EBSCOhost Page 1 of 3

Record: 1
Title: Coming up from the bottom.
Source: Economist; 2/17/2007, Vol. 382 Issue 8516, p45-45, 1/2p, 1 Map
Document Type: Article
Subject Terms: *HAZARAS
AFGHANISTAN -- Politics & government -- 2001-
AFGHANISTAN -- Social aspects
Geographic Terms: AFGHANISTAN
People: KARZAI, Hamid, 1957-
Abstract: This article reports on the improving social conditions for the Hazaras, the
Shia Muslims of Afghanistan. Long marginalized, President Hamid Karzai
has instituted reforms to guarantee the legal equality of the Hazaras. The
group has made the most of their new legitimacy, capturing 18% of the
parliament.
Full Text Word Count: 620
ISSN: 00130613
Accession Number: 24117421
Database: Academic Search Premier
Section: Asia
Afghanistan's Hazaras
Coming up from the bottom
The present regime has made things a bit better for Afghanistan's underclass
Dateline: KABUL

"When God created the donkey, the Hazaras wept," runs a particularly heartless Afghan
saying. Historically the servant underclass, the Hazaras, who are members of the Shia
Muslim minority and have a distinctive Central Asian look, have long been the butt of such
jibes. Nowadays it is a little different. A painting in the office of Hussain Yasa, the editor of
Outlook Afghanistan, a magazine, depicts the stereotypical Hazara man: a threadbare street
porter. Yet the basket on his back is laden not with the usual wood or cement, but with a
computer and dangling mouse.

The Hazaras thank the present Afghan regime of Hamid Karzai, the president, for their better
times. In Khair Khana, a bomb-scarred suburb of western Kabul that is a Hazara enclave, the
enthusiasm for his administration and its Western allies is far from the jaded cynicism
displayed by most Afghans. Many Hazaras, such as Ghulam Abas, an oil-smeared fuel
salesman, wish Mr Karzai a long life, thanking him that the Hazaras for the first time enjoy
theoretical, if not yet actual, equality.

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/delivery?sid=a4dbd35d-cdc2-4b79-a8f9-eede3a3c6dee%4... 4/13/2011
EBSCOhost Page 2 of 3

Afghanistan's new constitution accepts Shia Islam as a state religion, and gives all Afghans
equal legal status, including the right to hold public office and to live and work where they
want. As late as the 1970s, Hazaras were still banned from the army officer corps. They have
been largely confined to Bamiyan, a marginal and backward province, since the 1880s.

"In terms of the law we now have equality," says Mohammad Mohaqeq, the Hazaras' political
leader, "but it will take at least another ten years to destroy anti-Hazara sentiment." The
Hazaras won a disproportionate number of parliamentary seats in the 2005 election. The
complicated electoral system bewildered many Afghans but favoured the keen and
disciplined Hazaras. Mr Mohaqeq says they claim 43 seats out of 249, or 18% of them,
despite being no more than 9-13% of the population.

Hazaras show the same single-mindedness in their commitment to education. The Hazara
district of Jaghori, in the southern province of Ghazni, borders Taliban-dominated territory
where hundreds of schools have been burnt in the past two years. Yet 65 schools are open
and literacy rates far outstrip the national average.

Hazara political leaders adopt a conciliatory and pragmatic approach. Mr Mohaqeq backed
Mr Karzai's candidate for parliamentary speaker, despite his record as an ethnic-Pushtun
militia commander accused of involvement in the massacre of 800 Hazara civilians in 1993.
This outraged many Hazaras, but Western analysts say such realpolitik accounts for the
Hazaras' strength (four seats) in the cabinet.

Yet Hazara successes are breeding their own problems. The community's migration to the
cities over the past five years has caused local resentment, particularly in Herat. They are
accused of acting as agents for their co-religionists in Iran, receiving money and business
support in return. Many of the Hazaras who have settled in Herat were refugees in Iran during
the war years, fuelling such suspicions. Iranian cultural influence has grown steadily,
particularly in Herat, since 2001. This is largely through trade ties and redevelopment work,
though charges of more sinister machinations persist. As one Western analyst puts it, Iran is
"keeping its foot in the door". Iranian officials themselves have hinted at their ability to
destabilise Afghanistan as well as Iraq. But there is no reason to believe that the Hazaras
would be Iran's natural ally in this. For the time being, they clearly equate the removal of
NATO troops with an end to their own renaissance--and a return to the divisions that brought
their past suffering.

MAP: AFGHANISTAN

Copyright of The Economist © 2007 is the property of Economist Newspaper Limited and its
content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the
copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email
articles for individual use. All rights reserved. Users may not save or store any or all of the

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/delivery?sid=a4dbd35d-cdc2-4b79-a8f9-eede3a3c6dee%4... 4/13/2011
EBSCOhost Page 3 of 3

content on their own systems or distribute any of the content on a local area or wide area
network (such as corporate intranets or networks).

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/delivery?sid=a4dbd35d-cdc2-4b79-a8f9-eede3a3c6dee%4... 4/13/2011