Source:

Ethnolinguistic background & maps ("Afghanistan Homepage der Schweiz: Ethnien und Sprachen") [ID 1512]

Document(s): Afghanistan Homepage der Schweiz: Ethnien und Sprachen

Source:

Ethnolinguistic background & maps ("Library of Congress - Afghanistan: A Country Study") [ID 1512]

Document(s): Library of Congress - Afghanistan: A Country Study

Source:

Ethnolinguistic background & maps ("National Geographic - Ethnic Groups Map") [ID 1512]

Document(s): National Geographic - Ethnic Groups Map

Source:

Ethnolinguistic background & maps ("UT Library Online: Ethnolinguistic Groups in Afghanistan") [ID 1512]

Document(s): UT Library Online: Ethnolinguistic Groups in Afghanistan

12.2007 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

Ethnic groups in Afghanistan as stated in the Constitution ("UNHCR's Eligibility Guidelines for Assessing the International Protection Needs of Afghan Asylum-Seekers") [ID 22025]

"In terms of ethnic composition, the Constitution states that the nation of Afghanistan is comprised of the following ethnic groups: Pashtun, Tajik, Hazara, Uzbak, Turkmen, Baluch, Pashai, Nuristani, Aymaq, Arab, Qirghiz, Qizilbash, Gujur, Brahwui and others:

• Pashtuns are the largest group (about 42 percent) and are divided into two main subgroups: Durrani and Ghilzai, themselves divided into sub-groups and tribes. While most of the Pashtuns are settlers, some of them, the Kuchis, lead a semi-nomadic or nomadic life based on animal husbandry.
• Tajiks (about 27 percent) are Persian (Dari) speaking Afghans.
• Hazaras (about 9 percent), Uzbeks (about 9 percent), Turkmen, Baluch, Pashai, Nuristani, Aymaks, Arab, Qirghiz, Qizilbash, Gujur, Brahwui and other smaller groups (13 percent).

The Afghan Constitution guarantees “equality among all ethnic groups and tribes” and affirms that discrimination is prohibited."

Document(s): Open document

12.2007 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

In some regions ethnic minorities face detention, physical abuse and intimidation; they are often denied access to education and political representation ("UNHCR's Eligibility Guidelines for Assessing the International Protection Needs of Afghan Asylum-Seekers") [ID 22937]

"While attempts are being made by the Government to address the problems faced by Afghans residing in areas where they are an ethnic minority and improvements have taken place in some areas, such minorities may still in some regions face detention, physical abuse and intimidation by local commanders and power-holders. Discrimination amounting to persecution of ethnic minorities also occurs, most commonly in the form of denial of access to education and other services and political representation.Afghans of Pashtun ethnic origin from northern and central Afghanistan, in particular some districts of Jowzjan, Sar-i-Pul and Faryab and Kapisa, are possibly at risk of persecution and are unable to recover their land and property subsequent to displacement. Similarly, while most Afghan Gujurs from Baghlan were able to return, Afghan Gujurs from Takhar continue to face serious difficulties as mentioned above.  Generally, asylum-seekers originating from areas where they are an ethnic minority are at heightened risk if they attempt to reclaim land and property."

Document(s): Open document

11.2004 - Source: Danish Immigration Service

Situation of ethnic minorities ("The political conditions, the security and human rights situation in Afghanistan; Report on fact-finding mission to Kabul, Afghanistan 20 March – 2 April 2004") [#27424], [ID 1132]

"The UNHCR informed that internally displaced Pashtuns, returning to northern Afghanistan on ”go and see” visits, have had security problems with the local warlords of the northern provinces of Faryab and Jowzjan. The source mentioned further, that some of the Pashtuns who have been repatriated to these areas have had problems in getting access to resources in the local community. The source added that a number of Pashtuns have expressed that they do not want to return to areas controlled by Panjshiris.
The UNHCR mentioned further that there are also ethnic conflicts in the Ghazni and Uruzgan provinces between the Hazaras and the Pashtuns. In some areas the Hazaras cannot travel through areas controlled by Pashtuns. Moreover the source stated that there have been tensions in Ghazni province between the Hazaras and Kuuchis, Afghanistan’s nomadic people. These disputes were concerning the right to land and water and have not resulted in major fights. The IOM mentioned that they have also been involved in ”go and see” visits in northern Afghanistan. In connection with these visits there have been security problems for Pashtuns. (p. 45)
The CCA did not know of the presence of serious ethnic conflicts in Afghanistan."

