Karim Khalili, former vice president of Afghanistan, has warned that if the government wouldn’t prevent future attacks on Hazaras, a Persian-speaking ethnic minority community of Afghanistan, they will “attempt anything” to ensure their safety. 

The warning came after targeted attacks, especially in the West Kabul area which is mostly inhabited by the community, intensified in the last few weeks. Khalili, who had served as the vice president for a decade in the Karzai administration, was addressing a gathering of community leaders in Kabul last week, reported TOLOnews.

Calling the attacks “genocide”, he claimed that it is being done to erase the identity of the community. He asked the international community not to stay silent against “such crimes.” 

“They conduct targeted bombings and suicide bombings against one ethnic group and one people to remove the identity of (these) people,” Khalili said, referring to recent targeted attacks on the Hazara community.  

In the past few weeks, schools, buses, minivans mostly in West Kabul have been stuck repeatedly. In the girls’ school attack, over 90 students were killed; around 20 in the recent twin bombings of minivans. 

“No group can ever ensure peace in Afghanistan with force, Afghanistan’s solution is not war or force, or the continuation of a monopoly,” he said adding that the focus of warring parties shifted to war efforts rather than on peace efforts. 

In a recent report by the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, the Hazara community of the country is considered as “vulnerable” to genocide. During the civil war in the 90s, the community had suffered mass killings and even genocide in some places. 

(SAM)