Afghanistan’s Hazaras practice Shia Islam in a Sunni-dominated country.[1]  Only 19 percent of Afghans are Shia, according to the latest CIA figures,[2] and Hazaras represent the largest portion.  Many Hazaras are Imami Shias, while others are Ismaili Shias.[3] 

The Hazara speak Hazaragi, a mixed Persian-Mongol tongue, and are thought to be of mixed Turkic and Mongol descent.[4] 

Hazaras are traditionally farmers and herders,[5] though many have moved to urban areas in recent decades in search of greater economic opportunities.[6] 

Sources suggest that the group has lived in Afghanistan since the early 13th century.[7]

Demography

The latest estimates indicate that Hazaras currently constitute 9 percent of the national population in Afghanistan,[8] a figure that would put the group’s number at roughly 2.9 million.  This number has shifted somewhat over the course of the past seventeen years, according to CIA figures, increasing from a 12-15 percent estimated range in 1991 to 19 percent in 1992 and then 10 percent in 2002.[9]  Further back, in 1979, Hazaras were thought to number approximately 1.5 million, according to a census that was reportedly severely limited in scope, which would mean that they comprised roughly 11 percent of the population at that time.[10]

These fluctuations may be connected to war-induced displacement, as Afghanistan has been mired in conflict for much of the past thirty years.  They also may be reflective of the fact that, before 2001, no statistically sound census had ever been conducted in the nation, and that Kabul has been known to manipulate population data.[11]  Due to the scarcity of certifiably valid data, determining past population figures for any Afghan ethnic group is difficult.  Various foreign entities, including the U.S. Agency for International Development in the early 1970s and the U.S.-based Population Reference Bureau in 1995, have conducted surveys in recent decades, but these efforts are not regarded as comprehensive.[12]  Furthermore, national attempts at census-taking have been less than complete. A hastily-conducted census was undertaken in 1979, but sources indicate that only 56 percent of citizens were truly counted, with estimates used to fill out the rest.[13]

Geographic Distribution

The Hazaras’ traditional homeland is the central highland region around Bamiyan Province that bears their name: Hazarajat (Land of the Hazara) – a derisive term akin to socially backward that stems from prejudices of Hazaras as poor and uneducated.[14]  Hazaras are thought to be descended from Mongols that came to this region when Genghis Khan invaded in 1221.[15] 

The terrain in the Hazara’s homeland is not optimal for agriculture, making securing high crop yields difficult.  This has contributed to the economic hardship that Hazaras here have often experienced.[16] 

There are also substantial communities to the northeast in Badakhshan Province, and to the northwest in the provinces of Jauzjan and Badghis.[17]

Historic Hardship

In part because their sectarian affiliation has drawn the ire of the Sunni Pashtun heads of state that have had enjoyed a virtually unbroken grip on power since 1747, Hazaras have long been the poorest and most marginalized of Afghanistan’s ethnic groups.[18]  The reign of Amir Abdur Rahman (known as “the Iron Amir” for his harsh rule) provides perhaps the most gruesome example of oppression of the Hazara.  Abdur Rahman, who held power from 1880 and 1901 and had the support of Great Britain, massacred whole Hazara villages, killing thousands – some were skinned alive – and forcing thousands more to flee.[19]  Those who remained were enslaved,[20] women and children among them.  To add to the scourge, Abdur Rahman then gave his Pashtun brethren unfettered access to Hazara land, while levying heavy taxes on surviving members of the group.[21]  Abdur Rahman was evidently motivated by a desire to pacify non-Pashtun tribal leaders and his belief that Hazaras were infidels because of their Shia faith.[22]

Abdur Rahman’s campaigns left the Hazaras severely marginalized, with Hazarajat virtually cut off from basic services and lacking needed infrastructure.[23]  By the 1960s, many Hazaras were fed up with the lack of available opportunities in Hazarajat and the search for employment elsewhere intensified.  It is estimated that between 30 and 50 percent of Hazara men migrated to urban areas during this period.[24]  The group’s socioeconomic status did improve significantly in the 1960s and 70s, but oppression continued.  Hazaras were still legally prohibited from enrolling in the military, pursuing higher education or working in the upper levels of government; these laws would not change until the onset of the Soviet occupation in the late 1970s.[25]

During the fight against the Soviet Union in the 1980s, anti-Shia discrimination served to keep Hazaras out of mujahideen alliances;[26] as the last remnants of the Soviet occupation were shaken and Afghanistan plunged into civil war in the 1990s, circumstances grew increasingly dire.  The violence that erupted under the rule of ethnic Tajik president Burhanuddin Rabbani claimed many Hazara lives.  Trafficking of Hazara women for prostitution – sometimes as gifts for Rabbani supporters – was also widespread.[27]  Large numbers of Hazaras fled to Pakistan during this period,[28] adding to the several million Afghans who sought foreign asylum – often in Pakistan or Iran – during the 1980s and 1990s.[29] 

The Hazara fate did not improve under Taliban rule, which lasted from 1996 to 2001.  In a repeat of Abdur Rahman’s pacification campaigns, the ultra- fundamentalist Sunni Pashtun group declared holy war on the ‘infidel’ Hazaras, massacred thousands of Hazara civilians,[30] razed their villages and seized tribal land.[31]  Hazaras were said to comprise the largest portion of the 2,000 to 5,000 Afghans killed by Taliban forces in the 1998 massacre at the northern city of Mazar-i Sharif; those slain at the 2000 Robatak Pass and 2001 Yakawlang massacres were also largely Hazara. [32]

Ongoing Hardship

Hazaras have been afforded greater political representation in the government of Afghanistan’s current president, Hamid Karzai, and greater representation in institutions of higher education,[33] however, the economic hardship exacerbated by years of discrimination remains, as do lingering anti-Hazara prejudices.  Indeed, the U.S. State Department’s 2006 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, indicates that discrimination against Hazaras at border checkpoints is now a major concern.[34]  Moreover, sources indicate that urban Hazaras are still largely relegated to the lowest economic strata.[35]

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