Afghanistan Suffering Under the Taliban
High school female students in Afghanistan were left with tears after the Taliban kept girls schools closed, back-tracking from their earlier promise. The schools were to reopen on Wednesday, 23rd March, after the Taliban’s so-called ‘Ministry of Education’ had already made an announcement a week earlier. Nevertheless, many girl students, with unparalleled excitement and hope, […]
All-time Victim: Women of Afghanistan
After 20 years of struggle for democracy and women’s rights in Afghanistan, the country turned to a black death hole — hundreds of thousands of Afghans trying to escape the country after the Taliban returned to power on August 15, 2021. Listen to Audio version of this article on Bolaq’s YouTube Channel Though there is […]
Hazara Genocide Remembrance and Solidarity Week: 25 September to 1st October
In the aftermath of 2nd Anglo Afghan War (1879 – 1880) and decisive British military victory over Ayub Khan in the battle of Baba Wali just outside southern Afghan city of Kandahar, the British selected Amir Abdur Rehman as new Amir of Afghanistan, who in return not only ratified the Treaty of Gandamak but also […]
Advocating Hazara Cause and Recognition of Hazara Genocide: The lessons we could learn from Armenian US community
On 24th of April, 2021 the US president Joe Biden called Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish President, and informed him that US government would formally recognize and acknowledge the Armenian killings of 1915 – 23 by Ottoman Empire as genocide. The announcement came more than a century after the mass killings of Armenians by the Ottoman […]
Why An Islamic Emirate in Afghanistan is a Harbinger of Chaos?
After only a short episode of optimistic brouhaha, the situation in Afghanistan seems to be getting realistic, and, therefore, obnoxious. The prognostications of a peace deal between Taliban and the representatives of a republic system in the country are now figments of imagination. Taliban, looking at the exhausted international troops withdrawing, appear to be overzealous […]
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 […]
State-building and Social Contract in Afghanistan
After almost 20 tough years, the United States has realized it needs to rethink the political structure in Afghanistan or the state as a whole since it has failed to preserve a social contract. Or, looking at the scenario, it would be appropriate to say it was never the intention to build the Afghan state […]
Conversion to Islam: The process of Shi’ization of the Hazaras (part 2)
Conversion to Islam: The process of Shi’ization of the Hazaras (Part 1) Since the theories described in the first episode do not paint a clear picture of the Hazaras’ Shia orientation, so now we try to look at it from a new angle that is the conversion of the Mongol Il-Khanids in Persia and its […]
US-led State-building in Afghanistan and Survival of the Warlords
Post 9/11 US-led state-building efforts in Afghanistan have not been able to strengthen political structure and resolve social issues, or they have never intended to do so. There is a possibility that these efforts were never directed to such a cause; rather, they were to give only an impression of state-building, while the US intervention […]
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 […]