Year Four Under the Taliban: What It Has Meant for Afghanistan’s Hazaras
Listen to Audio version of this article on Bolaq’s YouTube Channel On August 15, 2025, Afghanistan entered the fourth year since the Taliban’s return to power. For the country’s Hazara community this period has been marked by a complex mix of insecurity, shrinking civic space, economic freefall, and steadily tightening religious and social controls. The […]
International Women’s Day: A History of Advocacy and the Hazara Women’s Rights under Taliban Rule
Listen to Audio version of this article on Bolaq’s YouTube Channel Introduction International Women’s Day (IWD) is a global celebration of women’s achievements and a call to action for gender equality. Since its inception, IWD has been a rallying point for women’s rights activists worldwide. However, for many women, including the Hazara women of Afghanistan, […]
Istanbul Conference: Is it worth it?
After more than 40 years of war in Afghanistan, there is hope in some quarters that the longest war for the country and the US will come to an end and peace will prevail. The reason for this hope comes from the Istanbul conference. The conference was to take place on April 14 but was […]
US Taliban Deal: One Year On
Last year, on February 29th, the US signed a peace deal with the Taliban which was hailed as a success by some and a surrender, capitulation, and defeat by the critics. What did it achieve for the two sides and the region and the country as a whole? First, a few words about the deal […]
The Civilian Massacre in Behsud
On Friday, January 29, 2021, the Afghan security forces fired on a peaceful gathering in Behsud killing more than 10 people, injuring another 20 and holding captive more than 60 others. The region is a district in central Afghanistan. Why did the Afghan security forces open fire and under whose order committed this act, is […]
US Withdrawal from Afghanistan and its Aftermath
Recently, the US daily, the Wall Street Journal published an article titled, “Afghanistan Braces for Worst as US Troops Withdrawal Accelerates.” The paper talks about the situation in the country and then highlights a local commander, Abdul Ghani Alipoor, a Hazara from central Afghanistan who commands a group of fighters numbering about 500. He is […]
Loya Jirga: an Attempt at Futility or Legitimizing Criminality
Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai convened a Loya Jirga on August 7th for three days. The purpose of the Jirga was to discuss the fate of the remaining 400 Taliban prisoners. During the US -Taliban negotiations, the US envoy, Zalmai Khalilzad with the approval of Mike Pompeo had promised that 5000 Taliban prisoners will be released after […]
Faustian Pact with the Devil
The peace deal that the US signed with the Taliban on February 29, 2020, in Doha, Qatar had two main tenets: the first one stated that in 135 days, the “United States, its allies, and the Coalition…will reduce the number of U.S. forces in Afghanistan to eight thousand six hundred (8,600) and proportionally bring reduction […]
US Peace Deal with the Taliban: An Ethnic Dimension
The US deal with the Taliban has had several dimensions but one dimension that is overlooked is the ethnic or tribal one. All sides involved in promoting the deal, have had an element of the ethnic contribution that facilitated or coalesced into a deal or in effect triumph of the Taliban and Pakistan. Firstly Pakistan, […]
Qassem Soleimani – a Villain or a Savior
Early on Friday morning, January 3, 2020, US rocket attacks in Baghdad International Airport killed Qassem Soleimani, the commander of Quds forces of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), with his small entourage. Among those killed was Jamal Jafar Mohammad Ali al Ibrahim, a.k.a. Abu Mahdi al Muhandis, the leader of Kata’ib Hizbullah and deputy chief […]