Pashtuns; also called Pathans; are an Eastern Iranian ethno-linguistic group with populations primarily in Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan; which includes Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa; Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Balochistan. The Pashtuns are typically characterized by their usage of the Pashto language and practice of Pashtunwali; a traditional set of ethics guiding individual and communal conduct. Their true origin is unclear but historians have come across references to a people called Paktha (Pactyans) between the 2nd and the 1st millennium BC; who may be the early ancestors of Pashtuns.