Afghani “ khyber knives” ( realistically, “selava”) come with various blades: straight, curved one way or another and recurved.
Their handles are also different: simple “ bird head” or karabela-like pommels, without a pommel altogether, with multiple tiny nails, solid metal etc.
We usually attribute them by their handles: ivory and metal we call Indian.
Regretfully, there is no systematic study of their designs, although it is almost certain that they carry important information about multiple tribal fashions.
Also, the genealogy of that weapon had never been discussed, although short swords of same or similar blades are spread from Central Asia ( suleba) to Deccan ( sajlaba) hinting at their Turkic origin.
We really need an academically competent person with knowledge of several local languages, who can go to Afghanistan and spend several years in field research and archives. Realistically, we know more about weapons of any other neighbouring country than those coming from Afghanistan. It still is “ The undiscovered country”, with no new information since Egerton.
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