The city of Kabul, home of Hazaras, shocked by the threats | Taliban Stories

Kabul, Afghanistan – He said his family had come to the Afghan capital from Bamiyan to seek better luck and security six years ago. He settled in Dasht-e-Barchi – a predominantly Muslim area of ​​Hazara Shia west of Kabul.

Last month, 85 people, most of them women between the ages of 11 and 17, were killed in a bomb blast outside Sayed-ul-Shuhada High School in Barchi. One of them was the teenage daughter of Amena.

“We have come here to work, but what we have found is death,” said Amena, 50, adding that his family is now considering returning to his hometown of Waras, where several of the murdered girls came from.

The security of its neighbors – a population of about one million – attracts Hazaras as Amen from the war-torn region and those who have returned from refugees life in Pakistan and Iran.

The barracks became a safe haven for the people of Hazara as South Asia plunged into civil war in the 1990s and Kabul became a battlefield for the country’s warring factions.

We are not going anywhere. We have respect, we can not be afraid

Fereshta, a student

But in recent years neighborhoods have been the target of violent threats, many of which have been blamed on ISIL (ISIS), the introduction of mobile phones. The assassination of Hazar that the people of Kabul’s administration have failed to deal with them.

In recent years, the government has made efforts to protect Barchi by allowing increased technical protection during the annual Ashura commemoration. Commemorations of the death of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson have been attacked three times since 2011. President Ashraf Ghani also issued a statement condemning any insurgency in the region.

For the people of Barchi, these efforts were not enough. They say in the Barchi, there is no safe place. Troops have raided training centers, a exercise, ID card distribution center, mosque, room for expectant mothers, and last month, girls’ school.

On Saturday, at least seven people were killed twice a different explosion in the area.

Discrimination against Hazaras

The Hazaras in Afghanistan faced decades of brutality and government-sponsored elections, most recently under Taliban rule between 1996-2001. In neighboring Pakistan, they are under attack armies because of their Shia beliefs, while in Iran, they openly face discrimination as Afghan refugees and take part in wars outside Tehran.

Investigators and officials believe the threats are being used by ISIL to stoke religious groups in a multiracial country, at a time when insecurity is rampant and reports are coming out of regional leaders who have set up militias in the region for fear that the Taliban will return to power shortly before leaving the US.

The departure of the US is part of a peace deal signed by the Taliban, which has been a rebel rebel since being ousted from the US-led government in 2001. The Taliban have since reduced its attacks on US troops but continue to deploy Afghan forces across the country.

Despite the threats, its neighbors – along its many dusty roads that often travel for miles – remain a comfortable, prosperous home for hundreds of thousands of people who know their race and where they live making them feel special.

Fereshta, a college student from Maidan Wardak province, admits to the fears that are approaching another area full of Kabul.

“You can’t escape the fear, they are everywhere,” the 20-year-old said outside a small grocery store.

Economic diversity in the region

Fereshta blames everyone, from the Taliban – who are known to have beaten and killed thousands of Hazaras during their five-year rule – in ISIL, Afghanistan’s government for the security of Hazaras.

“When a community is held hostage for five years and the government does not try to deal with it, it raises a lot of questions,” said a local student, who did not want to be named for security reasons.

Zainab Zafarkhil moved to Dasht-e Barchi from Iran in 2007. At that time, her family’s decision to move to the area was simple. It was safe.

“There was a time when a suicide bomber in Barchi was impossible. It was the safest place in all of Kabul,” a 22-year-old college student said. But recent threats have made him consider moving to the area.

The Zafarkhil family is an example of the region’s economic diversity, which has simple mud houses with unpaved roads that turn muddy in winter, as well as a large multicultural shopping mall where young people sell bootleg Gucci abayas and more recently Phones.

Her family is lucky. As business owners and government officials, the Zafarkhils have financial means to relocate to any part of the city, but for thousands of other families in Barchi, especially those from as far away as Ghor, Maidan Wardak and Ghazni, this may not be the case.

Despite the threats, its neighbors – along its many miles of dusty roads – remain a comfortable, prosperous home for thousands of people [Fatimah Hossaini/Al Jazeera]

Hussain and his wife, Bas Gol, relocated their family from Lal Wa Sarjangal province in central Ghor state seven years ago, before the violence broke out.

She came to Barchi in 2014 hoping to give their children better educational and financial opportunities than they had in Ghor. However, both men and women are aware that returning to their home country without difficulty with more than 130 armed groups will not be possible.

“Coming back cost us a lot of money. We only hope for the best here. Hussain says that even if his family returns to Lal Wa Sarjangal, there will not be enough financial opportunities to support their family.

What attracts people to Dasht-e-Barchi?

Qayoom Suroush, a researcher in Kabul, says that like Hussain and his wife, thousands of families have moved to other regions for Barchi mainly for economic, security and cultural reasons.

“At Barchi you are among your own people, you don’t have to worry about people welcoming you here, because everyone is like you,” Suroush said of the culture that attracts many Hazaras in the area.

Many residents of Al Jazeera spoke to them about the importance of being close to their families and how being in the Barchi helps them to attend religious and political gatherings that are known to be an important part of their lives.

In addition, after 16 years of studying at Barchi, Suroush says the education that young people can get from Barchi is also very important for people from some of the safest and most unstable places in the country.

“Education is very important to the people of Hazaz. In Barchi you can get better education at a better price than other parts of Kabul, ”he said. Like Suroush, some people point to numerous schools, language courses and college entrance courses along the way.

Even for those who can afford to return to their homeland, it often means moving from one insecure area to another.

‘Pashtuns vs. Hazaras’

Farzana Azghari lives in Barchi for the rest of her life.

“We moved here before I prayed,” the 19-year-old told Al Jazeera. It was then that his three sisters, Raihana, Habiba and Hakima were born. Like other young girls who grew up in Barchi, the Azghari sisters were initially a little nervous. They feel safe and secure in their cage.

But over the past two years, Farzana and other residents of Barchi said Shuhada High School was in danger, so the same students began to harass anyone who entered the house.

“For two years none of us carried our backpacks to school,” Azghari said of the fears that have gripped Barchi residents.

When the school was shot, it was Raihana who could not do well. She will be buried, along with many other girls, on a hill shared among the victims of various abuses at the Barchi.

Farzana Azghari, a black, lost one of her sisters at a May show at a girls’ school. Two of her two red sisters survived the bombing [Fatimah Hossaini/Al Jazeera]

Azghari says the threats are orchestrated by groups that want to turn “Pashtuns into Hazaras and Hazaras into Pashtuns”.

The government has twice blamed the Taliban for the incident, including the school explosion. But the military opposes this. No group has blamed the school for the violence.

Recently, Zalmay Khalilzad, Washington’s special envoy for reconciliation in Afghanistan, blamed ISIL forces for this. ISIL blames it on the people of Hazara, the Shia place of worship and their traditions and the Barchi threat.

Fereshta, a college student, lost his friend who exploded. A young friend was one of the 30 people killed in a bomb blast in October 2020 in Kowsar-e Danesh at the Barchi academy.

But it is said that the Hazar people of Barchi have endured.

“We’re not going anywhere. We have respect, we can’t be afraid, “Fereshta told Al Jazeera.

“We will show the world that Afghanistan is not the grave of the Afghan people.”

Over the past few years, terrorists in Dasht-e-Barchi have fought fiercely against civilian organizations, such as the Maiwand Wrestling Gym [File: Ali Latifi/Al Jazeera]