Taliban Economy Ministry Deputy Urges Hazaras to Engage with Administration
Abdul Latif Nazari, deputy minister of economy in the Taliban administration, has stressed engagement between the Hazara and Shia community and the administration at a time when criticism over the treatment of Shias and Hazaras has intensified in recent days. He said existing problems should be resolved through dialogue and “rationality.”
Nazari on Thursday posted a video of his speech on X, saying that engagement between the Hazara and Shia community and the Taliban administration was “for the good of the country and in line with national interests.” He added that there is a solution to every problem.
According to him, these remarks were made during a meeting with a number of Bamiyan residents. In the video, Nazari said efforts are continuing to resolve some recent problems, but he did not clarify what those problems are or what solution has been considered.
He also expressed hope that these efforts would prevent a rift between the Hazara and Shia community and the Taliban administration. Nazari said the Hazara community has always played a role in national unity and that this approach will continue.
These remarks come after some Hazara elders in Kabul, at a meeting, criticized the actions of the Taliban administration’s acting minister of justice. According to them, the confiscation of the lands of Omid Sabz township, mistreatment of Shias, the imprisonment of some Shias, and the closure of mosques were among the issues they protested.
Nazari, who is considered one of the few Hazara figures within the Taliban administration structure, said in his video that challenges can be overcome and escalation of differences prevented through “rationality, logic, unity and moderation.” He also claimed that “Afghanistan’s enemies” cannot create distance between the people and the Taliban administration.
Concerns about the political, social and security situation of Shias and Hazaras in Afghanistan have been raised repeatedly in recent years. Bamiyan, where Nazari made these remarks, is one of Afghanistan’s central provinces and is among the country’s mainly Hazara-populated areas.
