4.8.4. Hazaras and other Shia groups

Table of contents

4.8.4. Hazaras and other Shia groups

a) Background

The majority of Hazaras in Afghanistan are Shia Muslims (Twelver branch).1737 A significant number follow the Ismaili Shia school of thought, while others are Sunni Muslims.1738 Most Hazaras are Dari speakers.1739

The Hazara community has historically faced discrimination and repression under various rules in Afghanistan,1740 most notably under the rule of Amir Abdur Rahman Khan in the 19th century,1741 when Hazaras were enslaved, subjected to mass killings, and pushed to mass exodus.1742 The Taliban also engaged in massacres of Hazara civilians during their previous rule in 1996–2001.1743 Before the Taliban takeover in 2021, Hazaras were targeted by attacks by both the Taliban and the ISKP.1744 Political influence of Hazaras improved under the Islamic Republic,1745 although they faced discrimination.1746

b) Policies and discrimination by the de facto authorities

Following their takeover, the Taliban held a series of meetings with Shia Hazara leaders from various parts of the country,1747 and pledged to provide security for all citizens, including Hazaras,1748 and expressing their willingness to avoid sectarian divisions.1749 Hazaras’ limited participation in de facto government positions1750 has negatively impacted their access to government services,1751 including in obtaining official documents, such as passports.1752 More information on representation of Hazaras is available in section 4.8.1. General situation under Taliban rule. Sources noted a discrepancy between the Taliban leadership’s public stance towards Shia Hazaras and the actual treatment of these communities by their rank-and-file.1753 Kerr Chiovenda noted that there are sentiments among parts of the population that Hazaras are not ‘proper’ Muslims.1754

The Taliban have stated that Shia Muslims are free to practice their beliefs,1755 but they have been restricting ‘religious practices that they considered discordant with their views’.1756 Some Shia ceremonies and celebrations were allowed to take place,1757 mainly in private spaces or in Shia mosques.1758 However, the de facto authorities restricted the observance of Muharram and Ashura commemorations by monitoring celebrations,1759 prohibiting holding ceremonies in open spaces1760 or hindering participation in the ceremonies and removing religious symbols, including in Kabul, Herat, Ghazni, Parwan, Nimruz, Ghor, and Bamyan provinces.1761 In November 2024, the de facto authorities arrested two Shia clerics in Jebrael Herat Province.1762 Although the reason for their arrest was not clarified,1763 local sources told exile Afghan media that the clerics had previously protested against the restrictions on the Ashura commemoration.1764 In March 2025, the de facto authorities in Ghazni Province instructed members of the Shiite council of scholars to begin Ramadan and hold the Eid prayer according to Hanafi jurisprudence, forcing Shiites to perform Eid prayers one day earlier than their religious practice foresaw, and arresting three Shiite religious scholars for not complying.1765 In June 2025, similar arrests were reported in Daykundi province.1766 Furthermore, a local ban on intermarriages between Shias, including Ismailis,1767 and Sunnis was reported in Paktia, Nimruz,1768 and Badakhshan provinces.1769

Shia Ja’fari jurisprudence has been excluded from the de facto judiciary,1770 as well as from school and university curricula, being replaced with Hanafi jurisprudence.1771 The de facto authorities have instructed educational institutions to remove materials and books conflicting with Hanafi jurisprudence and considered contrary to the regime’s principles and policies,1772 particularly those associated with the Shia sect,1773 including in Bamyan, Daykundi, Ghazni, and Ghor provinces.1774 In October 2024, the Taliban have distributed a list of 400 banned books to libraries and bookstores prohibiting their sale and mandating their removal,1775 including those related to the Shia branch of Islam.1776

Shia Hazaras have moreover faced discrimination.1777 Rafiey noted that particularly Hazaras are vulnerable to discrimination in Afghanistan, as they are one of the largest minority, and also due to their historical experiences of facing oppression (including under the current de facto administration) owing to their ethnicity, and their classification as ‘infidels’ by the Taliban.1778 Kerr Chiovenda noted that, although no current large-scale massacres have occurred, past violence against the group by the Taliban suggests a possibility that this may recur in the future.1779

