A suicide attack targeted Mauood Educational Center on August 15, 2018, which killed more than 50 people. The officials of the Educational Center stood up again and resumed educating their generation under the name “Kaj Educational Training Center” this time. Due to the threat against this center, the government of the time had provided them with 20 security guards. When the Taliban captured Kabul, they disarmed the guards and took over the security responsibilities. They talk about “National security” and then, ignore the catastrophic incidents. Over a year, there have been numerous major attacks, each time leaving tens of dead. The number of disabled and injured reaches hundreds. Another incident occurs, the Taliban tortures and then shot dead a former government commander in Nuristan province. The locals rise against the Taliban and take control of two districts, and kick the Taliban militants out. This issue, challenges the slogans of the Taliban, including “National security”. The popularity of this group, and its control over the entire country, has been a mockery among the people, everywhere people talk about it. Suddenly, the day after, in the blink of an eye, around 100 teenagers are being killed in the Dashti Barchi Area. Again, it is a suicide attack and the target is the same Mauood Educational Center except for this time in the name of Kaj Educational Center. People suspect the Taliban. Because this can be a tactic to manage public opinion. Although it is the dirtiest tactic, it is not unlikely from Takfiri groups.
But this time, the victims are the Hazaras, who are the Shiites by religion. These people have been accused many times by the Takfiris, including Taliban commanders, of being Infidels and threatened to be massacred. Zabihullah Mujahid, the spokesman of the Taliban group, condemned the attack on Kaj Educational Training Center yesterday. This reaction is the most ridiculous reaction shown by the Taliban. Because this group itself is the first-degree accused of killing the Hazaras and massacring them. In so many cases, this group has killed the Hazaras. Zabihullah Mujahid’s reaction is ridiculous because he promised to “punish the perpetrators of crimes.”, while this group massacred the Hazaras two decades ago in Mazar-e-Sharif province, and the Yakavalang district of Bamiyan province, and built a Hazara slaughterhouse in Kandi-Pasht area of Zabul Province. These crimes are not hidden from the people of Afghanistan or Zabihullah Mujahid. On the other hand, none of the major catastrophic attacks that have targeted specifically the Hazaras in the past year have been investigated and none of the perpetrators have been punished. So this time the result will be the same.
Indeed, it is wrong to expect justice from a group that committed the massacre of the Hazaras. It is not reasonable to expect security from this group. Years ago, when Abdul Manan Niazi, the governor of the Taliban for Mazar-e-Sharif province, ordered the massacre of the Hazaras and killed more than two thousand people, that was the time that the Taliban revealed their relationship with the Hazaras. At the same time, when Abdul Manan Niazi announced from the loudspeakers of the city that “the Hazaras are not Muslims, they are infidels”, in reality, it showed their intentions for the Hazaras. I think that when Mullah Abdul Manan Niazi announced from the loudspeaker of the mosques in the prayer sermon that the Hazaras must either become Hanafis[a Sunni sect of Islam] or be killed, they made their intention with the Hazaras and Shiites of Afghanistan, Or when their militants wrote on the walls of the houses in Mazar-e-Sharif province that “Tajiks should go to Tajikistan, Uzbeks should go to Uzbekistan and the Hazaras should go to the cemetery.”; they said their intentions loud and clear. Since then, they have shown the way to the cemetery for the Hazaras. Now, if we expect this group to come and provide security for the Hazaras, we are wrong.
Considering the background of the Taliban’s relationship with the Hazaras and the coincidence of this attack with the liberation of two districts of Nuristan province, the suspicion of the Taliban’s involvement in this attack becomes stronger. Even if this group is not involved in such attacks, they will still not mind those attacks that bring them closer to their goal. It doesn’t matter who or which group takes responsibility for the attack, in the end; The important thing is that innocent people are torn apart and destroyed, and there is no one to be accountable for the security. What is worse is that these killings are carried out in the name of Islam and for God.
The Taliban are hostile to modern education. Maulvi Khaled Hanafi, the Minister of Morale Police of the Taliban, recently called non-religious sciences “Mubah” [It is an Arabic word meaning “permitted”, which has technical uses in Islamic law.] and considered teaching them a waste of time. According to this group, instead of learning modern sciences, students should learn how to make mines out of yellow barrels and kill groups of people with them.
There is another accusation of the Taliban group as well. This group is the founder, sponsor, and supporter of suicide attacks in the country. It will forever be their responsibility, if anyone commits a suicide attack, the moral responsibility will return to the Taliban. Additionally, this group still allows terrorist groups to be present in the country and do their activities freely. Additionally, during the republic government, this group provided safe heavens for other terrorist groups, and now that this group has dominated the country, it has turned the country into a base for various terrorists, just like in the 90s. They are responsible for providing the ground for such groups – even if the Taliban did not play a direct role in yesterday’s massacre.
The truth is that the attack on the Hazaras is multi-layered. One of these layers is the same position that the Taliban had defined with the Hazaras in the past. A group that denies the existence of the Hazaras at all. For this reason, in the division of power among all the directorates, governorships, army and police commanders, embassies, deputyships, ministries, etc., they give an incompetent deputyship to a Hazara and claims that their government is an all-inclusive government. These actions have no meaning other than denial.
Another layer is the enmity of the Taliban and ISIS with the Shiites, and unfortunately, these same Hazaras are also the Shiites. If we put the words and behavior of Mullah Abdul Manan Niazi as an important Taliban commander next to the words and behavior of ISIS commanders, we will not be able to find much difference. This layer is also one of the factors that attacked the Kaj Educational Training Center yesterday.
Another factor is the ethnic tensions, which the Taliban are still in the midst of. Removal of the Hazaras, denial of the Hazaras, forced migration of the Hazaras, and usurpation of their lands, as have also brought this situation to the non-Pashtuns of northern Afghanistan, showing the peak of ethnic discrimination of this group. If any group has carried out yesterday’s attack and similar attacks, it is still in line with the Taliban’s agenda and goals. So, for such attacks, it is the right of the people of Afghanistan to doubt the Taliban and their intentions.
Another layer of these attacks is the issue of girls’ education above the sixth grade. The Taliban are generally against non-religious education and take a stricter stance if girls are involved. From Abdul Hakim Haqqani to Khaled Hanafi and Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzadeh, they are all outspoken opponents of women’s education. Educational centers, however, have provided the opportunity for education for these deprived girls at the expense of their poor families. This center is targeted and dozens of girls are killed. This one explosion is enough to convince thousands of families to stop sending their daughters to educational institutions. In this way, the education of girls is prevented; The goal that the ruling regime is pursuing. What now? Shouldn’t we doubt the Taliban?
There are other layers of complexity that need to be put together to understand why such attacks occur. These consecutive attacks have so many factors that work hand in hand and even create a disaster the next day.
One thing should be clear; These disasters cannot stop the new generation of the country; But it severely crushes, wounds and causes complications. Development is the inevitable destiny of every society and no group can block its path, but it can delay it. These attacks further delay the development process of society and the country. In the meantime, the Hazaras will suffer more and witness more attacks. The Taliban do not want to prevent the attack on the Hazaras, nor do they see it in themselves. With this account, many dark days will be waiting for Hazaras and Shiites. The darkness of these days will last as long as the life of the Taliban regime.
Author: Fahim Satooda – Analyst and Opinion Writer, Hasht-e Subh Daily
