Pashtunistan (Pashto: پښتونستان‎, Pax̌tūnistān; also called Pukhtunistan, or Pathanistan, meaning the "land of Pashtuns") is the geographic region inhabited by the indigenous Pashtun people of modern-day Afghanistan and Pakistan. Alternative names historically used for the region included "Afghānistān" and "Pashtūnkhwā" (for present Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province specifically, since at least the 3rd century CE onward). Pashtunistan borders Punjab to the east, Persian and Turkic speaking regions to the west and north, Kashmir to the northeast, and Balochistan to the south.