Sources described a perception that Hazaras benefitted too much under the former government, which needed to be revised,1780 resulting in Hazaras being ‘systematically treated differently’ by the local Taliban.1781 As noted by Kerr Chiovenda, the de facto authorities’ treatment of Hazaras has enabled people in ethnically mixed areas ‘to express their anti-Hazara prejudice’.1782 Hazaras have for example been facing derogatory terms relating to their facial features,1783 and their Shia identity.1784 Meanwhile, Saleem and Semple also reported on Hazaras being discriminated by the de facto authorities, but suggested that this was only ‘tangentially related to sectarian differences’ and ‘far more plausibly explained by the history of ethnic competition’.1785

Some sources suggested that the de facto authorities have intentionally excluded religious and ethnic minorities from humanitarian aid.1786 For example, Rawadari reported that the de facto Rural Rehabilitation and Development Directorate in Ghazni distributing cash and food aid to nearly 10 000 families in several districts, excluded Hazara and other ethnic and religious minority communities from the initiative.1787 Likewise, the same source reported on aid mainly being directed to non-Hazara districts in Bamyan and Ghor provinces,1788 as well as development projects, such as road construction and water systems, being allocated to Pashtun-majority districts in Ghazni Province, while only a few small-scale projects were implemented in Shia- and Tajik-majority areas.1789 In Badakhshan and Parwan provinces, Ismaili-majority districts were similarly excluded, with development and public projects directed to Taliban-favoured districts.1790 More information on aid delivery and aid diversion is available in section 3.6. in the 2024 EUAA COI Report: Afghanistan – Country Focus.

Moreover, since 2021, the de facto authorities carried out forced evictions affecting Hazaras.1791 A joint investigation of redevelopment projects in Kabul City between 2021–2024, carried out by the Guardian, AW, Lighthouse Reports and Afghan media outlets, suggested that large areas of the capital were razed and many residential properties and ‘informal settlements’ often inhabited by poorer or displaced families demolished, with reports alleging deaths and injuries during eviction operations, leaving thousands homeless. The investigation also suggested that there were signs that ‘the destruction is in part linked to ethnicity’, as three of the six most affected districts were populated predominantly by Hazaras, and two by Tajiks.1792

c) Reported attacks and other incidents

Hazara women have been facing intersecting discrimination due to both their gender and minority status.1793 There have been claims that de facto MPVPV particularly targeted Hazara young women during enforcement operations of the hijab decree.1794 Such an operation was reported in January 2024 in predominantly Hazara and Tajik areas of Kabul City and other areas.1795 Some women reported being beaten, abused, and subjected to derogatory anti-Hazara remarks during detention.1796 Kerr Chiovenda noted that over-policing of dress codes was reported in Hazara-populated neighbourhoods, and Hazara women have been disproportionally affected by arrests and imprisonment, and faced derogatory comments and treatment while imprisoned.1797

As mentioned, ethnic and religious minorities have been targeted in attacks often claimed by or attributed to the ISKP,1798 and Human Rights Watch has criticised the de facto authorities for not providing the Shia Hazara community with sufficient protection from such attacks1799 which had killed or injured at least 700 Hazaras as of 2022.1800 These attacks have however declined since its peak in 2022,1801 although sporadic attacks have resurfaced in periods.1802 The UN did not report on any violent attacks targeting the Shia Hazara community within the reference period of this report,1803 although the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan noted that unidentified individuals shot and reportedly beheaded a Shia imam in Nusay District, Badakhshan Province, in June 2025, leaving an ISKP flag at the scene.1804

