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The Hazara ethnic group resides mainly in the central Afghanistan mountain region called ' Hazarajat'. They make approximately 15% of Afghanistan's population. There are also significant populations of Hazaras in Pakistan and Iran.
Historically Hazaras seem to have Mongolian origins, as evidenced by physical attributes and parts of the culture and language. It is commonly believed that Hazaras are descendants of Genghis Khan's army, which marched into the area during the 1200's. Many of the Mongol soldiers and their family members settled in the area and remained there after the Mongol Empire dissolved in the 1300's, converting to Islam and adopting local customs.
The langage ' Hazaragi' is a unique dialect of the Persian language, with many Mongolian and Turkish elements.
Hazaras are predominantly Shia (twelver) Muslims, although there are significant populations of Sunni and Ismaili Hazaras in the north and northwestern Afghanistan. The Aimagh (Chahar Aimag) Hazaras for instance are predominantly Sunni.
Politically, most Hazaras have fallen under the Hizb-e-WahdatA political party in Afghanistan (also referred to as the Wahdat, Unity , informally representing the Hazara people of the region. The ideological leader of this party was the Ustad Abdul Ali Mazari, who was taken captive during a negotiation by the Talib party since the early 1990sCenturies: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s 2030s 2040s Years: Events and trends Computers, technology Explosive growth of the Internet; decrease in the cost of computers and other techn. The most influential person of the party was Ustad Abdul Ali MazariAbdul Ali Mazari was born 1946 in the village of Charkint, south of the city of Mizar-i-Shrief, in northern Afghanistan, into a Hazara family. That is the reason he used surname Mazari''. He studied theology in Qum, Iran. There he got involved in the muja, who was taken captive and killed by the TalibanThe Taliban ( Pashtun: "students of Islam"), also transliterated as Taleban is an Islamist movement which ruled most of Afghanistan from 1996 until 2001, despite having diplomatic recognition from only three countries (the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan,. The martyrdom made him the symbolic leader of this ethnic group.