Over four decades of conflict have left the people of Afghanistan in a state of turmoil and pain. According to the United Nations Refugee Agency, millions of Afghans were forced to flee from their home country in 2021 because of violence and poverty.
To add to the ongoing conflict, the United States withdrew troops from the torn country in April 2021, leaving Afghanistan vulnerable to the Taliban. The Taliban speedily took over the country on Aug. 15, 2021.
Since then, devastating violence has intensified displacement and hardship and created a new refugee crisis, according to reports.
Far from the violence, but not from the heartache
“It’s been really hard because right now I am here, but I am thinking about the situation in Afghanistan.”
Zahra is a refugee from Afghanistan who came to the United States last year in September. She has asked that her last name be omitted from this article for her safety.
In an interview with Deseret News, Zahra shared that she came to the United States to escape the conflict and violence. At just 19 years old, she has had to flee from the country she called home her whole life and be separated from her family.
Having nothing but a passport in hand, Zahra embarked on a journey that continues to break her heart as she watches her country and her people be terrorized by Taliban rule.
“It's been really hard because right now I am here, but I am thinking about the situation in Afghanistan,” Zahra said.
Afghanistan continues to suffer from conflict, poverty and discrimination, observers say. Several bombings and deadly attacks plague the cities, leaving refugees, like Zahra, to ache for their people.
Recently in September, a suicide bomber killed 53 people in a school hall in Kabul, Afghanistan. Most of those who died belong to the Hazara minority group, which faces severe discrimination in Afghanistan, per news reports.
One of the most persecuted people in the world — the Hazara
Hazaras are Shiite Muslims, a religious minority amid a majority of Sunni Muslims, who have faced relentless discrimination and abuse from the Taliban and the Afghan governments.
Radical Sunni Muslims, like the Taliban, have targeted this minority group and other religious minorities due to the fact Hazara’s beliefs are contrary to orthodox beliefs, according to Gandhara. Hazaras are seen as an enemy of the Taliban and the Islamic State because of their faith.
Hazaras have endured mass killings and attacks for centuries, earning them the sad title of one of the most persecuted people in the world, per The Atlantic. In just the first six months of 2021, the U.N. reported 20 incidents targeting Shia and Hazara civilians.
The combined attacks killed hundreds of the members of this faith, per reports. Some of the attacks have included explosions, mosque attacks and shootings. In October, ISIS claimed responsibility for an attack that killed 15 people and injured 40 at a Shiite Muslim shrine, as reported in the Deseret News.
“Right now Hazara people have been under discrimination for decades, and right now they are being discriminated against every single day. Every day there are human beings killing Hazara people.”
Now that the Taliban has assumed power over Afghanistan, the fear and persecution persist. The issue has also begun to gain more attention — in October, the hashtag “#StopHazaraGenocide” received over one million shares on Twitter, according to CBS News.
The United Nations has condemned attacks on the religious minority, but the persecution and the genocide has not come close to an end. Zahra has seen these attacks up close.
“Right now Hazara people have been under discrimination for decades, and right now they are being discriminated against every single day,” Zahra said in the interview. “Every day there are human beings killing Hazara people.”
‘We never came here by our choice’
Like many other refugees, Zahra has had to face a difficult adjustment in the U.S., with her education and feeling unwanted by those around her. She described the transition as traumatic and hard.
“I know people don’t like when people from other countries come here and I get that,” she said in an interview. “One thing I want to scream is that we never came here by our choice.”
Coming to the U.S. was a matter of safety for Zahra — she had no other option, she says.
“One thing I want to scream is that we never came here by our choice.”
While she has been in the United States, Zahra said she has wanted people to not just see her as a foreigner as she seeks to belong in the country.
“We are just human beings, and we want to be accepted by other people in the country,” she said.
To add to these struggles, Zahra is also trying to learn at an American university, where most students have been taught to prepare them for subjects such as American history. As she continues her studies, Zahra said she hopes to someday see her country receive more help and become a safer place for people.