 The Pashtun colonization of northern Afghanistan allowed Abdur Rahman Khan to strengthen his rule over the non-Pashtun lands in Afghan Turkestan.In addition to this, this Pashtun colonization resulted in Pashtun settlers acquiring the best land in northern Afghanistan at the expense of the Turkmens, Uzbeks, Tajiks, and other peoples who previously owned this land.While all of the Pashtuns who migrated to northern Afghanistan before 1885 had done so involuntarily (often exiled for opposing the policies of the Afghan government), this changed after 1885, when Abdur Rahman began offering incentives for ethnic Pashtuns to voluntarily settle in northern Afghanistan (while also making this migration one-way by issuing a decree in 1885 which forbade any migration in the other direction).