| Summary/Abstract |
The authors analyze Islam as one of the most important, if not decisive, factors responsible for the country’s future; they reveal the specifics of its functioning in Afghan society as the state religion, investigate in great detail the contradictions between individual groups and organizations involved in the conflict of the last quarter of the twentieth century, and examine their impact on the social and economic relations in the region. The sides in the conflict belong to different ethnic, confessional, and political groups. The continued disagreements between the official Muslim clergy and government in Afghanistan are a truthful reflection of the degree to which Islam affects the state’s life-supporting spheres and figure prominently in ethnic strife and tribal enmity, along with all kinds of external factors that keep the conflict alive.
The article looks at the main Islamist organizations that will figure prominently on Afghanistan’s domestic scene for several decades to come.
The authors believe that in the current conditions, Islam has ceased to be a factor of social stability and unity in Afghanistan.
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