The Jews of Afghanistan

Abstract Since ancient times, Jewish communities have played an essential role in Afghanistan’s social and economic life. The largest communities developed in major trade centers such as Kabul, Herat, Balkh, and Ghazni. This chapter examines what is known about the Jewish presence in Afghanistan, with the primary source for the history of Afghani Jews until the eighth century being Bible commentaries and rabbinic literature. It is known that up to the fourteenth century, Jewish communities in Afghanistan had strong cultural and economic ties with Iranian and Bukharian Jewish communities; however, the period between the fourteenth and eighteenth centuries in the history of Afghani Jews suffers from a lack of reliable sources. A short period of revival in Jewish life during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was caused by the arrival of Jews from Persia due to anti-Jewish persecution. The history of the Jewish community in Afghanistan ended in the 1990s.