The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

fulfilled no matter what, even if one is told to sacrifice his life.“The head of the Sufi order Naqshbandi, Sibghatullah Mojaddedi, is one of the mostinfluential hazrat. He has at least four thousand pupils (‘murids’) among the Afghanclergymen of middle and lower ranks. Sayyid Ahmad Gailani, the head of the Sufi orderQadiriyya, has no fewer than fifteen thousand followers. Among them, there are severalinfluential Pashtun leaders in the provinces of Nangarhar and Kandahar, who are eachsupported by hundreds of thousands of loyal followers. One of the most uncompromisingenemies of the new regime, Miagul Tagabi, has up to fifteen hundred followers in theprovince of Laghman. The core of the counter-revolution that is active on DRA territoryconsists of these followers who are fanatically loyal to their spiritual leaders. Terroristswho are prepared to sacrifice their lives or organize terrorist acts against the leaders of thenew regime and Soviet citizens can be readily recruited from this environment.“The community of Afghan Shia, consisting of three to four million people, is evencloser and tighter-knit than the clans of Sufi hazrats. This community consists mostly ofHazara, who for centuries have been the most oppressed ethnic group in Afghanistan.Under the two-fold pressure of national and religious discrimination, this communitymanaged to form a special social group over many centuries. The Shia Hazara communityof Afghanistan, in its internal structure, has implemented the principles of Khomeini’stheory, expressed by the slogan ‘From each member, according to his abilities, to eachmember, according to his piety.’“The Ismaili sect of Shia (assassins) in Afghanistan, led by clergymen from theKiyani clan, is the most obscure and mysterious in Afghanistan.”“Well,” whispered Orlov-Morozov pensively to himself, “our brilliant advisers are407