By Rustam Ali Seerat
For the religious rivals, Afghanistan is another front in the fight for influence.
Last August, I attended a conference in Kashmir. On the way to Srinagar, in the hilly areas of the Kashmir valley, I saw billboards of Iran’s supreme leaders Ayatollahs Khomeini and Khamenei lining the streets. As a Shia from Afghanistan, this reminded me of years ago when I was a child, and Ruhollah Khomeini’s picture was hanging on the walls of my home while my uncle, who had worked in a brick-making factory in Esfahan, Iran, would recite Khomeini’s sayings and poems. I grew up in a prominently Shiite-dominated area west of Kabul, where, on certain auspicious days, the roads of Kabul would be covered with pictures, billboards, flags and Shiite religious texts mostly printed in Iran.
After the fall of the Taliban in post-2001, violence targeting Afghanistan’s Shia population declined. That persisted until the Day of Ashura 2011, when more than 63 Shiites were killed in twin suicide bombings in Kabul and Mazar-e-Sharif. Now, concerns about emerging sectarian violence are again rising due to the country’s increasing Islamic State (ISIS) presence and the ever-increasing series of kidnappings and murders targeting the Hazara Shia community.
Religious tensions has surged in the Middle East after Saudi Arabia executed a prominent Shia cleric, along with 46 other political prisoners. Following the executions, angry crowds attacked the Saudi consulate in Mashahad and its embassy in Tehran. In response, the Saudi government cut diplomatic relations with Iran, with several Saudi allies following suit.
Many Afghans have expressed concern about the possible impact of these events on Afghan society. However, the Afghan National Unity Government (NUG) has been cautious in its reaction to the spike in tensions. Afghanistan’s Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdullah has been one of a number of officials to visit Tehran.
Read the full story at The Diplomat