Document(s): Open document

2004 - Source: UN Development Programme

Ethnicity was used by political-military groups to fracture and polarize the society ("Human Development Report 2004 - Security with a Human Face: Challenges and Responsibilities") [#29245], [ID 1516]

"Internal strife in Afghanistan has often been characterized by outside experts as an ethnic struggle. Those who throw the ethnic factor into the mix of major root causes for the Afghan crisis base their analysis on the observation that warring factions were formed around ethnic and regional lines. In the chaos of the 1990s, following the withdrawal of Soviet troops, ethnicity seemed to become the dominant factor in the civil war. The Jamiat-e-Islami of President Rabbani and General Masoud, the Jumbesh-e-Milli of General Dostum, and the Hizb-e-Wahdat of Abdul Karim Khalili presented themselves as representative of the Tajiks, Uzbeks and Hazaras, respectively. This enabled them to mobilize troops and justify their existence. The Taliban too fit seamlessly into this ethnic pattern on the basis of their predominantly Pashtun membership and support from the south and east. Factions within the anti-Taliban alliance derived their military manpower from their respective ethnic groups: Tajiks, Uzbeks and Hazaras of northern and central Afghanistan. All factions were extremely ethnocentric, with each having committed excesses against the people of rival ethnic groups on numerous occasions. This, in turn, has been touted as evidence of grievances among ethnic groups turning into bitter internal conflicts.
Some sources suggest that substantial inequality and discrimination over a long time may account for current ethnic tensions. Before the war, Pashtuns dominated the Afghan state. However, the conflict brought a new assertiveness from non-Pashtun minorities such as the Tajiks and Hazaras, who also mounted an effective resistance to the Soviet invasion. There was consequently a shift in the ethnic balance of power during the course of the war. The political motives of interest groups behind the opposition brought ethnic differences to the forefront. Although few resistance parties were absolutely mono-ethnic, they were nonetheless geographically based and thus dominated by a particular group. With the fall of the Najibullah Government in 1992, Afghanistan fractured mostly along regional and ethnic lines. All parties committed human rights abuses, and once atrocities began, ethnic polarization increased. [...] (p. 100)"

Document(s): Open document

2004 - Source: UN Development Programme

Ethnic affiliation plays a more limited role in previous and present conflicts than commonly assumed, say some experts ("Human Development Report 2004 - Security with a Human Face: Challenges and Responsibilities") [#29245], [ID 1517]

