Afghan government’s neglect forcing Hazaras to live in 2000-year old caves

Bamiyan, Hazarajat (Dec, 2016): Kabul government’s neglect is forcing the homeless Hazara residents to live in the archaeologically significant caves of the 2000-year old Bamiyan Buddha statues — a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The Bamiyan Buddhas — located in the ancestral home of Hazara in Hazarajat — are two of the archaeological treasures of Afghanistan. The hundreds of caves — used by Buddhist monks some 2000 years ago — have history in the forms of paintings that has been preserved through time.

Recently, it has come to light that NATO has poured at least $110 Billion dollars aid in Afghanistan. Neither NATO, nor the Afghan Government it supports, can show that even 1% of that money was spent in 20% plus Hazarajat region.

The Pashtun-dominated Afghan government has a century-long history of intense persecution and marginalization of the Hazaras.

Attention Citizen Journalists in Bamiyan 

Hazara.net would like to do a major feature on residents that are forced to live in Bamiyan’s caves and the people responsible for the neglect in protecting our cultural and historical treasure.

  • Who are the families living in caves?
  • Why are they living in caves?
  • What has the Hazara government(s) in Bamiyan or the Hazara leaders in Kabul government done to try to resolve this issue and to protect the Buddha site and caves?
  • What has the Kabul government done to solve this issue? 
  • What has the UN done to protect the site but failed?
  • What will resolve this issue? 

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