Background
Before this incident, Iran was supportive of the "rebel alliance", and the city of Mazari Sharif was one of the headquarters of the alliance. After the capture of the city, hundreds of Hazara, Tajiks, and Uzbeks were killed. UN Human Rights reports indicate that after the fall of the city, "Taliban forces carried out a systematic search for male members of the ethnic Hazara, Tajik, and Uzbek communities in the city. The Hazaras, a Persian-speaking Shi’a ethnic group, were particularly targeted, in part because of their religious identity. During the house-to-house searches, scores and perhaps hundreds of Hazara men and boys were summarily executed, apparently to ensure that they would be unable to mount any resistance to the Taliban."
Read more about this topic: 1998 Iranian Diplomats Murder In Afghanistan
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