Uruzgan Province in the context of "Hazaristan"

Ghazni (Pashto: غزني, Pashto pronunciation: [ɣaz.ni]; Dari: غزنی, Dari pronunciation: [ɣäz.níː]), is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in southeastern Afghanistan. The province contains 19 districts, encompassing over a thousand villages and roughly 1.3 million people, making it the 5th most populous province. The city of Ghazni serves as the capital. It lies on the important Kabul–Kandahar Highway, and has historically functioned as an important trade center. The Ghazni Airport is located next to the city of Ghazni and provides limited domestic flights to Afghanistan's capital, Kabul.

Ghazni borders the provinces of Maidan Wardak, Logar, Paktia, Paktika, Zabul, Uruzgan, Daykundi and Bamyan.

Kandahar is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the southern part of the country, sharing a border with Balochistan, Pakistan, to the south. It is surrounded by Helmand in the west, Uruzgan in the north and Zabul Province in the east. Its capital is the city of Kandahar, Afghanistan's second largest city, located on the Arghandab River. The greater region surrounding the province is called Loy Kandahar. The Emir of Afghanistan sends orders to Kabul from Kandahar making it the de facto capital of Afghanistan, although the main government body operates in Kabul. All meetings with the Emir take place in Kandahar, meetings excluding the Emir are in Kabul.

The province contains about 18 districts, over 1,000 villages, and approximately 1,431,876 people (the 6th most populous province), which is mostly tribal and a rural society. The main inhabitants of Kandahar province are the ethnic Pashtuns. They are followed by the Baloch people, Tajiks, Uzbeks, Turkmens and Hazaras.

Hazarajat (Dari: هزاره‌جات), also known as Hazaristan (Dari: هزارستان), is a mostly mountainous region in the central highlands of Afghanistan, among the Kuh-e Baba mountains in the western extremities of the Hindu Kush. It is the homeland of the Hazara people, who make up the majority of its population. Hazarajat denotes an ethnic and religious zone.

Hazarajat is primarily made up of the provinces of Bamyan, Daikundi, Ghazni, large parts of Ghor, and Maidan Wardak, and small parts of Sar-e-Pol, Balkh, Samangan, Uruzgan, and Parwan. The most populous towns in Hazarajat are Bamyan, Yakawlang (Bamyan), Nili (Daikundi), Lal wa Sarjangal (Ghor), Sang-e-Masha (Ghazni), Gizab (Daikundi) and Behsud (Maidan Wardak). The Kabul, Arghandab, Helmand, Farah, Hari, Murghab, Balkh, and Kunduz rivers originate from Hazarajat.

Daikundi is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan. It has a population of about 516,504, most of whom are peasants, traders, and shop owners.

Daikundi falls into the traditionally ethnic Hazara region known as the Hazarajat in the highlands of central Afghanistan with the provincial capital, Nili. It was carved out from the northern part of Uruzgan Province in 2004, becoming a separate province.

The Hazaras have long been the subject of persecution in Afghanistan, including enslavement during the 19th century and ethnic and religious persecution for hundreds of years. In the 20th and 21st centuries, they have also been the victims of massacres committed by the Taliban and al-Qaeda. Hazaras have been systemically killed and discriminated against socially, economically, and culturally with specific intent, argued by some to constitute genocide. The Hazaras primarily come from the central regions of Afghanistan, known as Hazarajat. Significant communities of Hazara people also live in Quetta, Pakistan and in Mashad, Iran, as part of the Hazara and Afghan diasporas.

During the reign of Amir Abdur Rahman (1880–1901), millions of Hazaras were massacred, expelled, and displaced. Half the population of Hazarajat was killed or fled to neighboring regions of Balochistan in British India and Khorasan in Iran. This led to Pashtuns and other ethnic groups occupying parts of Hazarajat.

Loy Kandahar (Pashto: لوی کندهار, pronounced [loɪ 'kand̪(ah)ɑr]; lit. 'Greater Kandahar') is a historical and cultural region of Afghanistan, comprising the modern Afghan provinces of Kandahar, Helmand, Farah, Uruzgan, as well as parts of Nimruz and Zabul, and the Pashtun majority northern part of Balochistan including cities like Quetta, Chaman and many other areas (the latter known as "South Pashtunkhwa"). In 1709, Mirwais Hotak made the region an independent kingdom and turned Kandahar city into the capital of the Hotak dynasty. In 1747, Ahmad Shah Durrani, founder of the Durrani dynasty, made Kandahar the capital of the Afghan Empire.

Loy Kandahar is vaguely defined by a common culture and history that is connected to the local indigenous tribes that reside in the region. Some people may refer to these areas as being under the "Kandahari cultural sphere of influence".Particular styles of clothing, articles of clothing, turban styles, turban cloth colors, dialects of Pashto language, etc. may sometimes be associated with specific tribes indigenous to Loy Kandahar and thus integrate themselves into regional culture. For instance, a Pashtun tribesman from Loy Kandahar may quickly recognize a Pashtun from Loya Paktia based upon his turban style and color. Likewise, a Pashtun from Loya Paktia may recognize someone from Loy Kandahar based upon his unique style of collarless kameez (shirt) with specific embroidered patterns on the front. There are many subtle and intricate cultural indicators of this type that are not recorded in any known written history but simply known and observed by the tribesmen of the various Pashtun regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan.