How Ethnic Kazakhs Live in Afghanistan

In August 2024, the public organization "Cultural Community of Kazakhs of Afghanistan" came to be in Afghanistan. An Orda journalist spoke with its representatives, who described how Afghan Kazakhs live and preserve national customs and traditions.

Human rights organizations worldwide have sounded the alarm about human rights in the country. Haji Asad Oimauyt says that life in Afghanistan is not simple, especially for national minorities.

Despite their small numbers, the Kazakhs have managed to preserve their culture, language, and customs in Afghanistan. Most are fluent in Afghanistan's languages, such as Dari and Pashto, but their native language still dominates among families and society.

Yurts and Solar Panels

The cultural center's chair, Haji Asad Oymauyt, lives in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif. He told us about his family tree, with roots stretching back to an ancestor named Kokkoz. According to family legend, it was he who proclaimed Timuchin Genghis Khan. Haji Asad is the youngest of 10 children. He has two sons and a daughter. His daughter cannot go to school - the Taliban closed it. 

My daughter is 12, my sons are 16 and 14. My father died five years ago, and my elderly mother is ill, so we look after her. My daughter was about to enter the seventh grade when the Taliban closed the school, so she cannot continue her studies. I am educated, but my wife stopped studying after the sixth grade, and now she stays at home.

About three thousand Kazakh families are currently in the city, and more than 30 are his relatives. Most ethnic Kazakhs in Afghanistan live in traditional yurts, weave, make felt, breed horses, and make kumys and Kurt. Their ancestors brought yurts from Kazakh lands more than 150 years ago, and many families cherish them as heirlooms. Locals use solar panels to generate electricity. 

According to Haji Asad, the opening of the national cultural center was no easy task. The government did not give permission for quite some time. The center's primary goal is to help the national minority preserve its roots and support those who want to return to their homeland.

The Afghan government did not allow us to open a cultural center. I went to Kabul and documented our Kazakh identity. I contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and received a corresponding stamp on the document. After we confirmed our Kazakh identity, we were allowed to open the cultural center. 

The man said that he sent a letter to the Kazakh Embassy in Kabul on behalf of the center. No one has contacted them yet. The cultural center unites Kazakhs from different tribes living in Afghanistan.

We created this cultural center to preserve the Kazakh culture in this region. There are Kipchaks and Kangly here, everyone knows their clans. We try to ensure that the younger generation does not forget their roots and does not lose their identity, regardless of the country and area in which they live now. Our goal is to support the Kazakhs, find our fellow tribes and help them preserve their culture. If they want to return to their homeland, we will be happy to help. Wherever we are, we must remember that we are Kazakhs, noted Khadzhi Asad Oymauyt.

Haji Asad registered a Facebook page for the Cultural Community of Kazakhs in Afghanistan. He publishes information about local Kazakhs and videos about their daily life there. He finances the center.

We are planning to open Kazakh language courses for those who are starting to forget their native language. No one helped us. I invested money myself to create this cultural center.

He noted the importance of humanitarian aid coming from Kazakhstan. But this aid is intended for all the people of Afghanistan. Our country periodically sends large quantities of grain, flour, and other products to Kabul.

In response to our inquiry, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported:

The Government of Kazakhstan provides humanitarian aid to Afghanistan without making separate deliveries specifically directed to the Kazakh diaspora.

Haji Asad admitted that the situation of ethnic Kazakhs in Afghanistan is troublesome, and therefore many hope to return to their historical homeland. The embassy does not help them, he claims. 

Our social situation here is very bad. Some live in the mountains, some in the cities. Women cannot go outside and sit at home all the time. Well-educated people go to work every day but earn little. If they do not work every day, they will begin to starve. Even the most educated sometimes work at night to earn money for food. Those who live in the mountains have some livestock and somehow get by. They have horses and sheep, they run their own farm. But with the arrival of the drought, their situation worsened. The number of sheep decreased. My father dreamed of going to Kazakhstan. We want to return to our homeland. Now Afghan Kazakhs are eager to return to their country, but the embassy does not help us. Many who try to leave are told that they are not Kazakhs. We hope to resolve these problems. If Kazakhs are given the opportunity to return to their historical homeland, they will not stay here, said Hadji Assad Oymauyt. 

