The Hazaras are an ethnic group and a principal component of the population of Afghanistan, native to, and primarily residing in, the Hazaristan region in central Afghanistan. They are one of the largest ethnic groups in Afghanistan, and a significant minority group in Pakistan, mostly in Quetta, as well as in Iran, mostly in Mashhad. They speak the Dari and Hazaragi dialects of Persian. Dari, the official language of Afghanistan.
The Taliban, which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalist and Pashtun nationalist militant political movement in Afghanistan. It ruled approximately three-quarters of the country from 1996 to 2001, before being overthrown following the American invasion. It recaptured Kabul on 15 August 2021 following the departure of most coalition forces, after nearly 20 years of insurgency, and currently controls all of the country. However, its government is not recognized by any country. The Taliban government has been criticized for restricting human rights in Afghanistan, including the right of women and girls to work and to have an education.
Pashtunistan is a historical region located on the Iranian Plateau, inhabited by the indigenous Pashtun people of southern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan in South-Central Asia, wherein Pashtun culture, the Pashto language, and Pashtun identity have been based. Alternative names historically used for the region include Pashtūnkhwā (پښتونخوا), Pakhtūnistān, Pathānistān, or simply the Pashtun Belt. Pashtunistan borders the geographical regions of Turkestan to the north, Kashmir to the northeast, Punjab to the east, Balochistan to the south and Iran to the west.
Abdul Ali Mazari(Dari: عبدالعلی مزاری; 5 June 1946 – 13 March 1995) was an ethnic Hazara politician and leader of Hezb-e Wahdat during and following the Soviet–Afghan War, who advocated for a federal system of governance in Afghanistan. He was allegedly captured and killed by the Taliban during negotiations in 1995, and posthumously given the title "Martyr for National Unity of Afghanistan" in 2016 by the Afghan government.
Lal wa Sarjangal, is a district in the north-east of Ghor province in central Afghanistan. The district center is the town of La'l.
The Afshar Operation was a military operation in Afghanistan that took place on February 11–12, 1993 during the Afghan Civil War (1992-96). The operation was launched by Ahmad Shah Massoud and Burhanuddin Rabbani's Islamic State of Afghanistan government and the allied Abdul Rasul Sayyaf's Ittehad-i Islami paramilitary forces against Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hezbe Islami and Abdul Ali Mazari's Hezbe Wahdat militias in the densely populated Afshar district in west Kabul. The Hazara-Hezbe Wahdat together with the Pashtun-Hezbe Islami of Hekmatyar had been shelling densely populated areas in northern Kabul from their positions in Afshar, killing thousands. To counter the shelling, government forces attacked Afshar in order to capture the positions of Wahdat and its leader Mazari, and to consolidate parts of the city controlled by the government.
Hezb-e Wahdat-e Islami Afghanistan, shortened to Hezbe Wahdat, is an Afghan political party founded in 1989. Like most contemporary major political parties in Afghanistan, Hezb-e Wahdat is rooted in the turbulent period of the anti-Soviet resistance movements in Afghanistan in the 1980s. It was formed to bring together nine separate and mostly inimical military and ideological groups into a single entity.
Hazara Town is a lower- to middle-income area on the western outskirts of Quetta, Pakistan with a population of up to 250,000, of which an estimated two-thirds are ethnic Hazaras, with the remainder mainly Pashtuns and Baloch.
The Battles of Mazar-i-Sharif were a part of the Afghan Civil War and took place in 1997 and 1998 between the forces of Abdul Malik Pahlawan and his Hazara allies, Junbish-e Milli-yi Islami-yi Afghanistan, and the Taliban.
The Hazaras have long been the subjects of persecution in Afghanistan. The Hazaras are mostly from Afghanistan, primarily from the central regions of Afghanistan, known as Hazarajat. Significant communities of Hazara people also live in Quetta, Pakistan, and in Mashad, Iran, as part of the Hazara and Afghan diasporas.
As a geographically fragmented state, Afghanistan is separated into as many as 14 ethnic groups that have historically faced divisions that devolved into political violence. This conflict reached its culminating point in the 1990s with the rise of the Taliban.
Anti-Pashtun sentiment refers to dislike and hostility towards Pashtuns, Pashtun culture, or the Pashto language. This includes fear as well as resentment exhibited by non-Pashtun ethnic majorities who have suffered decades of persecution at the hands of Pashtuns, including disappearances, murder, slavery, Pashtunization, and genocide, especially the Hazaras.
The Tehran Eight was a political union of Shi'a Afghan Mujahideen, mainly of the Hazara ethnic group, during the Soviet–Afghan War. They were supported by Iran, hence the name Tehran Eight.
Sarwar Sarkhosh was a singer and one of the Hazara nationalists in Afghanistan. He is the elder brother of Dawood Sarkhosh, a famous singer of the Hazara people.
Commander Shafi Hazara was an ethnic Hazara military commander in Afghanistan. He was a senior commander during the resistance of west Kabul and Hazarajat between 1991 and 1996. In the 1990s he led Hezbe Wahdat Brigade 2 military wing against rival militias and, against the Taliban takeover.
Afghan nationalism, or pan-Afghanism, is the belief or assertion that the Afghan people are a nation. Afghan nationalists promote the cultural integration of all the people living in Afghanistan. The concept of Afghan nationalism politically overlaps with Pashtun nationalism, as the latter favour the ideas of a "Greater Afghanistan". However, Afghan nationalists do not always demand for the Pashtun-speaking parts of Pakistan.
Mawlawi Mehdi Mujahid was an ethnic Hazara rebel from Afghanistan who led around 200 Hazara fighters during the Balkhab uprising. He was a Taliban commander before rebelling against the Taliban until he was killed on 17 August 2022.
The Balkhab uprising was a Hazara rebellion in Balkhab district, Sar-e Pol Province, Afghanistan against the Taliban. It was led by Mehdi Mujahid, and it began on 23 June 2022 after Mehdi Mujahid's forces captured Balkhab district.
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