I read a Kipling stofy about Pakistan in the old days.
"The Man Who Was" It mentioned "Pathan" and made statement that they were "of Jewish extraction". Was I surprised.
I looked up "Pathan" in encyclopedia, which said they have tradition of descending from grandson of King Saul,first king of Israel. Modern name of Pathans is Peshtun. And they
are the biggest component of the Taleban!

I have heard that the name is pronounced P'tarn. Do you know if that is correct?

They were the people that fought British soldiers on the North-West frontier of India I believe. Renowned fighters and extremely hardy, given to blood feuds. Or maybe that is all apocryphal.

The blood feuds were well enough documented that the encyclopedia ;mentioned them. The Hatfields and the McCoys were nothing by comparison.(I think I read about them in
Mark Twain somewhere.)
Edit: joke on me. In Tom Sawyer!
http://www.matewan.com/History/timeline.htm

>have heard that the name is pronounced P'tarn. Do you know if that is correct?

That is similar to the way my Dad, who spent most of his school holidays in Pathan country, pronounces the word.

Yup, and it's the way that a guy that I work with who happens to be one pronounces it, too. Not too much emphasis on the "r", however. It's not really rhotic.