Before Taliban

Preface / xxi
their assistance on various aspects of Islamic belief and practice in Afghanistan,
Agha Jan Senator, Hazrat Abdul Shokur, Muhammad ‘Ali and Sayyid
Muhammad Sahibzadgan, Maulavi Abdul Hakim Zhobul, Dr. Abdul Qader
Suleimankhel, Wasil Nur, Mirajan Saheqi, Maulavi Fazel Hadi Shinwari,
Sayyid Hakim Kamal Shinwari, Maulavi Abdul Ahad Yaqubi, Maulavi
Muhammad Gul Rohani and Maulavi Ahmad Gul Rohani, Shams-ul Haq
Pirzada, Sayyid Hissam, Muhammad Qayem Agha, Maulavi Amirzada, Fazel
‘Ali Mujadiddi, Engineer Ahmad Shah, Abdul Sabur Azizi, Sayyid Isaq
Gailani, Nur Agha Gailani, Sayyid Mahmud Gailani, Rohullah, Qari Taj
Muhammad, Sayyid Abdullah Tora, Maulavi Abdul Aziz, Maulana Qiyammuddin
Qashaf, Sayyid Mahmud Hasrat, Maulavi Habibullah from Logar,
Abdul Bari Ghairat, Maulavi Wula Jan Wasseq, Maulavi Jalaluddin Haqqani,
and Dr. Inayatullah Eblagh; and, for their assistance on Afghan matters generally,
Dr. Zahir Ghazi Alam, Qasim Baz Mangal, Sayyid Shamsuddin
Majrooh, Sayyid Bahauddin Majrooh, Ustad Khalilullah Khalili, Abdul Jabar
Sabet, Rasul Amin, Hakim Taniwal, and Haji Zaman. I also want to thank the
party leaders who granted interviews to me, including Hazrat Sibghatullah
Mujadiddi, Maulavi Muhammad Nabi Muhammadi, Engineer Gulbuddin
Hekmatyar, and Maulavi Yunus Khales. I apologize to anyone whom I have
left out and for any errors of omission or commission that might be present
in this work.
During the writing of this book, I have benefited from being able to
spend a year in Santa Fe, New Mexico, at the School of American Research.
Doug Schwartz and his staff provided a wonderful setting to complete this
work, and I offer my thanks to them and to my fellow scholars who shared
the year in Santa Fe with me: Alan Goodman, Roberta Haines, Nathan
Sayer, Frank Salomon, and Ana Celia Zentella. In the final stage of manuscript
preparations, I was able to incorporate useful comments and advice
from various anonymous reviewers and especially from Margaret Mills,
whom I met in Kabul while searching for a used bicycle to buy and who has
remained a friend and valued colleague ever since. My first exposure to
Afghan oral history was at a talk given by Margaret in Kabul in 1976 on
Herati versions of the Cupid and Psyche myth. Ever since that time,
Margaret has provided inspiration through her own work and her insightful
editorial comments.
I also want to acknowledge the financial assistance of the National
Endowment for the Humanities, which provided the fellowship that allowed
me to spend the year at the School of American Research; Williams College,
for its sabbatical support; and the Williams Class of 1945, whose World