The international community is pressing the Taliban to form a government that reflects Afghanistan’s ethnic, religious and political spectrum, including women. Taliban officials also expelled Hazara families from several Daikundi villages after accusing them of living on land that didn’t belong to them.Īfter an uproar from Hazaras, further expulsions were halted, Gawhari and other community leaders said. In Daikundi province, Taliban fighters killed 11 Hazara soldiers and two civilians, including a teenage girl, in August, according to Amnesty International. They act as if they are the owners of this country.”įrictions in the Hazaras’ central Afghanistan heartland have raised concerns. They are not broadminded to accept other communities. “This sort of situation makes me lose hope in the future,” he said. He had to come back later with a Pashtu-speaking colleague. They have a long history of being oppressed by the Pashtu majority, some of whom stereotype them as intruders.Īqil said that when he tried to go to a police station for a document, the Taliban guard only spoke Pashtu and impatiently slammed the gates in his face. But Hazaras, who make up an estimated 10% of Afghanistan’s population of nearly 40 million, are also ethnically distinct and speak a variant of Farsi rather than Pashtu. Smiljanich, longtime Jacksonville treasurer, passes “How can they protect us? We can’t trust them.
Marzieh Mohammedi, whose husband was killed five years ago in fighting with the Taliban, said she’s afraid every time she sees them patrolling. In Dashti Barchi, the sprawling district of west Kabul dominated by Hazaras, many were skeptical the Taliban will ever change. IS is also the Taliban’s enemy, frequently attacking Taliban forces. In past years, IS has attacked the Hazaras more ruthlessly than the Taliban ever did, unleashing bombings against Hazara schools, hospitals and mosques, killing hundreds. The Hazaras’ turn to Taliban protection shows how terrified the community is of the Islamic State group, which they say aims to exterminate them. Leaving the country is not good for anyone.” “We are providing a safe and secure environment for everyone, especially the Hazaras,” said Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid. The Taliban also provide their own fighters as guards for some mosques during Friday prayers. But after devastating IS bombings of Shiite mosques in Kandahar and Kunduz provinces in October, the Taliban returned the weapons in most cases, Gawhari and other community leaders said. The Taliban initially confiscated weapons that Hazaras had used to guard some of their own mosques in Kabul. After their takeover, the Taliban allowed Shiites to perform their religious ceremonies, including the annual Ashura procession. Some changes from the previous era of Taliban rule are clear. Every individual Talib is their own law right now,” he said.
“The problem is that there is not a single law. “In comparison to their previous rule, the Taliban are a little better,” said Mohammed Jawad Gawhari, a Hazara cleric who runs an organization helping the poor. Hazaras complain individual fighters discriminate against them and fear it’s only a matter of time before the Taliban revert to repression. Hazara community leaders say they have met repeatedly with Taliban leadership, asking to take part in the government, only to be shunned. Courting international recognition, they vow to protect the Hazaras as a show of their acceptance of the country’s minorities.īut many Hazaras still deeply distrust the insurgents-turned-rulers, who are overwhelmingly ethnic Pashtu, and are convinced they will never accept them as equals in Afghanistan. Since seizing power, the Taliban have presented themselves as more moderate, compared with their first rule in the 1990s when they violently repressed the Hazaras and other ethnic groups.
“We can’t even tell if they are Taliban or Daesh,” he said, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group. Syed Aqil, a Hazara visiting the shrine with his wife and 8-month-old daughter, was disturbed that many Taliban still wear their traditional garb - the look of a jihadi insurgent - rather than a police uniform.
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