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World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples - Afghanistan : Overview

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Environment

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Afghanistan is a landlocked, arid, mountainous and sparsely populated country, with an area of 647,500 sq. km, bordered by Iran to the West, Pakistan to the South and East, the People's Republic of China to the far Northeast and the Central Asian republics of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan to the North-East. Afghanistan is still largely a tribal society, divided into many tribes, clans and smaller groups. Considerable variation in the types of terrain and obstacles imposed by high ranking mountains and deserts, account for the country's marked ethnic and cultural differences.

The country's population reflects its location with the presence of several 'national' minorities. The main ethnic groups are dispersed throughout the country as follows: Pashtuns, the majority group, are concentrated mainly in the south and south-east but also live all over state; the Tajiks inhabit mainly the north and north-east and Kabul region; the Hazaras in the centre (Hazarajat) and in Kabul; the Uzbeks in the north, the Aimaq in the west; the Turkmens in the north; the Baluchis in the west and north-west and the Nuristani the east.

The sovereign territory of Afghanistan is divided into 34 provinces (Welayat) with more than 300 districts (Woleswali). The boundaries of two newly created provinces are yet to be delimited.

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Peoples

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Main languages: Pashtu, Dari (a Farsi/Persian dialect) (both national languages), also numerous minority languages such as Aimaq, Arabic, Ashkun, Baluchi, Gujari, Hazaragi,Kazaki and Moghili. Uzbeki, Turkmani, Pashai, Nuristani, and Pamiri (alsana) amongst others.

Main religions: Islam (majority Sunni Muslims of Hanafi school of jurisprudence, significant minority Shi'a¹. Twelver also known as Imamis, and some Ismaili Muslims), Sikhism, Hinduism, Judaism and Sufism. There appears to be a sharp division between the Sunni and Shia communities.

Minority groups include Pashtun 42%, Tajik 27%, Hazara 9%, Uzbek 9%, Aimak 4%, Turkmen 3% and Baloch 2% (CIA World Factbook 2007).

The total population in Afghanistan is 31.9 million (CIA World Factbook 2007).

More than 3.5 million Afghans live outside the country, mainly in Pakistan and Iran. Since the fall of Taliban an estimated 2.5 million have returned. Note: Exact population figures are not available, as a census has not taken place in Afghanistan since 1979. A nationwide UNICEF/CSO MICS estimate puts the total population at 23.85 million, with 28.8% living in urban areas and 71.2% in rural regions and population growth of 2.5% per year.

The Pashtuns are overwhelmingly Sunni with the exception of the Pashtun Turi tribe who are Shi'a. Significant populations of the Tajiks are also Sunnis, apart from some Imami Shi'a Tajiks living in Western Afghanistan, and the Badakshan Tajiks who are Ismaili Shiites. The majority of Hazaras are Shi'a (Imami Shi'a) though the Hazaras of Shibar are Ismaili Shi'a with a small minority who are Sunni.

Afghanistan's political life has always been dominated by Pashtuns, who probably make up more than a third of the population. They are Sunni Muslims and their language is Pashtu. They share an ethnic kinship with the approximately 13.3 million Pashtuns who are concentrated in the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan, where they are known as Pathans.

Considerable intermarriage, particularly between the Pashtuns and other groups has blurred ethnic distinctions among communities. There has also been mixing between Tajiks and later Mongolian and Turkmen migrants, and some between Hazaras and Uzbeks.

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History

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Afghanistan's modern history has been one of conflict and civil war. The country's first constitution was drafted in 1923. However, the constitutional monarchy that was introduced in 1964 came to an end with the overthrow of King Zahir Shah by the then Prime Minister (later President) Mohammad Daoud in a coup in 1973. President Daoud was himself overthrown by the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), a small Marxist-Leninist party which took power in a coup supported by the Soviet Union in April 1978. However PDPA's ideology was rejected provoking resistance. This led to a civil war, which intensified after the entry of Soviet troops in 27 December 1979.

