni and Paktia provinces of Afghanistan. The Tanoli, allied with other Pashtuns of the region, participated in the frontier wars of the 1840s against the British. In Charles Allen's analysis of these wars, the Tanolis were described as "extremely hostile, brave and hardy, and accounted the best swordsmen in Hazara".^[5]
The Tanolis reside in the districts of Haripur, Abbottabad, Mansehra, Tor Ghar, Swabi and Buner (Tanolo Dheray) of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. A branch of the Tanoli tribe also resides in Kashmir, mainly in Muzaffarabad and Srinagar^{[citation needed]}. Some Tanolis are working and settled in Karachi, Lahore and other parts of Pakistan^{[citation needed]}. In Afghanistan, the Tanoli primarily live in the provinces of Ghazni and Paktia^{[citation needed]}. Sometimes, the Tanoli tribe is mixed up with the Tanai tribe of Afghanistan^{[citation needed]}, who are supposedly descendants of a slave of Kajin, the youngest son of Batani[citatio