d) Ismailis

Roughly 90 % of Ismaili Shias in Afghanistan are ethnically Hazara, living mostly in the Hazarajat region; some Ismaili communities also reside in Badakhshan Province and are classified as ethnic Tajiks.1805 Followers of the Ismaili Shia school of thought faced ideological pressure by the de facto authorities, including conversion attempts to Sunni Islam, in Badakhshan1806 (which is predominantly inhabited by Tajiks1807) and Baghlan provinces.1808 As reported by UNAMA, 50 Ismaili men were forced to convert to Sunni Islam by the local de facto authorities in Badakhshan Province in the period 17 January–3 February 2025. The men were ‘questioned on religious topics. Those who refused to convert were subject to physical assaults, coercion and death threats’.1809 Rawadari also indicated that, since 2024 and as of the first six months of 2025, at least 203 Ismailis in Shughnan, Ishkashim, Khahan, Nasi, and Maimay districts of Badakhshan Province had been forced to convert.1810 According to Kabul Now, local sources claimed that the de facto authorities link ‘the provision of humanitarian aid to this community with their conversion to Sunni Islam’.1811 Foschini however reported that ‘[t]he battle for local influence and political survival’ in Badakhshan ‘also plays out in the field of education’, and the de facto authorities have emphasised control of religious schools nationally especially in this province, ‘arguably because of concerns about rival or untrusted groups promoting “wrong” tenets or loyalties’.1812 The de facto authorities have established several madrassas across Badakhshan Province,1813 in predominantly Ismaili-populated areas, requiring Ismaili children to enrol and follow religious education based on the Sunni faith.1814 They have banned the construction of Ismaili mosques and other Ismaili religious sites in Badakhshan Province.1815 According to media sources, in June 2025 an Ismaili man, working as a security guard in the World Health Organization (WHO), was killed by unidentified perpetrators in Jalalabad, Nangarhar Province, after allegedly being tortured.1816 UNAMA reported that as of 28 October 2025, no one had been arrested in connection with the killing.1817 A prominent member of the Ismaili community was shot and killed in July 2025 by unidentified armed individuals in Badakhshan Province.1818

  • 1737

    MRG, MRG alarmed by ongoing and systematic persecution of Hazaras, 19 June 2025, url;

  • 1738

    MRG, MRG alarmed by ongoing and systematic persecution of Hazaras, 19 June 2025, url; Kerr Chiovenda, M., email, 29 November 2025

  • 1739

    MRG, MRG alarmed by ongoing and systematic persecution of Hazaras, 19 June 2025, url

  • 1740

    ACCORD, Afghanistan: Report on the impact of the Taliban’s information practices and legal policies, particularly on women and girls, February 2025, url, p. 82; Saleem, M. A. and Semple, M., Peace Matrix for Afghanistan, PeaceRep, 11 November 2024, url, p. 24; Diplomat (The), The Plight of Hazaras Under the Taliban Government, 24 January 2024, url; HRW, Afghanistan: ISIS Group Targets Religious Minorities, 6 September 2022, url

  • 1741

    Hasht-e Subh, Hazara Culture: A Legacy of Resilience and Awareness, 19 May 2025, url; Saleem, M. A. and Semple, M., Peace Matrix for Afghanistan, PeaceRep, 11 November 2024, url, p. 24

  • 1742

    Kerr Chiovenda, M., email, 29 November 2025; Hasht-e Subh, Hazara Culture: A Legacy of Resilience and Awareness, 19 May 2025, url; HRW, Afghanistan: ISIS Group Targets Religious Minorities, 6 September 2022, url; EASO, Afghanistan – Targeting of Individuals, August 2022, url, pp. 130 – 131

  • 1743

    BBC News, Afghan Hazara refugees live in fear of being deported by Pakistan, 6 December 2023, url; EASO, Afghanistan – Targeting of Individuals, August 2022, url, p. 132

  • 1744

    EURAC Research, A traditional code and its consequences: how Pashtunwali affects women and minorities in Afghanistan, 25 June 2025, url; MRG, MRG alarmed by ongoing and systematic persecution of Hazaras, 19 June 2025, url

  • 1745

    Hasht-e Subh, Shared Struggles: Kurds and Hazaras in the Fight for Identity and Survival, 27 September 2024, url; Norway, Landinfo, Afghanistan: Hazaraer og afghansk opprørsbevegelse, 3 October 2016, url, p. 4

  • 1746

    MRG, MRG alarmed by ongoing and systematic persecution of Hazaras, 19 June 2025, url; Hasht-e Subh, Shared Struggles: Kurds and Hazaras in the Fight for Identity and Survival, 27 September 2024, url

  • 1747

    Afghanistan International, Expect Hazaras To Support Taliban Security Forces, Says Taliban Interior Minister, 9 February 2023, url; Adili A. Y., The politics of survival in the face of exclusion: Hazara and Shia Actors under the Taliban, AAN, February 2023, url, p. 22; USDOS, 2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Afghanistan, 12 April 2022, url, p. 51

