On Wednesday, June 10, 2020, the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies (AISS) held a virtual roundtable discussion on "Racism: Non-Western Examples". Khalid Khesraw, author and journalist; Shadi Sadr, lawyer; and Mohammad Jawad Sultani, university professor, were the speakers of the program. The event was moderated by Aziz Hakimi, journalist.
Khalid Khesraw said that the word "racism" should also be used to refer to the word "unconscious racism". He pointed that Afghanistan has experienced a long history of political tyranny, part of which has been based on ethnic discrimination. Khesraw asserted that racist systems have always served the interests of a particular ethnic or racial group and protects them against others. According to Khesraw, the reason for the Afghan government's expedient treatment of immigrants in Iran is rooted in the fact that the Afghan government has always felt vulnerable to its neighbors and therefore did not act as an equal state. He went on to say that when there is structural discrimination in a society, people who discriminate benefit at different levels because of the discussion of political and economic opportunities.
Shadi Sadr stated that in international law, racial discrimination is any kind of discrimination, restriction, or prohibition that is based on race, skin color, nationality, lineage and ethnicity, and its effect is to restrict and prohibit. Discrimination against Afghan immigrants in Iran is a systematic form of discrimination at the national and local level, she added. Unfortunately, the Afghan government has also pursued a policy of neglect. She added that the term "racial discrimination" covers a broader position that reinforces laws and policies on the one hand, and their culture and public opinion on the other. When we compare the situation in Iran and Afghanistan to that of the West, the main difference we see is that in West people's struggles against racial discrimination have reached a point where discriminatory laws do not exist, Sadr asserted, but in practice, it does happen.
Jawad Sultani said that the policy of elimination in the history of Afghanistan is not a new issue and that contemporary historiography is based on secrecy and elimination. He stated that "despite active civil society organizations and human rights defenders, the reason why we have not been able to fight the phenomenon of discrimination during the last 20 years is due to the long-standing history of racism in this country." Furthermore, he said that when we are confronted with a history based on opposition to cities which were at once the center of civilization such as Balkh, Herat, Sistan, Ghazni, and in the latest example, hostile treatment of Buddhist civilization in Bamyan, unfortunately, other areas are not immune as well. It is rooted in our civilized geography. In the end, he said, as long as there is no political will, societies alone cannot succeed in fighting the phenomenon of discrimination.