The Soviet invasion resulted in the establishment of a puppet communist regime in Kabul and ushered in years of further conflict which persisted until the Soviet Union withdrew its troops from the country in 1989 following the Geneva Agreement of 1988. As reported in documents submitted to the Commission on Human Rights and the General Assembly, Soviet occupation was characterized by arbitrary rule. During this occupation the United States began to covertly and overtly support an opposition to the regime which consisted of Islamist groups, through military and financial aid to fight against the Soviet and Afghan governmental forces. Regional powers including Pakistan, Iran and Saudi Arabia each supported their own factional groups, as ethnic awareness and consequent tensions mounted.

According to UN reports, during the Soviet occupation the country suffered serious damage, particularly in the intellectual sphere thereby damaging the foundation for the future. Torture was the most frequently used tool of the regime. Massive summary executions regularly took place and when, in September 1979, the President of the time, Nur Mohammed Taraki, was ousted by his deputy, Hafizullah Amin, a list of 12,000 persons who had been executed in prison was posted on the walls of the Ministry of the Interior.

Post-Soviet invasion

After the Soviet withdrawal, an internal war commenced between the Soviet-supported Government of President Najibullah and the various Afghan factions supported by the US. The civil conflict rapidly acquired an ethnic dimension as people from various localities fled their homes, changing the population dynamics of the state. As a result the population of various localities fluctuated in the numbers of one or other ethnic group. Under intense pressure the Najibullah's regime finally collapsed when Dostum and his Uzbek militia switched allegiance from the Kabul regime to the Mujahideen, who entered Kabul in April 1992. The end of the communist regime yielded the discovery of three common graves, at Pol-i-charkhi in the suburbs of Kabul next to the central prison, and in the provinces of Bamyan and Herat. The Government was convinced that further investigations would reveal other such mass graves. The occupation and ensuing war led to more than 1 million deaths and forced 6 million people out of a total population of 16 million to seek exile in neighbouring countries. A further 2 million persons were internally displaced, several tens of thousands were disabled by anti-personnel mines, and the number of orphans and other persons left without families ran into the tens of thousands.

Mujahidin in power

The incoming mujahidin government inherited merely the symbols, not the instrumentalities of a state. The army too were fragmented, leading to different groups claiming power across the country. The conflict between the resistance commander Ahmad Shah Massoud who occupied centre of Kabul, and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar the leader of Pakistan-backed Hezb-e Islami escalated and continued until 1996.

During this time the education and health infrastructure of the state were annihilated. UNICEF reported more than 1.5 million children died from malnutrition and lack of health care. Afghans of all ethnic, religious and linguistic backgrounds were the primary victims of this war, though more than 3 million refugees subsequently returned to the country through the Government's involvement in two tripartite commissions, with Pakistan and UNHCR and with Iran and UNHCR respectively.

Taliban rule

From 1994, Pakistan supported the "anti-modernist" militia known as Taliban. The Taliban constituted overwhelmingly of Pashtuns, and recruited students form Deobandi Madrassas in Pakistan. The Deobandi's started out as a revivalist movement but is now seen as orthodox and ultra conservative. There madrassas or Islamic schools run in many countries across the world. The Mujahidin commanders form the largely-Pashtun Khalq faction and non-Afghan radicals also joined the Taliban. The word 'Taliban' signifies 'Students' with the professed initial ideology of the movement geared towards making its followers closer followers of the Qur'an. (see below under Governance).

In the wake of the attacks on the World Trade Centre and Pentagon on 11th September 2001, Afghanistan found itself in a new political situation. The Taliban, accused of sheltering the culprits of the attacks, collapsed in the face of the US-led invasion of the country. The US-backed Northern Alliance forces entered and captured Kabul. The initial steps for re-building the country were taken through the signing of a peace agreement – the Bonn Agreement signed between various factions in Bonn, Germany in December 2001. This created the Afghanistan Interim Authority (AIA) and an Emergency Loya Jirga (ELJ), who were given the mandate to decide upon an Afghanistan Translational Authority (ATA). A constitutional Loya Jirga (a type of traditional assembly that consisted a representation of the various ethnic groups within the state) (CLJ) was held within 18 months of the establishment of the ATA, in order to adopt a new constitution.

