Afghan security forces are struggling to hold off an increasingly powerful Taliban as international troops withdraw from the county, with peace talks between the warring sides slow-moving.
Comprising roughly 10 to 20 percent of Afghanistan's 38-million population, Hazaras have long been persecuted for their largely Shiite faith by Sunni hardliners in a country wracked by deep ethnic divisions.
Fearing the government will collapse and the country descends again into civil war, Hazaras are starting to prepare for the worst.
The militia boasts of patrolling roads and launching brazen raids on Taliban areas to abduct the relatives of militants, later used as bargaining chips to release Hazara hostages.
The growth of the militia and similar armed outfits are increasingly problematic for the Afghan government, which is wary of allowing independent fighting forces to build up, but also fears a crackdown would ignite a confrontation with the communities that support them.
Even leaving the country doesn't guarantee their safety. A group of Hazara miners -- many of whom were Afghan nationals -- were brutally massacred in an attack claimed by ISIS in Pakistan last month. And to the west, thousands of Hazaras who crossed the border to Iran ended up being trained and deployed with Shiite militias in Syria over the past decade.