  • 1748

    Khaama Press, Hazaras are Expected to Support Taliban Security Forces: Sirajuddin Haqqani, 10 February 2023, url; Afghanistan International, Expect Hazaras To Support Taliban Security Forces, Says Taliban Interior Minister, 9 February 2023, url

  • 1749

    USDOS, 2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Afghanistan, 12 April 2022, url, p. 51

  • 1750

    Kerr Chiovenda, M., email, 29 November 2025; Saleem, M. A. and Semple, M., Peace Matrix for Afghanistan, PeaceRep, 11 November 2024, url, p. 25

  • 1751

    International analyst (A), interview 8–9 June 2023, and email communication, 10 October 2023

  • 1752

    Sharan, T., email, 27 November 2025; Mohammadi, M., Human Rights Conditions for Hazaras in Afghanistan Under the Taliban Regime, 7 February 2023, url, pp. 2, 13

  • 1753

    International analyst (A), interview 8–9 June 2023, and email communication, 10 October 2023; Afghan analyst, interview 8–9 June 2023, and email communication, 10 October 2023

  • 1754

    Kerr Chiovenda, M., email, 29 November 2025

  • 1755

    Kabul Now, Taliban Detains Two Shia Clerics in Western Afghanistan, 4 November 2024, url

  • 1756

    UN Security Council, The situation in Afghanistan and its implications for international peace and security, 5 September 2025, url, para. 36

  • 1757

    Hasht-e Subh, Ashura Under the Shadow of the Taliban: Shiites Protest Restrictions on Religious Freedom, 7 July 2025, url; Amu TV, Ashura commemorated amid restrictions and calls for unity, 6 July 2025, url; Ariana news, 10th of Muharram observed peacefully in Afghanistan, 6 July 2025, url

  • 1758

    Kerr Chiovenda, M., email, 29 November 2025

  • 1759

    Hasht-e Subh, Ashura Under the Shadow of the Taliban: Shiites Protest Restrictions on Religious Freedom, 7 July 2025, url

  • 1760

    Rawadari, Afghanistan Mid-Year Human Rights Situation Report: January-June 30, 2025, August 2025, url, pp. 50–51; Kerr Chiovenda, M., email, 29 November 2025; Kabul Now, Taliban Impose Restrictions as Shias Begin to Observe Muharram, 7 July 2024, url

  • 1761

    Rawadari, Afghanistan Mid-Year Human Rights Situation Report: January-June 30, 2025, August 2025, url, pp. 50–51

  • 1762

    Afghanistan International, Taliban Arrests Two Influential Shia Clerics In Herat's Jibril Town, 4 November 2024, url; Kabul Now, Taliban Detains Two Shia Clerics in Western Afghanistan, 4 November 2024, url

  • 1763

    Afghanistan International, Taliban Arrests Two Influential Shia Clerics In Herat's Jibril Town, 4 November 2024, url; Kabul Now, Taliban Detains Two Shia Clerics in Western Afghanistan, 4 November 2024, url

  • 1764

    Afghanistan International, Taliban Arrests Two Influential Shia Clerics In Herat's Jibril Town, 4 November 2024, url

  • 1765

    Rawadari, Afghanistan Mid-Year Human Rights Situation Report: January-June 30, 2025, August 2025, url, p. 51

  • 1766

    Afghanistan International, Taliban Arrests Clerics, Residents In Daikundi For Early Eid Observance, 9 June 2025, url; Kabul Now, Taliban Arrests 70 People in Daikundi for Holding Eid Prayers a Day Early, 8 June 2025, url

  • 1767

    Zan Times, Afghanistan’s Ismailis face systematic persecution under the Taliban, 8 September 2025, url; Rawadari, Afghanistan Mid-Year Human Rights Situation Report: January-June 30, 2025, August 2025, url, p. 51

  • 1768

    Rawadari, Afghanistan Human Rights Situation Report 2024, March 2025, url, p. 45

  • 1769

    Rawadari, Afghanistan Mid-Year Human Rights Situation Report: January-June 30, 2025, August 2025, url, p. 51; Hasht-e Subh, Taliban Ban Shia-Sunni Marriages in Badakhshan’s Nusay District, 3 February 2023, url

