The Pashtuns Against Hazaras

A source for queries is the fact that Hazaras are physically distinctive from the other ethnic groups in Afghanistan” (Justin, 159). “This distinctiveness has also had the effect of making it increasingly difficult for Hazaras to assimilate into majority cultures, either voluntarily or by force (Justin, 159).

In fear of being killed, in fear of being homeless and in fear of being sent the place that they fear the most. The Pashtuns take advantage of their numbers in doing so. This is discrimination based on both, Pride and Fear. The Pashtuns take pride in their race and the Hazaras fear the same.

“’Afghanistan is the land of Pashtuns. It always has been, always will be. We are the true Afghans, the pure Afghans, not this Flat-Nose here. His people pollute our homeland, our wantan. They dirty our blood….

Hosseini incorporation of cultural conventions and hierarchy introduces the complex relationship between Hassan and Amir. Hassan was a member of the Hazara caste; a historically socially, politically and economically oppressed group. In contrast, Amir was a Pashtun, a historically dominant, richer and overall higher caste. The conflict between Hazaras and Pashtuns stems from a difference in religious beliefs. The Hazaras were Shi’a Muslims, whereas Pashtuns were Sunni Muslims. Their conflict regarding the successor to Prophet Muhammed, translated into social, and economic oppression and persecution. “Throughout Afghan History, the Pashtuns [held] the highest influential rank above other ethnic groups, specifically the Hazaras”. Hosseini directly infuses this historical context into the text when Amir found a history book, wherein he learned that “…the Pashtuns…had persecuted and oppressed the

Violence, war, discrimination, and poverty: these issues have long been a part of Afghanistan’s history. Even though things in Afghanistan are getting better, war fills the country, and women and children have to learn to endure abuse, caused by men and the Taliban; they also learn to endure poverty. Considering this, it is no wonder why Afghanistan is in the terrible position it is in now. Many Afghan cities like Kabul are filled with things like violence and discrimination, and the book A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini takes place in Kabul. This book follows the lives of two Afghani women, Mariam and Laila, as they suffer pain and discrimination received from the Taliban and their

3. Hazaras are servants. They don’t get educated and usually spend most of their lives serving the wealthy. Ali and Hassan, who are Shi’a Muslims, have been the only Hazaras introduced so far.

For over 2 centuries, Afghanistan has known virtually no time without war. Beginning around 326 B.C. with the conquests of Alexander the Great, to the Persians, British, Russians and most recently, America and our NATO allies, Afghanistan has been cultivated into the country that it is today through a trial by fire. Regardless of this relentless onslaught of foreign military power, the Afghan people have tirelessly defended their homeland with no outside power ever being able to subdue them completely. Following the withdrawal of the Soviet Union in 1989, the country fell into civil war, torn even further apart by fiercely dedicated tribal warlords. This power vacuum led to the rise of a group called the Taliban. Led by a one eyed man

Clearly the Taliban did not value the lives of the Hazaras (www.Sparknotes.com). Assef was one of the cruelest of all the Taliban. He told Amir this “Afghanistan is like a beautiful mansion littered with garbage, and someone has to take out the garbage" (Hosseini 284). Taliban influence in Afghanistan heightened discrimination and did not unite the country.

“The curious thing was, I never thought of Hassan and me as friends either… Never mind that we spent entire winters flying kites, running kites. Never mind that to me, the face of Afghanistan is that of a boy with a thin-boned frame… a boy with Chinese doll face perpetually lit by a harelipped smile. Never mind any of these things. Because history isn’t easy to overcome. Neither is religion. In the end, I was a Pashtun and he was a Hazara, I was Sunni and he was Shi’a, and nothing was ever going to change that.” (Housini

In Khaled Hosseini’s book The Kite Runner, one of the most surprising motifs is of ethnic division and violence in Afghanistan. The groups that commit such acts , though brutally primitive, have deep set reasons and justifications for their actions. In totality, ethnic violence is an enduring problem for humanity that is due to differences that exist between people of various cultures and ancestry as well as foreign intervention from world powers.

In Afghanistan, the Hazaras have been racially oppressed since the time that they arrived. They were viewed differently because of their Mongolian features and unknown history. The Taliban killed and targeted many of the Hazara people during their reign in Afghanistan. Before the Taliban took over Kabul, Assef tormented Hassan and Amir because Hassan was a Hazara and Amir Associated himself with Hassan. The theme of discrimination against a specific group of people in “The Kite Runner” was expressed through the use of similes.

In Afghanistan, there is a divide between the Pashtuns and the Hazaras; the Pashtuns are upper class citizens who are treated with respect while the Hazaras are lower class, minority citizens who are treated poorly. Because of the contrasting history of the two groups, their responses to the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul were complete opposites. The Pashtuns “danced on [the] street,” (Hosseini 200) while the Hazaras cried “God help the Hazaras now” (Hosseini 213). The conflict between the Pashtuns and Hazaras in “The Kite Runner” directly reflects the real life issues in Afghanistan starting in the late 70’s and continuing on past 2001.

Dog meat for the dogs” (277). Viewing the Hazaras as subhuman, allows Assef and the Taliban, the group he identifies with, to easily attempt to annihilate them, in the ways Hitler, “a man with a vision,” attempted to rid Germany of the Jews (40). Moreover, wealthy Pashtuns are privy to an education while Hazaras are mostly prone to menial and simple household chores. As a Pashtun living in the wealthy neighborhood known as Wazir Akbar Khan district of Kabul, Amir has the privilege of receiving an education and gaining literacy, while Hassan remains illiterate, cooking and cleaning with his father Ali, in Baba’s home. In spite of illiteracy, Hassan’s shrewdness can be seen when he finds a plot hole in one of Amir’s short stories. Amir himself acknowledges, however, the superior and cold voice within which states, “What does he know, that illiterate Hazara? He’ll never be anything but a cook. How dare he criticize you” (34)? The discrimination between Pashtuns and Hazaras is a strong undertone which advertently and inadvertently affects the relationship between Amir and Hassan.

Anti-Pashtun sentiment has also been rife amongst the Uzbek community. In the 1960s the Sitam-e-Melli ('Against National Oppression') group formed which was an Uzbek anti-Pashtun separatist group whose primary aim was to united non-Pashtun to fight against Pashtun dominance. With the Hazaras community hostility towards Pashtuns stems from persecution suffered from the time of King Abdul Rahim Khan in the late 1800s, who systemically targeted and wiped out Hazara communities throughout the country. Their persecution greatly increased during Taliban rule, when the leader of the Islamic Unity Party, Abdul Ali Mazari, was thrown out of a plane to his death by members of a Taliban, after he had gone to meet with group officials to discuss a power-sharing agreement. Furthermore, the Hazara minority's observance of Shia Islam in a Sunni Islam dominated state has also

Hosseini puts an emphasis on the presence of class discrimination in Afghanistan where the Pashtuns are the pure class that dominates over the minority group of Hazaras and the poor in the society. The novel reveals the violence and cruelty predominant in the society against the weak in the society. In fact, people cannot get married in another class that is not of their status and the Hazaras are the most affected class in the story. The Hazaras (people from the low class) are degraded, and this is evident with the emotional, physical, psychological abuse they get from the Pashtuns (Bloom 46). The minority group from the Hazaras is violated by the upper class who are the Pashtuns because they are powerless. A good example is that of Amir and Hassan whereby Amir had established a class distinction between them because his friend was from the minority group and he was the son of a wealthy businessperson in Kabul. Hassan and his father were treated like servants from a low