"Although some experts equate ethnic groups with dominant military–political movements and see them as uniform bodies, many insist that there has been no real “ethnicization” of the Afghan conflict. In fact, it would appear “...even the relevance of ethnicity as a factor of military and political cohesion remained limited in Afghanistan's civil war, with countless commanders and combat units changing their allegiance several times out of political opportunism and economic incentive – independent of their ethnic affiliation.”
In a report about human rights and reconstruction in Afghanistan by the Center for Economic and Social Rights – based on a countrywide survey in December 2001, when the war against the Taliban and Al-Qaida was at its very height – respondents largely disputed the importance of ethnic-based societal outbursts as the cause of the Afghan war. Blame for ethnic tensions was attributed to political interest groups and military factions, along with their foreign sponsors, who were accused of building regional power bases along ethnic lines and continuing to manipulate ethnicity as a pretext for political revenge and profiteering. Many expressed fear that ongoing ethnically targeted human rights abuses by these factions could undermine the social cohesion of the country for years to come. The United Nations was also criticized for taking up false ethnic divisions at the behest of Afghan leaders, rather than working to bring ordinary people together around issues of common concern. The director of an international NGO was quoted as saying, “I conducted a survey of 700 people on the importance of ethnicity in Afghan society. The only people who raised the issue as important were aid workers with the UN and NGOs.”
Contrary to many common assumptions, the various ethnic groups such as Pashtuns, Tajiks, Uzbeks, Hazaras, Turkmens, Baluchs, Nuristanis and others have evolved into a mix of Afghans with a fairly common culture, psychology and ethos. For example, Pashtuns from the eastern and western parts of Afghanistan have more in common with Tajiks and Uzbeks from the north than with the Pashtuns of Pakistan. A more accurate conclusion may be that although they are ethnically diverse, the Afghans have mingled into one distinct identity, historically, politically and socially. It is this distinction that prevented Afghanistan from disintegrating, as has been the case in ethnically divided countries such as the former Yugoslavia. As Afghanistan moves towards a new political system, it may need to wrestle with the fact that even in democracies, a small group may fear permanent exclusion if political allegiance is based on ethnicity, and one ethnic group claims to be a majority. The incentive to exploit the Contrary to many common assumptions, the various ethnic groups such as Pashtuns, Tajiks, Uzbeks, Hazaras, Turkmens, Baluchs, Nuristanis and others have evolved into a mix of Afghans with a fairly common culture, psychology and ethos. (p. 101)"

Document(s): Open document

17.06.2002 - Source: Institute for War and Peace Reporting

Ethnicity introduction ("Minorities Make Themselves Heard") [#30493], [ID 1513]

"Afghanistan's population is extremely uncertain because of the war and the jostling for power between the different groups.
According to the Essential Field Guide to Afghanistan, published in 1998, the total population, excluding nomads, was 15.1 million, of which the Pashtuns constituted seven million, Tajiks about 3.5 million, Hazara 1.5 million, Uzbeks 1.3 million, Aimaq 800,000, Turkmen 600,000, Baluch about 300,000 and Nuristanis about 100,000.
In addition, estimates for Kuchi nomads, who are ethnically Pashtun in the main, vary between 600,000 and three million."

Document(s): Open document

15.11.2001 - Source: BBC News

Analysis: Afghanistan's tribal groups ("Analysis: Afghanistan's tribal groups") [#30652], [ID 1522]

Document(s): Open document

31.10.2001 - Source: Schetter, Conrad

Neue Zürcher Zeitung: Most of Afghanistan's ethnic groups created only in the course of the 20th century ("Afghanistan - Die Ethnisierung eines Konflikts") [#30647], [ID 1520]

"The dilemma begins with the question of what constitutes an ethnic group. Despite the widely held view that ethnic groups have existed since time immemorial, most of those in Afghanistan were in fact "created" only in the course of the 20th century. Driven by the scientific zeal to classify people according to cultural factors, ethnologists invented a whole series of ethnic groups: the Nuristani, the Pashai, Aimaq, Farsiwan. In Afghanistan the term "Tajik," for example, originally referred to those locals who could not be ethnically categorized. Yet today we speak of the Afghan Tajiks as an ethnic group. The segments of the populace for whom they were invented are often not even familiar with such labels, much less aware of any common identity."

Document(s): Open document

05.2001 - Source:

Dr. Bernt Glatzer: Ethnic & tribal groups ("Dr. Bernt Glatzer: Ethnizität im Afghanistankonflikt, Mai 2001") [ID 1519]

"Die afghanische Gesellschaft ist in sehr viele ethnische und tribale Gruppen gegliedert. Zu beachten ist (…), dass die bedeutendsten so genannten "ethnischen Gruppen" Afghanistans wie die Paschtunen, Tajiken, Hazaras und Uzbeken nicht für vergleichbare soziale Kategorien und auch nicht für politisch handelnde Einheiten halten darf. Weder die Paschtunen, Hazaras oder gar die Tajiken waren jemals geschlossene Gruppen, die in einem Konflikt gemeinsam und koordiniert als Ganzes hätten agieren können. Sie konnten nicht einmal als Kollektiv über Frieden oder Feindschaft entscheiden. Die Tajiken z. B., oft als größter Gegenpol der Paschtunen genannt, stellten nie eine soziale Gruppe dar; denn es gibt weder interne noch externe Kriterien, um die Tajiken von anderen klar genug zu unterscheiden."