  • 1770

    Kerr Chiovenda, M., email, 29 November 2025; Kabul Now, Taliban Intensifies Campaign Against “Banned” Books in Central Afghanistan, 27 October 2024, url; Zan Times, ‘I saw them execute the others’: How 14 Hazara men were killed by terrorists , 19 September 2024, url

  • 1771

    Rawadari, Afghanistan Human Rights Situation Report 2024, March 2025, url, p. 44; ACCORD, Afghanistan: Report on the impact of the Taliban’s information practices and legal policies, particularly on women and girls, February 2025, url, p. 83

  • 1772

    Zan Times, Banning 700 books and 18 subjects: The Taliban’s latest effort at dismantling higher education, 16 September 2025, url; Hasht-e Subh, Taliban’s Ideological Purge: Rewriting Afghanistan’s University Curriculum, 16 May 2025, url

  • 1773

    Kerr Chiovenda, M., email, 29 November 2025; Rawadari, Afghanistan Human Rights Situation Report 2024, March 2025, url, p. 44; ACCORD, Afghanistan: Report on the impact of the Taliban’s information practices and legal policies, particularly on women and girls, February 2025, url, p. 83

  • 1774

    Rawadari, Afghanistan Human Rights Situation Report 2024, March 2025, url, p. 44

  • 1775

    France 24, Taliban govt clearing 'un-Islamic' books from Afghanistan shelves, 20 November 2024, url; Amu TV, Taliban issue list of 400 banned books to libraries, 26 October 2024, url

  • 1776

    Amu TV, Taliban issue list of 400 banned books to libraries, 26 October 2024, url

  • 1777

    MRG, MRG alarmed by ongoing and systematic persecution of Hazaras, 19 June 2025, url; Kerr Chiovenda, M., email, 29 November 2025; Saleem, M. A. and Semple, M., Peace Matrix for Afghanistan, PeaceRep, 11 November 2024, url, p. 25; EUAA, Afghanistan – Country Focus, November 2024, url, p. 123

  • 1778

    ACCORD, Afghanistan: Report on the impact of the Taliban’s information practices and legal policies, particularly on women and girls, February 2025, url, pp. 82 – 83

  • 1779

    Kerr Chiovenda, M., email, 29 November 2025

  • 1780

    ACCORD, Afghanistan: Report on the impact of the Taliban’s information practices and legal policies, particularly on women and girls, February 2025, url, pp. 83–84; Afghan analyst, interview 8–9 June 2023, and email communication, 10 October 2023

  • 1781

    Afghan analyst, interview 8–9 June 2023, and email communication, 10 October 2023

  • 1782

    Kerr Chiovenda, M., email, 29 November 2025

  • 1783

    UN, General Assembly, Situation of human rights in Afghanistan, 8 October 2025, url, para. 65

  • 1784

    Kerr Chiovenda, M., email, 29 November 2025

  • 1785

    Saleem, M. A. and Semple, M., Peace Matrix for Afghanistan, PeaceRep, 11 November 2024, url, p. 25

  • 1786

    Kerr Chiovenda, M., email, 29 November 2025; Rawadari, Afghanistan Human Rights Situation Report 2024, March 2025, url, p. 42

  • 1787

    Rawadari, Afghanistan Mid-Year Human Rights Situation Report: January-June 30, 2025, August 2025, url, p. 49

  • 1788

    Rawadari, Afghanistan Human Rights Situation Report 2024, March 2025, url, p. 43

  • 1789

    Rawadari, Afghanistan Mid-Year Human Rights Situation Report: January-June 30, 2025, August 2025, url, p. 49

  • 1790

    Rawadari, Afghanistan Mid-Year Human Rights Situation Report: January-June 30, 2025, August 2025, url, p. 49

  • 1792

    Guardian (The), Revealed: the truth behind the Taliban’s brutal Kabul ‘regeneration’ programme, 18 November 2024, url

  • 1793

    ACCORD, Afghanistan: Report on the impact of the Taliban’s information practices and legal policies, particularly on women and girls, February 2025, url, p. 37