Despite the introduction of some element of democracy in Afghanistan the country continues to be plagued by tribal battles and violence and insecurity as a result of retaliatory Taliban attacks.

Refugee and internal displacement

Afghanistan's problems intensified with the rapid return of many Afghan refugees who had left the state during decades of war. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that almost 2 million refugees returned to Afghanistan from abroad in 2002 alone while 700,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) moved back to their places of origin. This figure subsequently dropped in the following years as the heightened security tensions and the destitute conditions acted as a spur to re-immigration, resulting in further cycles of displacement.

In terms of the relations between the different ethnic groups within the state, it can be stated that the Pashtuns have largely dominated Afghan politics though other ethnic groups, notably the Tajiks, have, at various stages of history also maintained a strong political influence. Many attribute the worsening of ethnic relations and the emerging tensions between the groups to the Afghan-Soviet war which is said to have changed society significantly.

After the withdrawal of Soviet forces in February 1989, civil war continued between the Soviet-backed government of President Najibullah and the Afghan guerrilla groups known as the Mujahadin (holy war fighters), who had fought against the Soviet troops until their withdrawal. With the departure of the common enemy, differences submerged during the war re-emerged and Mujahadin groups began to fight among themselves. The United Nations offered to mediate in this conflict between various factions of the Mujahadin, proposing a peace plan, although this effort collapsed in April 1992. One result of the UN's efforts was the transfer of power to the Mujahadin faction representing the Tajiks from the north, led by Burhanuddin Rabbani, who became President of Afghanistan in July 1992. President Rabbani's government was supported by Ahmad Shah Masoud, a former guerrilla commander and prominent Tajik representative. Strong opposition was mounted by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leader of the Hezb-e Islami faction of the Mujahadin, which represented the Pashtun population. Burhanuddin Rabbani launched an offensive on Hizb-e Wahdat ('Party of Unity' Hazara opposition party) killing many Hazaras. Amnesty International subsequently reported the killing of unarmed civilians and raping of Hazara women. In Februrary 1993 hundreds of Hazara residents in the Afshar district of West Kabul were massacred by government forced under direction of Rabbani and his chief commander Massoud.

This civil war between the various Afghan factions caused untold misery in the state. While many people sought to rebuild their lives, thousands of refugees also arrived from the borders. There were severe abuses of human rights. Between April 1992 and August 1994, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross, 13,500 people were killed and 80,000 wounded in Kabul alone. It was estimated that more children under the age of five died of disease in Afghanistan than in any other country during that period.

Women and children most affected

As in most conflicts, women and children were among those worst affected by the civil war. Strict purdah meant that many women spent most of their lives in seclusion, and cultural norms further limited their access to health services, education and training. Today nine out of ten Afghan women are illiterate; on average they bear seven live children; and their life expectancy, at 42 years, is lower than that of Afghan men, an anomaly in global population statistics. More than a quarter of a million Afghan women were killed, 100,000 maimed and 300,000 widowed in the civil war, which lasted 23 years. Some 80 per cent of the refugees were women and children, as were most of the internally displaced people. With family structures broken, and men killed or absent, Afghan women have taken on heavy additional burdens, often including sole responsibility for children and disabled relatives.

When the Taliban gained control of Kabul in September 1996 and established what they regarded as an Islamic form of government, their hard-core policies that adversely affected the rights of minorities and women.

With the end of the Cold War, and the Soviet withdrawal, international support and sympathy went into decline as dissent among various factions within Afghanistan were translated into an open civil war. As a result the Taliban were able to consolidate their hold over Afghanistan with little concerted international opposition.

