Hinduism in Afghanistan

Hinduism in Afghanistan is practiced by a very small minority of Afghans, about 30–40 individuals as of 2021, who live mostly in the cities of Kabul and Jalalabad. Afghan Hindus are ethnically Pashtun, Hindkowan (Hindki), Punjabi, or Sindhi and primarily speak Dari, Pashto, Hindko, Punjabi, Sindhi, and Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu).

Before the Islamic conquest of Afghanistan, the Afghan people were multi-religious. Religious persecution, discrimination, and religious conversions of Hindus in Afghanistan perpetrated by Muslims, has caused the Afghan Hindus, along with Buddhist and Sikh population, to dwindle from Afghanistan.

Prior to the contemporary conflict that began in 1978, Hindus lived across Afghanistan, notably concentrated in major urban centres such as Kabul, Kandahar, Jalalabad, Herat, Mazar-i-Sharif, Kunduz, Ghazni, and Khost. Additionally, significant rural population concentrations in villages traditionally existed in eastern portions of the country as documented by British travelers Jonas Hanway and George Forster in the 18th century, however, various exoduses and migration to urban regions of the country and eastwards to British India occurred throughout the 19th and 20th centuries as a result of occasional violence and conflict.

According to the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA), the number of Hindus in Afghanistan has steadily declined over the past few decades. During the mid 20th century, in the 1970s, approximately 280,000 Hindus lived in Afghanistan; by 1992, prior to the fall of the government, the population was approximately 88,000, while by the start of 2021 roughly 160 Hindus remained, and by the end of the same year, the population reportedly declined below 50 persons.