A Cyclopædia of Geography Descriptive and Physical, forming a New General Gazetteer of the World and Dictionary of Pronunciation, by James Bryce, M.A., F.G.S. (Richard Griffin and Co. London and Glasgow 1856)
page 11. ‘The name Afghan is not used by the people themselves; they call themselves Pooshtoon, and in the plural Pooshtaûneh, from which, perhaps, comes the name Putan, or Patan, given to them in India. They trace their origin to Saul, King of Israel, calling themselves, Ben-i-Israel. According to Sir A. Burnes, their tradition is, that they were transplanted by the King of Babylon from the Holy Land to Ghoré, lying to the N.W. of Cabool, and lived as Jews till A.D. 682, when they were converted to Mahometanism by an Arab chief, Khaled-ibn-Abdalla, who had married a daughter of an Afghan chief. No historical evidence has ever been adduced in support of this origin, and it is perhaps a mere invention, founded upon the facts mentioned in 2 Kings xviii.11. However this may be, all travellers agree that the people differ strikingly from the neighbouring nations; and have, among themselves, one common origin. They are said, by some, to resemble Jews very much in form and feature; and they are divided into several tribes, inhabiting separate territories, and remaining almost unmixed.’