Bonn Agreement

The internationally brokered Bonn Agreement of 5 December 2001, sought to create a governance structure for Afghanistan after the demise of the Taliban. The agreement sought to put in place transitional institutions pending the establishment of Permanent Government Institutions through the establishment of interim and transitional governments.

A new Afghan National Army was created through presidential decree. This army recruited across the ethnic divides as a symbol of the Transitional Authority's commitment to ethnically balanced institutions under civilian control. During this period an effective police force was also established.

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Governance

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Progress was made toward establishing a central Government through the Bonn Conference and the two Loya jirgas (grand councils). Women participated widely in the national presidential elections in October 2004, when Hamid Karzai was elected president. However, Afghan civil society remains severely underdeveloped with more than 50% of rural Afghanis in certain provinces having no knowledge of the new constitution. A good reflection of this is the plight of Shia Hazaras, historically the most repressed ethnic minority group in the state, who have seen little improvement through the changes. While President Karzai did appoint six Hazaras to his cabinet, there has been no less discrimination against the majority of the Hazara population of Afghanistan.

According to UNAMA report (2003) Community Development Councils (CDCs) have been set up in 34 provinces as a part of the National Solidarity Programme (NSP) aimed towards the promotion of good local governance. CDCs, unlike the old institutions of Jirga or Shura have increased the opportunities available for women's participation in village life. However there are few women who are able to participate in democratic governance, are these and mainly from urban areas. In general, due to their suppression in the last few decades, rural women lack awareness of governance issues. Many women have not been given the opportunity to garner a full understanding of their rights. In many cases freedom of expression among women (for instance on issues concerning women's issues and rights of dressing according to one's choice) remain minimal given the extent of intimidation by armed factions and political or religious leaders. Also traditional stereotypes prevent the public-including women themselves-from recognising women's leadership capabilities: as a result women are rarely appointed or elected to high positions.

New Constitution

The new Constitution of Afghanistan came into force on 4 January 2004. It recognizes Afghanistan as an Islamic Republic and as an 'independent, unitary and indivisible state'. With regard to religious minorities, it is interesting that it is the constitutional chapter on 'The State' that protects religious freedom rather than the chapter on 'Fundamental Rights and Duties of Citizens'. Article 2 recognizes Islam as the religion of the state and that 'Followers of other religions are free to exercise their faith and perform their religious rites within the limits of the provisions of the law.' Pashtu and Dari are recognized as the official languages of the state, but mention is made of nine other languages, these are: Uzbek, Turkmen, Baluchi, Pashai, Nuristani, Pamiri (Alsana) and Arabic. All these languages are to be effectively adopted and developed by the government, with publications and broadcasting proposed to be in all the spoken languages of Afghanistan. The educational curriculum however is envisaged as being unitary and based on Islam and 'national culture'.

Discrimination against minorities

According to reports, there is continuing societal discrimination against minorities in the new Afghanistan. This includes restrictions on religious freedoms and the harassment of missionaries in Afghanistan. Social discrimination against the Hazara Shi'as, who have been discriminated against over a long period has continued. Additionally since the previous penal code remains in force, blasphemy and apostasy are still theoretically punishable by death, creating a further barrier to non-Muslim minorities. Conflict between rival tribes and local commanders has led to casualties and insecurity which has impacted on the freedom of movement of members of ethnic groups. A particular instance of this was the heavy fighting over natural resources between rival tribes in the provinces of Nangarhar and Logar. Reports also highlight the effect this had on 10,000 Pashtuns hoping to return to their lands in the northern areas, from which they had been displaced since 1991.

The real challenge that lies ahead for the governance of Afghanistan remains the fundamental question of how to develop the country's economy and create a degree of secure employment and guaranteed and regular national income. This task is exacerbated by the state of Afghan infrastructure after decades of war and disrepair. The factors that have to be reckoned with include: the lack of an enabling environment, the lack of support services including key infrastructure and market access, lack of access to capital and financial services and lack of advanced entrepreneurial skills, knowledge and technology. These factors are aggravated when looked at against gender based demarcations and minority indicators.

