KABUL: Hundreds of Hazara worshipers overflowed from the mosque on the outskirts of the Afghan capital on Friday, touching their forehead to the ground when they participated in the most important prayer in a week.
Long persecuted by the Taliban and Islamic State for their Shiite faith, members of the minority ethnic group said they were less threatened since the Taliban won power on August 15.
“Previously, during Friday prayers we would be afraid of attacks from terrorist groups, especially,” Mahdi Hassanzadah told AFP.
“For now the threat is reduced.” But after holding the top position in the US-backed government before, they were afraid of future consequences closed from the New Taliban acting administration – consisting of hardline militants from the group’s old guards.
“It consists mostly of one ethnic,” Hassanzadah said, referring to Pashtun who dominated the Taliban and was the biggest group of Afghanistan.
“We did not see the participation of Hazara, which was a big problem,” he told AFP.
Hazara formed most of the country’s Shiite minority, and was feared by the Taliban – hard lines of Sunni Islamic branches – could return to them, as they did during the last regime in the late 1990s.
They have suffered the most violent attacks in Afghanistan, with demonstrations that are bombed, the hospital is targeted and the commuters are ambushed.
In May, an Islamic state suicide bomber targets a school of only 1.6 kilometers (one mile) away from the mosque, killing more than 80 female students.
In Hazara, there are Taliban fighters that look less on the streets and checkpoints of Manning, AFP Journalists see.
But like many others in the capital, bringing home salary is their most urgent concern, because food prices soar.
“People who used to work for the government were all unemployed.
There was a lot of anxiety and worried,” said Suleiman worshipers told AFP outside the mosque.
“Instead of the Taliban killing us, but it is better to die than a weak life like this.” Many government services no longer function, while the international community, which has long supported the economy that depends on assistance, hesitating Afghan funding.
“We haven’t seen anything bad from the Taliban but there is no job for people, what should we do about our hunger?” Suleiman said.
Consisting of 10 and 20 percent of the 38 million people in the country, Hazara had been marginalized because of their faith in a divided division.
With some estimates, almost half of their population was slaughtered at the end of the 19th century, with many who were then enslaved during the conquest of their traditional homeland by Pashtuns.
After leading the prayer, Imam Abdul Qadir Alemi told AFP in the mosque he still hoped the Taliban acting government would later become representatives of the people in the country.
“There is no doubt that the Afghans want an inclusive government where all ethnicities, followers of all religions and various segments of the community are represented.”