The Hazara and Shia populations, comprising approximately 10-15% of Afghanistan's demographic, have historically endured systemic violence, discrimination, and exclusion due to their distinct physical features and religious beliefs. With the reestablishment of Taliban rule, these issues have intensified. There has been an escalation of targeted attacks on Shia’s mosques, educational institutions, and areas predominantly inhabited by Hazaras and Shias. Concurrently, the Taliban have repealed the Shia Personal Status Law, removed Shia jurists from their posts, and excluded Shias and Hazaras from all decision-making positions within their governing structures.

The prohibition of Jafari Jurisprudence in education and the Taliban's declaration of the Hanafi school as the sole religious authority in Afghanistan further illustrate a deliberate, systematic discrimination against these communities. These actions are in direct opposition to the foundational principles of human rights and the core values of Islam, which include justice and equality.

The strategic and progressive nature of these policies reveals a concerted effort to marginalize Hazara and Shia communities systematically, undermining their potential for integration within the nation's political, administrative, and judicial frameworks. Such sustained exclusionary strategies portend the emergence of intensified ethno-religious conflicts and the potential descent of Afghanistan into a state of anarchy characterized by the absence of a coherent and inclusive legal system.

About the Speaker

Tawab Danish is an Institute of International Education Scholar Rescue Fund (IIE-SRF) fellow and second-year visiting scholar at Cornell Law School. His research focuses on constitutional law and human rights law.

Danish received his law degree from Albironi University Kapisa-Afghanistan and an LLM at the University of Washington School of Law. He was an assistant professor and dean at Parwan University, faculty of Law and Political Science. In 2019, he was appointed by the President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan as a senior advisor, Speaker of the House of Representatives in International Affairs, where he served until the government fell to the Taliban in August 2021.

Following the dramatic changes in Afghanistan, Tawab and his family relocated to the United States. Since coming to Cornell, Danish has written several papers, given talks at the Law School and in Alice Cook House, and spoken in several classes. Together with other Afghan scholars, he helped organize a conference in September 2023, “The Next Generations’ Initiative: Learning from the Past to Build the Future of Afghanistan.”