Washington Post: By all accounts, Makhdoom Alam was a Taliban stalwart. The 45-year-old ethnic Uzbek commander fought U.S. and Afghan forces for two decades and was held for five years in a U.S.-run prison. Last summer, his fighters seized three northern provinces, helping pave the way for the Taliban to take over the nation. With
Bruce Pannier Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty January 29, 2022 Since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in August, information has trickled in about tensions building between the ethnic Uzbek, Turkmen, and Tajik communities in parts of northern Afghanistan and the mainly Pashtun Taliban fighters who have moved to the area in recent months. The
By Zarif Nazar Abubakar Siddique Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty December 9, 2021 Taliban fighters have been accused of helping to forcibly evict more than 1,000 people in northern Afghanistan, with the evictions targeting members of the ethnic Uzbek and Turkmen communities. Ethnic Uzbeks and Turkmen allege that Pashtuns seized their homes and land in the
Members of Afghanistan’s Hazara community, an ethnic minority made up of mainly Shi’ite Muslims, say they are facing a wave of persecution under the new Taliban regime. Families who fled to Kabul from Daikundi and Uruzgan provinces report that Taliban officials forced them out of their homes in the middle of the night and
8am: Local sources in Takhar province say a Taliban commander has seized people’s lands by force. According to sources, the Taliban commander has usurped the personal property of the people in the Khwaja Bahauddin district of the province. Click here to read more (external link).
BBC: A group of locals in the northern Afghan province of Jawzjan have reportedly been forced to “migrate”. A number of Uzbek / Uzbek and Turkmen residents in Jowzjan’s Qushtepe district say “houses and thousands of acres of land have been confiscated by nomads” and that Taliban officials have “imprisoned protesters”. Click here to read
8am: As the Taliban came to power, a number of Pashtuns close to the Taliban and Kochi tribe forced hundreds of families from the Pato district of Daikundi province to evict. They say that they live in difficult conditions in the desert and mountains without food, shelter, or fuel after two months. Click here to
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
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).