Qualla: Hazarajat

Hazarajat: Introduction

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Temorhamid2019, CC BY-SA 4.0. The 10th-century geographer Estakhri described the mountains of Ghor, in what is now northwestern Hazarajat, as "the only region surrounded by Islamic territories and yet inhabited by infidels." A thousand years later, the description still captures something essential about this place. Hazarajat is Afghanistan's central highlands, a vast mountainous zone among the Koh-e Baba range and the western Hindu Kush where peaks reach 17,000 feet, where the Salang Pass is blocked by snow six months of every year, and where the people who live there, the Hazara, have maintained a distinct identity through centuries of invasion, persecution, and neglect.

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Image: Temorhamid2019 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Hazarajat: The Roof of Afghanistan's Rivers

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Officer, Public domain. Hazarajat is the hydrological heart of Afghanistan. The Kabul, Helmand, Arghandab, Hari, Murghab, Balkh, and Kunduz rivers all originate in these highlands, flowing outward to irrigate the lowland plains that sustain the country's agriculture. The region spans the provinces of Ba...

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Image: Officer | Public domain

Hazarajat: Silk Road and Shattered Buddhas

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit PHGCOM, CC BY-SA 3.0. The northeastern corner of Hazarajat holds Bamyan, which stood for centuries as a center of Buddhism and a critical caravanserai on the Silk Road. The town sits at 7,500 feet, hemmed in by the Hindu Kush to the north and the Koh-i Baba to the south, accessible only through mounta...

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Image: PHGCOM | CC BY-SA 3.0

Hazarajat: The Great Unknown Highlands

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Minahatithan (uploader), CC BY-SA 4.0. Until the late 19th century, Hazarajat existed largely beyond the reach of any central authority. Local chieftains governed, caravans rarely passed through, and even Afghanistan's Kuchi nomads, who migrated between the Amu Darya and the Indus, hesitated to graze their flocks ther...

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Image: Minahatithan (uploader) | CC BY-SA 4.0

Hazarajat: Persecution as Policy

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Minahatithan (uploader), CC BY-SA 4.0. The isolation ended violently under Abdur Rahman Khan, who in the late 19th century extended Kabul's authority into the Hazarajat with deliberate brutality. The Hazara, a predominantly Shia people in a Sunni-dominated state, were singled out as threats. Abdur Rahman Khan himself ...

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Image: Minahatithan (uploader) | CC BY-SA 4.0

Hazarajat: The Mountains Endure

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Niazof, CC BY 4.0. Hazarajat does not exist as an official administrative region. Its boundaries are ethnic and religious rather than bureaucratic, encompassing the provinces where Hazara people form a majority. The Hazaragi dialect of Persian varies from district to district, the accents of Behsud...

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Image: Niazof | CC BY 4.0