From Encyclopedia of Politics and Religion, ed. Robert Wuthnow. 2 vols. (Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly, Inc., 1998), 11-12.

Afghanistan

Located in Central Asia at the crossroads between Europe, East Asia, and the Indian subcontinent, Afghanistan has been a gateway of invasions from the days of Alexander the Great in the fourth century B.C.E. to the Soviet intervention in the 1980s. The country owes its existence to the martial character of its people and, since the eighteenth century, to the fact that it formed a buffer between Russia and the British Empire in India. The country was ruled both by the sword and by Islamic law.
Since Ahmad Shah founded the State of Afghanistan in 1747, religion has limited the powers of tribal rulers, kings, and presidents. Islamic law (shari'a), administered by religious functionaries (ulama), is the law of the state, which even the rulers of a short-lived Marxist regime (1978-1992) had to respect. But there always existed a dichotomy between customary law (the "king's law") and the shari'a ("God's law"), with the latter increasingly relegated to the sphere of family law.

Ahmad Shah, who ruled until 1773, had absolute power. The courts were in the hands of the ulama, but the death penalty had to be approved by the king or a governor. Ahmad Shah forbade the mutilation of limbs, a traditional form of punishment, and drafted a legal code, though it was not enacted. Little was changed until the time of Amir Abd al-Rahman (1888-1901), who centralized all power in his hands. The "Iron Amir" claimed temporal and spiritual powers, and the only restraint on his arbitrary rule was the obligation to conform to the rules of Islamic law. Tribal revolts, often instigated by the ulama, were severely suppressed.

A process of secularization began with King Amanullah (1919-1929), who proclaimed a constitution in 1924 that enumerated the prerogatives of the ruler and the rights of the ruled. It formed the basis for democratization under Zahir Shah (1933-1973), whose reforms culminated in the promulgation of the 1964 constitution. But Zahir Shah's efforts were impeded by the country's poverty and illiteracy. Universal education, envisioned by the constitution, was an aim rather than a reality, and Afghanistan remained largely illiterate. The introduction of secular schools, in addition to the traditional mosque system, produced two essentially hostile elites: eventually the modernist side assumed political power.

Muhammad Daud, a cousin of the king, staged a coup in 1973 and proclaimed a republic; Daud set up a one-party government, a "democracy based on social justice." His constitution, promulgated on February 14, 1977, was intended to give power to the majority--farmers, workers, and youth. Land reforms were to be carried out and cooperatives were to be encouraged. Women were to enjoy equal rights and obligations, and every Afghan citizen eighteen years or older was to have the right to vote. When some of his Marxist followers overthrew Daud in 1978, reformist policies were continued. But a reaction of mujahedin ("holy warriors") defeated the Afghan Marxists in April 1992, after a futile intervention by the Soviet Union (1980-1989).

Then followed a civil war between the victorious forces in which the Taliban (students of Islamic schools) became the dominant force. Since their emergence in November 1994, the Taliban have captured about two-thirds of the country and established a theocratic regime. Mulla Muhammad Omar was proclaimed "Commander of the Faithful," and a government was established in which the leaders were members of the ulama. Women, who had been active in the professions, were no longer permitted to carry out their duties; they were forced to wear a veil covering the entire body. Schools for girls were closed; radio and television were permitted only to broadcast religious programs. Music, photography, and various games were forbidden, and men were enjoined to grow full beards and wear traditional dress. Attendance at prayers became obligatory. Islamic punishments, long discontinued, were reinstated: adultery was punished with stoning, and the penalty exacted for theft was mutilation. The Taliban, however, were selective in their persecutions. They failed to stop the lucrative production of drugs, making Afghanistan one of the world's biggest opium suppliers.

The Taliban's harsh interpretation of Islam and their totalitarian policies make it unlikely that Western states will recognize the new regime in the near future. For the first time in its history, much of Afghanistan is ruled as a theocracy, and the Taliban's success has encouraged Islamist radicals throughout the world to carry on the revolution to establish an Islamic state

See also Banna, Hasan al-, Fundamentalism; Islam; Mawdudi; Qutb, Sayyid; Theocracy.

Author: Ludwig W. Adamec

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