Hazara people warned of what was coming for years. Why have their warnings been dismissed?

Years ago an acute observer said that Hazaras are like canaries in a coal mine. For years they warned the country and the world of greater dangers to come.

The brutality experienced today all over the country has been experienced by Hazara people for a very long time. Their children have been beheaded, their schools bombed, even babies have not been spared. They, better than anyone else, know that the Taliban cannot be trusted nor are interested in peace.

On different occasions, Hazara citizens asked to be protected from the Taliban’s violence but their plea remained unheard.
They were left unarmed at the Taliban’s mercy as much as the army was left at the mercy of the enemy on the battleground. An enemy who was receiving funds and support, while their salaries were robbed and their requests for reinforcement were ignored. That’s maybe why today Afghan soldiers are not so keen to die for Kabul.

When Hazara activists decided to demand their rights their demonstrations were bombed and their demonstrators were shot dead on the spot by the Afghan police. When they finally decided to protect themselves they have been persecuted and condemned by the defenders of a government that lacked all the elements they claimed to defend: representativeness, respect of the rule of law, and monopoly of force. A hyper-centralized and corrupted government that could have never represented the diversity of Afghanistan.

Unfortunately, the alternative that today is knocking on Kabul’s door is even worst and even less representative than the existing one. An alternative pushed for years by internal and external actors. An alternative whose violent nature will hardly be contained to sole Afghanistan.