Document(s): Dr. Bernt Glatzer: Ethnizität im Afghanistankonflikt, Mai 2001

04.2001 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

Ethnic composition of Afghan population ("Background Paper on Refugees and Asylum Seekers from Afghanistan") [#2265], [ID 1514]

"The population may be divided into four main ethnic groups. The Pashtun make up about 38 per cent of the total population and are divided into the subgroups of the Durani and the Ghilzais, they live mainly in the center, south and east of the country; the Tajiks, or Parziwans of Persian origin, make up about 25 per cent, the Hazaras 19 per cent, and the Uzbeks, who live in the north, six per cent. The official religion of Afghanistan is Islam, more than 99 per cent of the population is Muslims, mainly of the Sunni sect. The Hazaras are Shi’a Muslims.
Pashto, or Afghan, and Persian (Dari), divisions of the Iranian linguistic group, are the official languages of Afghanistan. The Turkish Uzbek, Turkoman and Kirgiz are among the many dialects, spoken prevalently in the border regions."

Document(s): hcr-afgbg-0401.pdf

02.1998 - Source: Schetter, Conrad

Conrad Schetter: Composition of the Afghan population ("Afghanistan zwischen Chaos und Machtpolitik") [#30649], [ID 1521]

"Bei Afghanistan handelt es sich um einen Vielvölkerstaat, in dem über 50 ethnische Gruppen leben. Die größte Ethnie sind die segmentär organisierten Paschtunen, die in verschiedene Stammesverbände zerfallen; die Konföderationen der Durrani und Ghilzai bilden die umfassendsten paschtunischen Stammeseinheiten. Weitere wichtige ethnische Gruppen sind die Usbeken in Nordafghanistan und die Hazara im zentralen Hochland. Unter der Sammelbezeichnung Tadschiken wird die persischsprachige, sunnitische Bevölkerung Afghanistans zusammengefasst."

Document(s): Open document

1998 - Source: Glatzer, Bernt

Dr. Bernt Glatzer: Ethnic groups in Afghanistan are very variable and dynamic ("Is Afghanistan on the Brink of Ethnic and Tribal Disintegration?") [#30656], [ID 1515]

"Anthropologists and demographers have tried hard to count the ethnic groups and tribes of Afghanistan, with widely differing results. The most serious attempt to list the ethnic groups in Afghanistan to my knowledge is that of Erwin Orywal and collaborators. They list 55 ethnic names in Afghanistan. Orywal also cautions that ethnic groups and identities are local categories (emic). They are relative, variable and dynamic. Orywal has listed the following ethnic groups in Afghanistan: Arab (Arabic speakers), Arab (Persian speakers), Aimaq, Baluch, Baluch (Jat-Baluch), Brahui, Eshkashimi, Farsiwan, Firuzkuhi, Gavarbati, Ghorbat, Gujar, Hazara, Hazara-Sunni, Hindu, Jalali, Jamshidi, Jat, Jogi, Kirghiz, Kutana, Maliki, Mawri, Mishmast, Moghol, Mountain-Tajik, Munjani, Nuristani, Ormuri, Parachi, Pashai, Pushtun, Pikraj, Qarliq, Qazaq, Qipchak, Qizilbash, Rushani, Sanglichi, Shadibaz, Sheghnani, Sheykh Muhammadi, Sikh, Taheri, Tajik, Tatar, Taymani, Taymuri, Tirahi, Turkmen, Uzbek, Wakhi, Wangawala, Yahudi, and Zuri.

Source: Dr. Bernt Glatzer: Is Afghanistan on the Brink of Ethnic and Tribal Disintegration? In: William Maley: Fundamentalism Reborn? Afghanistan and the Taliban, London 1998, p. 167-181"

Document(s): Open document