The majority of Afghanistan's Shia Muslim's are the
Twelvers, primarily of the
Hazara ethnicity. The next-largest Twelvers are the
Tajiks (
Farsiwan) of the western
Herat and
Farah provinces. Other, far smaller, Afghanistan's Twelver communities include the
Qizilbash and the
Sadat populations.
Hazaras Hazaras predominantly practice
Islam, with most adhering and following to
Shi'a Islam. It is possible that most Hazaras adopted Shi'a Islam in the early 16th century, during the initial years of the
Safavid dynasty. and they have faced
persecution at various times over the past decades. Widespread ethnic discrimination,
religious persecution, organized attacks by terrorist groups, There have been numerous cases of torture of Hazara women, land and home seizures, deliberate economic restrictions, economic marginalization of the
Hazara region and appropriation of Hazara agricultural fields and pastures leading to their forced displacement from
Afghanistan. Due to its majority Shia population, the
Dashte Barchi district in western
Kabul is frequently attacked by the
Islamic State – Khorasan Province. The
2021 Kabul school bombing targeted a girls' school in Dashte Barchi. On 6 September 2022, the
Human Rights Watch reported that since the
Taliban took over Afghanistan in August 2021, the ISIS–K has claimed responsibility for 13 attacks against Hazaras and has been linked to at least 3 more, killing and injuring at least 700 people. The Islamic State affiliate has repeatedly attacked Hazaras at mosques, schools, and workplaces.
Qizilbash Shia Qizilbash in
Afghanistan primarily live in urban areas, such as
Kabul,
Kandahar or
Herat. Some of them are descendants of the troops left behind by
Nadir Shah. Others however were brought to the country during the
Durrani rule,
Zaman Shah Durrani had over 100,000 cavalry, consisting mostly of Qizilbash Afghanistan's Qizilbash held important posts in government offices in the past, and today engage in trade or are craftsmen. Since the creation of
Afghanistan, they constitute an important and politically influential element of society. Estimates of their population vary from 30,000 to 200,000. Sir
Mountstuart Elphinstone described the Qizilbash of Kabul in the beginning of the 19th century as
"a colony of Turks," who spoke
"Persian, and among themselves Turkish." Described as learned, affluent, and influential, they appear to have abandoned their native Turkish language in favour of Persian, and became
"in fact Persianized Turks". Lady
Florentia Sale (wife of Sir
Robert Henry Sale) and
Vincent Eyre – both companions of Sir Mountstuart Elphinstone – described the Qizilbash of Afghanistan also as
"Persians, of Persian descent, or descendant of the Persians, wearing a red cap". The influence of the Qizilbash in the government created resentment among the ruling
Pashtun clans, especially after the Qizilbash openly allied themselves with the British during the
First Anglo-Afghan War (1839–1842). During
Abdur Rahman Khan's massacre of the Shi'i minorities in Afghanistan, the Qizilbash were declared "
enemies of the state and were persecuted and hunted by the government and by the
Sunni majority. The
former national anthem (2006-2021) of Afghanistan mentioned Qizilbash as an ethnic group in the third line of third stanza. ==Ismailis==