Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty November 17, 2021 Two explosions hit the Afghan capital, Kabul, on November 17, killing one person and wounding six others, Afghan media said. The casualties were reported in the first blast that occurred in the mainly Hazara neighborhood of Dasht-e Barchi in Kabul’s west, TOLOnews said, citing a Taliban official. Three
WSJ: The Taliban’s new outreach to the Shiite minority goes only so far. Hundreds of Hazara families were displaced by Pashtuns in parts of the Daikundi province in September. The community’s sole representative in Afghanistan’s new government, dominated by Pashtun Sunni clerics, is a deputy minister of health. In Bamiyan province, overwhelmingly populated by Shiites,
The Washington Post: As a military commander, Maulavi Mahdi never captured territory or killed Americans in battle. Yet the Taliban considers the 33-year-old ethnic Hazara a godsend. Click here to read more (external link).
Navbahor Imamova VOA News October 29, 2021 TASHKENT, UZBEKISTAN — Central Asian republics are stepping up their diplomatic activity in the face of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, seeking to balance fears of increased extremist activity in the region against the risk of an economic collapse that could send refugees flooding across their borders. Three of
Al Jazeera: As one of the largest ethnic groups in Afghanistan, the Hazara people have endured various forms of oppression from Pashtun rulers and governments, including slavery, systematic expulsion from ancestral homes and lands, and massacres. These experiences have led some to consider Hazaras to be one of the “most persecuted people in the world”.
ME Reports: Political de-legitimization was the intent behind the use of “warlord.” It is a smart missile that only strikes Tajik, Turk, and Hazara political leaders, but cleverly avoids striking Pashtun warlords. How does one judge if a person is a warlord and engaging in vile conduct? Is he, like the Taliban, killing and bombing
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty October 25, 2021 Human Rights Watch (HRW) has warned that the attacks against Afghanistan’s Shi’ite minority perpetrated by an affiliate of the Islamic State group amount to crimes against humanity. Islamic State-Khorasan Province (IS-K) has claimed responsibility for some of the worst recent attacks in Afghanistan, including suicide bombings among Shi’ite
8am: A public source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Hasht-e Subh that the Taliban district governor had told Pato residents that the land should be occupied by Pashtuns and that Kindir residents had no right to return to their land. Click here to read more (external link).
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty October 22, 2021 Human Rights Watch (HRW) accuses the Taliban of forcibly displacing hundreds of families across Afghanistan, mainly as a form of “collective punishment” against ethnic Shi’ite Hazaras and people associated with the former government. Since the hard-line Sunni group came to power in August, the Taliban has ordered Hazaras
By Ron Synovitz RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi October 19, 2021 Like hundreds of families in Ghor Province who once survived on payments from Afghanistan’s former government, 14-year-old Ahmad Zia and his relatives have been devastated by the Taliban’s seizure of power. The men in Ahmad Zia’s extended family were members of an ethnic-Tajik Popular Uprising Force that