Please cut and paste this letter and forward it to the UN Authorities.

A letter of support from Mongolian-American Association of Toledo and Detroit, USA

We believe that the United Nations-sponsored conference in Bonn, Germany was a step in the right direction. We of the world Mongolian community wholeheartedly support the efforts to bring peace to Afghanistan, but we have concerns about the fairness of this conference.

What we are concerned about is the situation of our ethnic kinsmen, the Hazara Mongols, who constitute the third largest ethnic group in Afghanistan, making up between 19 to 25% of the population. The conservative estimate of Hazaras having a population of four million means that Afghanistan has the largest concentration of Mongols outside of Mongolia.*
The most overlooked aspect of the ethnic problems and civil war in Afghanistan is that of race. The Hazaras and other small Asiatic ethnic groups are the most persecuted and discriminated against peoples in Afghan society. During the Afghan civil war and under Taliban rule thousands of Hazara Mongols have been killed for no reason but their nationality. Racial differences make them easy to be singled out and harassed by other ethnic groups. In 1998 Mullah Niazi, Taliban governor of Mazar-e-Sharif, issued a fatwa (Islamic death sentence) that declared that the murder of Hazaras was not a crime and gave justification to the genocide of this people.

These terrible acts have little if any recognition in the press in the outside world, and western countries remain ignorant of the plight of the Hazara Mongols. For this reason we worry that even after the Bonn conference has formed a new government the discrimination and killings may continue if outside authorities do not address this problem and ensure fair representation of the Hazaras in the new government. When the delegations were formed for the Bonn conference the Northern Alliance as well as the royalist Rome Group and Iran-sponsored Cyprus Group representatives were Tajik and Pashtun. In fact, the Hazara leaders were not included in the process of selection of the Northern Alliance delegation and were only informed by phone after the selections were made. Hazara Mongols and other Asiatics therefore have to rely on peoples from other ethnic groups to represent their interests. Hazara Mongols, even though they are Shiite in religious beliefs, cannot necessarily rely on Iranian coreligionists to fairly represent them since Hazara expatriates in Iran suffer the same discrimination as they experience in Afghanistan. The assumption that religion alone will assure Iran's defense of Hazara interests seems foolish when one considers that Iranians are ethnically the same as the Tajiks who participated in persecution of Hazaras in the past. Furthermore there is a significant non-Shiite Mongol population called the Chahar Aimag as well as the Ismaili Hazaras whose interests would in no case be adequately represented by the Cyprus Group. If Hazaras constitute almost a quarter of the country's population why did the United Nations not take issue with their not being represented in Bonn? We understand that the lack of coverage in the news about the Hazara Mongols is the chief reason that they have been overlooked in the Bonn talks. The Rabbani government, the Pashtuns, and the supporters of the former king Zaher Shah had the attention of the media and dominated the dialogue about Afghanistan's future. It is important, that Afghanistan be rebuilt in a way that is fair and just for all ethnicities, including the Hazara, therefore we suggest the following things:

1. The United Nations and international community must ensure that the interim government allows proportionate representation for all ethnic groups within Afghanistan, including the Hazara Mongols. We encourage the Mongolian government and Mongolian organizations within and outside Mongolia to raise their voices in solidarity so that the Hazara will not be ignored and can have a role in shaping their future.

2. That a multinational peacekeeping force be installed in Afghanistan for a certain period of time to ensure that the pogroms against Hazaras are stopped. If possible this force should include soldiers from Mongolia, Turkey, or another country of Altaic nationality ethnically related to the Hazaras.** While soldiers from Islamic countries are a good idea it must be remembered that it was Moslems who carried out genocide against Afghanistan's Mongols. It is our hope that the United Nations, United States, Mongolia, and other countries of the world will support the establishment of a lasting peace that will ensure that the Hazaras and other ethnic groups of Afghanistan will live in freedom and peace so that they can rebuild their country and be a part of the world community.

Mongolian-American Association of Toledo and Detroit December 16, 2001
(a scanned copy of the signatures is available on request)
Contact      Phone: 419-244-1167      Fax: 419-243-1571

* The countries with Mongolian minorities are China (about 3 million), Russia (about 1 million), and Iran and Pakistan (a few thousand Hazaras each), in addition to over 4 million Hazaras in Afghanistan.

** Countries of Altaic nationality are Mongolia, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Azerbaijan.

Copies of this petition are being sent to:

• United Nations: Honorable Kofi Annan ecu@un.org; inquiries@un.org
• President Bush: president@whitehouse.gov
• Vice-President Richard Cheney Vice.president@whitehouse.gov
• Mongolian President Natsagiyn Bagabandi webmaster@presi.pmis.gov.mn
• Mongolian Prime Minister N. Enkhbayar enkhbayar@parl.gov.mn
• NPR atc@npr.org
• New York Times staff@nytimes.com
• Associated Press info@ap.org
• Mongolian Ambassador to the United States Jalbuu Choinhor
  ambassador@monemb.org
• Mongolian United Nations Mission mongolia@un.int
• Mongolian Newspaper "Unen" unen@magicnet.mn
• Buryat Newspaper "Buryaad Unen" unen@burnet.ru
• Mongolian Foreign Ministry Minister Luvsangiin Erdenechuluun
  webmaster@mfa.pmis.gov.mn
• Mongolian Liberal Democratic Party Chairman Tuvshinbat Tomoro
  mldp@magicnet.mn
• Mongolian Democratic Party Chairman D. Dorligjav info@demparty.mn
• Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party mprp@mongolnet.mn