Country: Afghanistan
Group: Pashtun
Date Finalized: 3/24/20
Team: Erika Walker (lead), Thomas Chia, Alicia Hernandez
Content Warning: violence, war, homicide
Approximate Time Period: 1997-1998
Pashtuns, also called Pushtan, Pathan, and Afghan, are the largest and historically most dominant ethnic group in Afghanistan. In recent decades, although some political leaders in the Taliban were Pashtuns, most Pashtun communities did not benefit from this and suffered from discrimination, poverty, food insecurity, and displacement (Minority Rights Group, 2018b). There are brief mentions of ethnic massacres occurring in 1997 and 1998 in Mazar-e-Sharif (a city in Afghanistan) in northern Afghanistan at the hands of Uzbeks and Tajiks who are the majority in that region. There have also been continuing reports of violence against Pashtuns (whether Taliban supporters or not) as revenge against the Taliban regime. However, specific details on how many people may have been killed (Minority Rights Group, 2018b). More information could be found about Pashtuns in Pakistan, where communities are currently at risk of violence (Hasan, 2018; Minority Rights Group, 2018a). One news article additionally mentioned that an estimated 30 to 35 million Pashtuns in Pakistan and Afghanistan have been impacted by the United States’ “war on terror,” but again, details specifically about Afghanistan were lacking (Hasan, 2018). Overall, data quality specifically on targeted lethal violence against Pashtuns in Afghanistan is around a 2 because information found was limited but still from credible sources.
Sources
- Hasan, A. (2018, July 25). Is there an ongoing Pashtun genocide in Pakistan? SBS Your Language. https://www.sbs.com.au/language/english/is-there-an-ongoing-pashtun-genocide-in-pakistan
- Minority Rights Group. (2018a, June). Pashtuns (Pakistan). Minority Rights Group. https://minorityrights.org/minorities/pashtuns-2/
- Minority Rights Group. (2018b, July). Pashtuns. Minority Rights Group. https://minorityrights.org/minorities/pashtuns/