August 15, 2023
Bolaq Analysts Network (BAN) is an independent, non-profit, non-governmental research and advocacy organization that publishes comprehensive and unbiased research on Afghanistan’s various social, political, and economic issues. This organization is registered in the United States. We monitor the situation in Afghanistan and document the conduct of the Taliban visa-vis the people of in accordance with international standards and carry out research in connection with various issues, especially human rights.
The current research is a follow-up of the first year under the Taliban regime that covers the period from August 15, 2022, to August 15, 2023.
- Bolaq Report – The Situation of the Hazaras During the Second Year of the Taliban Rule [ English | Dari ]
As one of the main ethnic groups in Afghanistan, the Hazaras have been subjected to oppression and genocide in the current situation and at different historical periods. In the current research, which is conducted by the research team of (BAN), an attempt has been made to analyze the situation of the Hazaras under the Taliban regime. As we focus on Hazara’s situation in Afghanistan, we are also mindful of the Taliban’s crimes against other Afghanistan ethnic groups as well as women. We have also investigated other crimes of the Taliban, such as the brutal killings of former security and defense forces, the continuous suppression of women, the killing and revenge against the residents of Panjshir and the Andrabs, the Achakzai tribe in Kandahar and Helmand, the political and civil activists in most parts of Afghanistan, the usurpation of lands, and the indigenous peoples in the northern provinces of Afghanistan.
Our efforts to research and document human rights issues without any discrimination based on ethnic, religious, gender, and geographical differences continue. We believe that what is happening in Afghanistan or what has happened in Afghanistan in the past has affected all the citizens in proportion to their vulnerability.
The current research findings clearly show that Hazaras have been systematically targeted in nine provinces of Afghanistan during the second year of Taliban rule, and 90 people were killed and 145 injured. Although the number of terrorist attacks by bomb blasts and suicide bombers has decreased compared to last year, the killing of Hazaras with new methods and tactics continues. Based on our findings, Hazaras have been targeted with new tactics such as target killings and killings in detention, home invasions, and poisonings.
The imposition of restrictions on Hazara-Shia religious rituals and ceremonies is one of the prominent cases that the Taliban applied this year, and during the execution of this policy, they killed and injured a number of mourners. Much information is included in the current research findings.
Based on the findings of this research, in seven provinces of Afghanistan, Hazaras have been forcibly displaced from their ancestral land and property. their ownership has been given to people related to the Taliban and the Kochis. Also, with the support of the Taliban, the Kochis invaded six provinces in the Hazara areas and destroyed much of the agriculture and horticulture of the local residents, a number of local residents were arrested, imprisoned, and punished by the Taliban based on false claims of the Kochis. The punishment was physical and monetary. The documented findings of this research show that the Kochis, with the direct support of the Taliban, have raised claims against the Hazaras, some of these claims going back half a century.
Our findings show that 92% of the 267 interviewees did not receive any humanitarian aid, and 7% benefited from humanitarian aid only once under the Taliban regime. Also, the local officials of the Taliban in the Hazara areas have prevented the fair access of the people to the limited aid that existed by exerting influence. Worse yet, in one district in Ghazni province, the Taliban distributed the humanitarian aid allocated to the residents of this district to the Kochis.
The Taliban did not allow any yearly cultural ceremonies in Bamyan and other Hazara areas during the previous governments.
Two years of rule of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan have been accompanied by suffocation and misery for the people of this country. The results of this research show us that the situation of Afghanistan people, in general, and of the Hazaras, in particular, has deteriorated under the Taliban regime. The reflection of these issues in the current research indicates the Taliban’s crimes against humanity and the violation of the rights of Hazaras, which should be looked at by the international community, and a solution to this problem should be considered.
The research report details all the above and other related issues.
(BAN) past research: