A woman prays in front of the graves at a Hazara cemetery for the Shi'ite Hazara community martyrs on a hill on the outskirts of Kabul. Decades of persecution has left the Hazara minority with little space left in its graveyards[1][2]
The Hazaras have long been the subject of persecution in Afghanistan, including enslavement during the 19th century and ethnic and religious persecution for hundreds of years.[3] In the 20th and 21st centuries, they have also been the victims of massacres committed by the Taliban and al-Qaeda. Hazaras have been systemically killed and discriminated against socially, economically, and culturally with specific intent, argued by some to constitute genocide.[4][3][5] The Hazaras primarily come from the central regions of Afghanistan, known as Hazarajat. Significant communities of Hazara people also live in Quetta, Pakistan and in Mashad, Iran, as part of the Hazara and Afghan diasporas.
Map of Kabul Province and its surroundings showing the boundaries of the different Hazara tribes in 1893. Between 1888 and 1893, nearly 60% of the Hazaras were massacred and their land seized by the Pashtuns. Today, Uruzgan Province and many areas that were inhabited by Hazaras until 1893 are now mostly inhabited by Pashtuns.
Conditions significantly improved for the Hazaras in Afghanistan during the Republic era, and Hazaras were represented in national government.[8][9] However, Hazaras still faced discrimination throughout the country and under government policies, including access to infrastructure.[10] Those who lived in the southern provinces of Afghanistan continued to face prejudice at the hands of Pashtuns without repercussion.[9]
Dozens of women from the Hazara community of Afghanistan protested after a suicide bombing in September 2022, occurred in an educational center that killed more than 52 young girls.
Today (2021–present), the Hazaras suffer from widespread ethnic discrimination,[11][12][13]religious persecution,[14][15] and organized attacks by terrorist groups.[16][17] Under the Taliban, Hazaras face deliberate economic restrictions to weaken and create economic backwardness of Hazara regions.[18][19][20] Thousands of Hazaras have been forcibly seized from their ancestral lands and homes[21][22][23] and undergo the occupation of pastures by Pashtun nomads and Taliban supporters.[24][25] The seizure of agricultural fields has forced Hazara farmers to migrate or flee from Afghanistan.[26][27] Additionally, Hazara girls and women endure harassment and arbitrary arrest,[28][29] kidnapping, and rape and torture in prison.[30][31][32] Numerous cases of human rights violations against Hazaras have caused many Hazaras to be displaced and gradually forced to flee Afghanistan.[33][34][35][36]
The 33-member Taliban government currently excludes any Hazara representation.[8] Despite constituting up to 19% of Afghanistan's population, Hazaras have not been appointed for any ministries, provincial administrations, security commands, or army corps.[8][37] The Taliban also revoked the Shia Personal Status Law, resulting in the disenfranchisement of the Hazara and Shia community within the country.[8] Other restrictions and sanctions on Hazara include ban on the teaching of Shia Jafari doctrine in higher education, removal of Ashura as a national holiday, and restrictions on Muharram.[38]