Women's rights

The country's new constitution, ratified by the Loya Jirga in January 2004 requires each of the 32 provinces to send two female delegates to the lower house. The constitution states that "the citizens of Afghanistan – whether man or woman – have equal rights and duties before the law". The constitution also maintains: "No law shall be contrary to the beliefs and practices of Islam". Critics of the constitution say that clause will hamper the developments of women's rights in the country.

Despite the barriers, Afghan women have shown great and prolonged determination in their fight for equality. Massouda Jalal became the first Afghan woman to run for president in the October 2004 election. She worked as a doctor and ran an underground school for girls during the Taliban's reign. Despite receiving death threats while she campaigned, she vowed to continue on the trail.

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Current state of minorities and indigenous peoples

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The new constitution of Afghanistan (2004) mention Pashtun, Tajik, Hazara, Uzbek, Turkmen, Baluch, Pahsai, Nuristani, Aimaq, Arab, Kyrghiz, Qizilbash, Gujur, Brahui and others as the ethnic groups. who have the right to Afghan citizenship. The languages of the named ethnic groups are also recognised in the new constitution.

Further according to the Article 7 of the constitution, the state shall abide by the UN charter, international treaties, international conventions that Afghanistan has signed and the Universal declaration of Human Rights. Afghanistan has ratified the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, accordingly it can be held accountable for any racial or ethnic discrimination.

Not denying that the rights granted minorities in the Afghan constitution, Afghanistan nonetheless remains one of the poorest countries in the world, with a devastated economy after 23 years of conflict with mass unemployment, widespread lack of purchasing power and lack of infrastructure and institutions. In the years ahead, this will perhaps be the most significant factor in the country's re-birth, and how it is managed will have a significant impact on future inter-ethnic relations within the state. Ethnic groups such as the Hazara and the Tajiks fear the rising power of the warlords and pro-Taliban forces outside of Kabul. Some women insist on wearing the Burqua fearing reprisal from fundamentalist forces. Nuristanis remain on the edge of economic instability, facing poverty and violence in the region.

Recent developments

The year 2007 has reportedly been the most violent year in Afghanistan since the 2001 US-led invasion. Media reports quoted an internal UN mid-year review as saying that incidents of violence in 2007 were higher than the previous year, which, since the invasion, had so far been the country's most violent one. According to the UN report there were 525 security incidents every month during the first half of the year, up from an average of 425 incidents per month in 2006. These violent incidents range from attacks by the Taliban and other militant groups to bombings and abductions.

The Institute of War and Peace Reporting in 2007 stated that, while international attention is mostly focused on the south of Afghanistan, in the northern parts of the country warlords use violence and intimidation to maintain their hold on civilians. It quoted human rights groups as saying that the government did not seem capable of resisting the power of the commanders, who constantly engaged in brutal assaults and abductions. There is limited information on the ethnic and religious affiliations of the victims of violence and human rights violations in Afghanistan. However, based on the country's past record, it can be concluded that minorities are significantly affected by the violence, particularly in situations of anarchy where warlords/militia leaders are in control.

Limited reports indicate that ethnic tensions are also on the rise in volatile parts of the country. In mid-2007, several people were killed and hundreds displaced over clashes between nomadic Pashtun Kochis and Hazara settlers of Behsood District in Afghanistan's central Wardak province. The clashes were over access to pastures. In July an UN-brokered ceasefire was signed between the two groups, demanding that Kochis temporarily withdraw from the areas; but even UN officials warned that the agreement was a short-term solution.

Antagonism towards ethnic groups in Afghanistan exists at the highest political level, as was evident in the threats directed at the country's independent Human Rights Commission by parliamentarians. In September 2007, MPs in the lower house of parliament voted to restrict the Commission's autonomy, accusing the body of 'political and ethnic bias'. Amanullah Paiman, an Afghan MP, was quoted by the UN IRIN news agency as saying that the Commission repeatedly deviated from its mandate by favouring sectarian and political groups. The Commission leadership has however warned that Afghanistan would be in breach of its international commitment to human rights if the MPs got their way. The fate of the Commission now lies in the hands of the upper house of parliament and the president.