He believes that Kazakhs have not integrated into the local community for more than 200 years despite ethnic diversity in families.

The first migrants arrived here during the Dzungar invasion in the 1750s. At that time, representatives of the Jalayyr, Kypshak, Konyrat, Naiman and Kanly clans moved to these lands. After Khan Kenesary was defeated by the Russian Empire in 1847, Kazakhs from the Younger Zhuz, including the Alimuly and Shomekey clans, migrated here. The next wave of migration was in the 1930s during the Asharshylyk (famine - Ed.).

If You Don't pray, You Get Beaten

Another Afghan Kazakh, also a Mazar-i-Sharif resident, who dreams of coming to Kazakhstan is 32-year-old Sher Mohammed. His ancestors arrived in Afghanistan from Qyzylorda in 1929 during the famine. He cares for his elderly mother and a family with two children. Even though Sher Mohammed was born in Afghanistan, he calls Kazakhstan his homeland and hopes to move to the land of his ancestors.

He also works at the center "Cultural Community of Kazakhs in Afghanistan."

I am 32 years old. I am from the Konyrat clan, with a branch inside called Bozhban. I have two children, a wife and an elderly mother. My children do not go to school. We speak a little Kazakh. The native land of our ancestors is Kazakhstan. We want to move there,he said. 

Sher Mohammed says being a Kazakh in Afghanistan is very difficult. He and other diaspora members constantly face, like other national minorities, unfair treatment. Sometimes, their property is taken away.

It is difficult for him to accept local customs, especially religious norms.

People are constantly punished here for not observing religious rituals. Kazakhs cannot play the dombra freely because music is prohibited by the canons of Islam. If you do not pray or do not have a beard, you can be beaten.

Sher Mohammed told of his unsuccessful attempt to become a landowner. Six years ago, he saved money to buy land. He still does not own the land but has not received his money back. 

This is such an injustice. And we encounter such an attitude at every step. I have filed complaints with the authorized bodies, but no one protects my rights. We cannot have our own land and property here. Kazakhs have many difficulties here. And I have experienced almost all of them myself. Many nationalities live here, many people, but Kazakhs are the least among them,  the man noted. 

Orda sent a request to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We asked the Foreign Ministry how our country maintains ties with ethnic Kazakhs from Afghanistan, how many people moved to Kazakhstan after 2021, and how to obtain a Qandas status to immigrate to our country. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs answered that our embassy interacts with Afghan Kazakhs "through the provision of consular services." 

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan does not have precise information about the number of ethnic Kazakhs living in Afghanistan for a number of objective reasons,  the department noted. 

The Ministry also has no information about how many Kazakhs have returned to their historical homeland from Afghanistan.

At the same time, our government reports on strengthening bilateral relations with Afghanistan.

Deputy Prime Minister Serik Zhumagarin has repeatedly visited Kabul. The last time he visited the capital of Afghanistan was in spring 2024 to participate in the opening of the Kazakh-Afghan business forum.  

We propose to consider cooperation in the chemical industry and the mining and metallurgical complex, in the implementation of joint projects in Afghanistan in the field of geological exploration, extraction and processing of solid minerals, as well as in the IT sector, the Deputy Prime Minister noted at the time.

President Toqayev has also noted that he sees the active involvement of Afghanistan in regional relations as one of our country's crucial foreign policy tasks. In May 2024, he stated:

Afghanistan should be the focus of our mutual attention. Complex, multidirectional processes are taking place in this country. It must be acknowledged that there are certain signs of stabilization and economic recovery in this country. On the other hand, high risks associated with the activity of international terrorist organizations remain.

For Kazakhs living in Afghanistan, increased cooperation between the two countries means little. They have specific day-to-day problems. Their biggest concern is returning to their historical homeland. Many cannot prove their ethnicity to receive the status of a Qandas. As our interlocutors told us, they have high hopes for the Otandastar Qory Foundation, which helps Kazakhs from all over the world return to the land of their ancestors.

The foundation's web platform Yerulik.kz has details about obtaining the status.

 Original Author: Aliya Askarova