Only One Jewish Resident Left in Afghanistan, Says State Department
(CNSNews.com) – There is only “one known Jewish resident” still living in Afghanistan, according to the U.S. State Department.
That is despite the fact that Jews have lived in Afghanistan for nearly three millenia, and had a local population that was 40,000 strong as of the mid-1800s, according to the Jewish Virtual Library, a division of the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise.
By 1996, when the Islamist Taliban regime came to power, there were only 10 Jews still living in Afghanistan.
By 2005, four years after the U.S. invaded the country and overthrew the Taliban, there were only two Jews still living in Afghanistan, according to the Jewish Virtual Library.
Now, the latest State Department Report on International Religious Freedom says: “There is one known Jewish Afghan” left in the country, “only one known Jewish resident.”
Afghanistan is 402,356 square miles in size and estmates of its population range from 24 to 33 million. “Reliable data on religious demography is not available because an official nationwide census has not been conducted in decades,” says the State Department report. “Observers estimated that 80 percent of the population is Sunni Muslim, 19 percent Shi'a Muslim, and other religious groups comprise less than 1 percent of the population.”
“According to self-estimates by these communities, there are approximately 3,000 Sikhs, more than 400 Baha'is, and 100 Hindu believers,” reads the report. “There is a small Christian community; estimates on its size range from 500 to 8,000. In addition, there are small numbers of adherents of other religious groups.”
As CNSNews.com reported earlier today, there are no public Christian churches left in Afghanistan, according to the State Department. The last Christian church was razed in 2010.
The last Jew in Afghanistan is known by name. Also, there is only one synagogue left in that country.
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1 comment:
Another success for US foreign policy.
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