Afghanistan: The Hazara Exodus

The Hazara minority in Afghanistan finds itself in a desperate situation. IS threatens to destroy them, and there is little trust in the protection of the Taliban. Many families sit on packed suitcases.

Body search in front of the entrance to the Al-Rasur Mosque in Kandahar, in southern Afghanistan. The mosque belongs to the Hazara community, the largest religious and ethnic minority in Afghanistan. The community pays the guards at the entrance itself.

“People are afraid. That is the main reason why our religious and social centers look different than they used to be. In some mosques, services have been completely stopped,” says the mosque’s imam, Noor Ali Jafari. But on that day only a third of the believers come to the evening prayer.

The terror doesn’t stop

The Hazara communities in Afghanistan have been persecuted for decades by the Taliban and the so-called Islamic State (IS). The Taliban are now ruling the country again and the IS terrorism continues. The last time there was a suicide attack on the Hazara community in the Bibi Fatima mosque in Kandahar was on October 15. 45 people died. The IS then published a statement in which it claimed the act for itself and threatened to pursue all Hazara wherever they are.

Baridad Razayee is the spiritual leader of the Hazara communities in Kandahar. He lost his sister in the attack and, as a consequence, requested protection for his communities – from the Taliban. He has no choice, he has to cooperate with them.

“With the help of their secret service, they are now controlling the security situation. They have set up a checkpoint at the back of the Bibi Fatima Mosque. The area is monitored from there during the day. At night the Taliban patrol the area around the mosque.” The protection only applies to this one mosque of the Hazara community.

Hide and flee

In the meantime, IS has proclaimed its own governor in Kandahar, of all places in the former Taliban stronghold. A declaration of war on the Taliban – which only increases the Hazara’s fear.

“People are emigrating,” says Imam Jafari. “They fear for their lives and that of their families. They also no longer let their children go to school, not even to the madrassa for Islamic classes.” He does not have an exact number of refugees.

Waiting for the passports

Najibullah, a man in his late 30s, came to the small Al-Raur mosque for evening prayer. He also says that almost the entire community in Kandahar is now sitting on packed suitcases. He knows of 50 families who wanted to leave the country in January alone: ​​”They are waiting for their passports. My relatives informed me this morning that they too wanted to go. That alone is around 70 to 80 people. All of them want to go to the Go to Iran. “

One street corner away, Mohammad Nazar sells some of his household effects. His little daughter is standing next to him, without shoes, at an outside temperature of 14 degrees. He worked for the government, later as a taxi driver. To open a business in the shop across the street, that was his goal. But the people didn’t have any more money. Now he is also selling the family’s household effects on the street in order to make ends meet. He too would like to leave Afghanistan. But he lacks the means.

Deep-seated distrust

Spiritual leader Baridad Razayee sees his congregation falling apart. Even if the Taliban had promised that they no longer wanted to take action against religious or ethnic minorities, nobody here believed them.

They preach against hatred and violence in their mosques, and the Hazara imams from Kandahar have come together for this purpose. “We talk in the mosques about the fact that there has to be a unity between us fellow believers. Those who oppose it will no longer be accepted by us,” says Baridad Razayee. “Our common enemy is ISIS.”

The imams want to stop the exodus of the Hazara communities from Afghanistan. But more and more families want to set off. The Taliban have been issuing passports again since the beginning of the week. Shortly after this announcement, long queues formed in front of the dispensaries across the country.