A report released by the Afghan Human Rights Commission in August 2007 on economic and social rights showed that a large majority of the Afghan population suffered from glaring rights violations, including lacking the basics, such as the right to food, water, education and health. Minorities were included in the survey, although the findings were not ethnically disaggregated. The only main finding that was specific to ethnicity was that 17 per cent of people who said they felt left out of development projects attributed it to their ethnic or tribal origin.

According to UN reports, in 2008 the country faced a 40 percent increase in security incidents compared to 2007 and warring factions killed over 2,100 civilians. Just over half were killed by Taliban insurgents and their allies, while a quarter died as a result of air strikes by US and NATO-led forces. There was also an increase in suicide bombings: in 2008 February the Taliban struck with their most deadly attack since the fall of their regime in 2001 killing more than 100 civilians.

Violence, unemployment and poverty is at a record high, and the country is also facing the most severe health crisis and droughts. This is causing serious difficulties in accessing safe drinking water. The new US President Barack Obama lost little time in keeping his election campaign-promise to commit more troops to Afghanistan, with 17000 extra soldiers being sent to join the 38000 already on the ground, and seeking strengthened EU and NATO engagement to tackle the Taliban insurgency and rebuild Afghanistan. Reports have been critical on the lack of coordination between key international actors. Increasingly the focus is on shifting from sole military solutions to cover wider security and development challenges such as police training and reform, reducing Afghanistan's governance and rule of law deficit and strengthening the fight against corruption and narcotics production. Norwegian diplomat, Kai Eide has been nominated as the UN Secretary General's Special Representative for Afghanistan in 2008.

Poppy cultivation has peaked in recent years, with Afghanistan now producing over 90 percent of the world's heroin, UN figures say. This is especially critical because narcotics trade revenues are believed to be funding the war lords and the insurgency, and increasing the corruption of officials in the country. Reconstruction and aid efforts have also given rise to corruption allegations. Integrity Watch Afghanistan, a local independent watchdog stated that real and suspected waste and misspending was turning parts of the Afghan population against aid workers. Aid work has also been endangered in the country because of a perceived link between aid agencies and the US-led intervention according to a report by the Feinstein International Centre. The Taliban are targeting aid workers more and more against the backdrop of the local communities' increasing distrust of aid workers, believing that they support the Afghan government, which they see as ineffective and corrupt. In 2008, 31 aid workers were killed, 78 were abducted and 27 were seriously wounded in 170 security incidents, according to figures from the Afghanistan NGOs Safety Office.

Armed conflict also forced tens of thousands out of their homes. According to UNHCR figures the number of refugees reached nearly 3 million in 2008 with 5 million already returning to the country. The UN Mine Action Centre for Afghanistan reports that most of the victims of mines are returnees or internally displaced people who have little awareness about the risk. With an average of killing 2-3 people a day, in 2008 mines and other explosives claimed the lives of 752 people, most of them children.

According to the Reuters news agency, Afghanistan's Minister of Justice announced on 6 April 2009 that a law affecting the rights of the women belonging to the country's Shi'ite minority is on hold and under review after provoking an international outcry by the US, Canada, Great Britain and the UN. Concerns were raised regarding the planned introduction of the law which legalises marital rape and sets out that a woman cannot inherit any of her husband's assets after his death. Arguably, the draft piece of legislation also includes provisions which provide more rights to Shi'ite women, compared to existing civil law, such as the age limit for marriage which it raises from 9 to 16 and the provision which allows a woman to leave home unaccompanied for medical treatment, to go to work or for her education.

Afghanistan holds its next presidential elections on 20 August 2009. In the general situation of hopelessness and disengagement due in part to the high number of civilian deaths, these elections are essential in the country's political development.

1 The terms Shi'a and Shiite are used interchangeably.

Topics: Minorities,