LOSING THE WoT?:

Coming up from the bottom: The present regime has made things a bit better for Afghanistan's underclass (The Economist, Feb 15th 2007)

"WHEN God created the donkey, the Hazaras wept," runs a particularly heartless Afghan saying. Historically the servant underclass, the Hazaras, who are members of the Shia Muslim minority and have a distinctive Central Asian look, have long been the butt of such jibes. Nowadays it is a little different. A painting in the office of Hussain Yasa, the editor of Outlook Afghanistan, a magazine, depicts the stereotypical Hazara man: a threadbare street porter. Yet the basket on his back is laden not with the usual wood or cement, but with a computer and dangling mouse.

The Hazaras thank the present Afghan regime of Hamid Karzai, the president, for their better times. In Khair Khana, a bomb-scarred suburb of western Kabul that is a Hazara enclave, the enthusiasm for his administration and its Western allies is far from the jaded cynicism displayed by most Afghans. Many Hazaras, such as Ghulam Abas, an oil-smeared fuel salesman, wish Mr Karzai a long life, thanking him that the Hazaras for the first time enjoy theoretical, if not yet actual, equality.

Afghanistan's new constitution accepts Shia Islam as a state religion, and gives all Afghans equal legal status, including the right to hold public office and to live and work where they want. As late as the 1970s, Hazaras were still banned from the army officer corps. They have been largely confined to Bamiyan, a marginal and backward province, since the 1880s.

"In terms of the law we now have equality," says Mohammad Mohaqeq, the Hazaras' political leader, "but it will take at least another ten years to destroy anti-Hazara sentiment."

The Kite Runner offers a especially affecting portrait of the way Hazaras have been considered sub-human by even the most decent Sunni Afghans.

Posted by Orrin Judd at February 15, 2007 3:47 PM