  • 1794

    Just Security, Hazara Women: How Gender and Ethnicity Intersect in the Taliban’s Repression, 7 March 2024, url

  • 1795

    Saleem, M. A. and Semple, M., Peace Matrix for Afghanistan, PeaceRep, 11 November 2024, url, p. 22; UN Human Rights Council, Situation of human rights in Afghanistan, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, 23 February 2024, url, para. 16

  • 1796

    Zan Times, ‘I was arrested for the crime of being a Hazara and a woman’: The Taliban’s ‘bad hijab’ campaign targets Hazara women, 22 January 2024, url

  • 1797

    Kerr Chiovenda, M., email, 29 November 2025

  • 1798

    Rawadari, Afghanistan Human Rights Situation Report 2024, March 2025, url, p. 42; UN Human Rights Council, Situation of human rights in Afghanistan, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, 20 February 2025, url, para. 49; HRW, World report 2025, Afghanistan, Events of 2024, 16 January 2025, url

  • 1799

    HRW, Attacks Target Afghanistan’s Hazaras, 3 May 2024, url

  • 1800

    HRW, World report 2023, Afghanistan, Events of 2022, 12 January 2023, url

  • 1801

    International Crisis Group, The Islamic State in Afghanistan: A Jihadist Threat in Retreat?, 16 July 2025, url

  • 1804

    UN Security Council, The situation in Afghanistan and its implications for international peace and security, 5 September 2025, url, para. 18

  • 1805

    ACCORD, Anfragebeantwortung zu Afghanistan: Sicherheitslage für Ismailiten in der Provinz Baghlan; Berichte über gezielte Angriffe durch die Taliban oder Hezb-e Islami, 3 April 2015, url

  • 1807

    Foschini, F., Ruling Uncharted Territory: Islamic Emirate governance in northeastern Afghanistan, AAN, September 2024, url, p. 5

  • 1808

    Zan Times, Afghanistan’s Ismailis face systematic persecution under the Taliban, 8 September 2025, url

  • 1810

    Rawadari, Afghanistan Mid-Year Human Rights Situation Report: January-June 30, 2025, August 2025, url, p. 51

  • 1811

    Kabul Now, Taliban Detains 15 Ismaili Shia Community Members in Badakhshan, 7 May 2024, url

  • 1812

    Foschini, F., Ruling Uncharted Territory: Islamic Emirate governance in northeastern Afghanistan, AAN, September 2024, url, p. 28

  • 1813

    UNAMA, Update on the human rights situation in Afghanistan: January – March 2025 Update, 1 May 2025, url, p. 6; Rawadari, Afghanistan Human Rights Situation Report 2024, March 2025, url, p. 45; Foschini, F., Ruling Uncharted Territory: Islamic Emirate governance in northeastern Afghanistan, AAN, September 2024, url, p. 29

  • 1814

    Zan Times, Afghanistan’s Ismailis face systematic persecution under the Taliban, 8 September 2025, url; UNAMA, Update on the human rights situation in Afghanistan: January – March 2025 Update, 1 May 2025, url, p. 6; Afghanistan International, Taliban Forcibly Converting Ismailis In Badakhshan, Claims Rukhshana Media, 28 October 2024, url

  • 1815

    Rawadari, Afghanistan Human Rights Situation Report 2024, March 2025, url, p. 46

  • 1816

    Hasht-e Subh, Murder of WHO Employee Sparks Outrage over Religious Tensions and Taliban Silence, 4 June 2025, url; Afghanistan International, Ismaili WHO Office Guard Tortured, Killed In Afghanistan, Say Sources, 3 June 2025, url

  • 1817

    UNAMA, Update on the human rights situation in Afghanistan: July – September 2025 Update, 28 October 2025, url, p. 7

  • 1818

    UN Security Council, The situation in Afghanistan and its implications for international peace and security, 5 September 2025, url, para. 36; Amu TV, Aga Khan Foundation official shot dead in Badakhshan: Sources, 10 July 2025, url; Afghanistan International, Gunmen Kill Aga Khan Foundation Religious Affairs Official In Badakhshan, 6 July 2025, url