10 - Society and the war

Summary

The war has brought about profound changes in society. But before studying the economic and demographic problems, we should first consider the ideological and social developments. The three important aspects of this change are the emergence of the young Islamists, the way in which the ʿulama have managed to reassert their control of civil society, and the diminishing power of the influential families. These aspects correspond to the distinction between an ideal centred around the concept of the state (the Islamists), a universal authority which did not allow any place for the state (the ʿulama) and an amorphous civil society (the network of the qawm) (see chapter I).

Unlike most Third World countries, the advent of modernism is a recent phenomenon in Afghanistan. There has been no uprooting of the population and no sudden loss of traditional culture. Peasant society still retains its memory of the past and its identity. The fact that there has been no crisis of identity explains the absence of fanaticism. The Islamist intellectuals are part of the first generation to be confronted by the problem of cultural alienation. They all have close links with traditional society, such as a family in the countryside or parents for whom tradition is important, and they have all been taught the Qurʾan in their childhood. The Islamists are much more in tune with society than the communists, and they have retained the adab (which is not only the traditional politeness but also the culture of the past).