[Slideshow: Afghanistan]


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Hazara Minority Play Critical Role In Afghan Election


As Morning Edition's Renee Montagne reports from Afghanistan today, one of the ethnic minorities that has been most persecuted over the years — the Hazaras — is now one of the most coveted by that country's presidential candidates:

Note from this blogger: In 2002 I had the opportunity to travel extensively through central Afghanistan, where many Hazara live, and filed this story for USA TODAY about what happened to the people of one village that the Taliban tried to burn to the ground.

(Photo gallery by NPR's David Gilkey.)