Abdul Ali Mazari

Abdul Ali Mazari was an Afghan politician and ethnic Hazara leader of the Hezbe Wahdat during and following the Soviet–Afghan War. He advocated for a federal system of governance in Afghanistan to end political and ethnic division by guaranteeing rights to every ethnic group. Mazari's leadership was marked by his efforts to create unity and his resistance against oppression. He was captured and murdered by the Taliban during negotiations in 1995. In 2016, he was posthumously given the title "Martyr for National Unity of Afghanistan" and had a statue erected in his honor by the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. His early life was spent in Charkent district of Balkh province, and he received his primary schooling in theology before moving to Mazar-e-Sharif and later to Qom, Iran, and Najaf, Iraq for further studies. Mazari returned to Afghanistan to join the mujahideen resistance against the Soviet-backed forces, where he lost several family members. He was one of the founding members and the first leader of the Hezb-e Wahdat, playing a significant role in the resistance movement and the politics of Afghanistan post-Soviet invasion.