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AFGHANISTAN
Afghanistan: Mullah, Marx, and Mujahid, by Ralph H. Magnus and Eden Naby. Foreword by Dan Rather. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1998. xiii + 195 pages. Bibl. essay to p. 200. Bios. of modern rulers to p. 204. Chron. to p. 244. Gloss. to p. 247. Notes to p. 264. Index to p. 274. $30.
Reviewed by Larry P. Goodson
Ralph Magnus and Eden Naby suggest that modern Afghanistan's troubles are due to the conflicting influence of three significant factors, which the authors symbolically label "Mullah," "Marx," and "Mujahid." They examine the role of traditional Islam (Mullah) by providing an overview of Islamic institutions and the various religious communities in Afghanistan (Hanafi Sunni, Imami Shi'a, Isma`ili Shi'a, the Sufi brotherhoods). This introductory background to Islam in Afghanistan is solid, but would have been stronger had the authors considered the work of Asta Olesen.l On the other hand, their discussion of modernization (Marx), based in part on the authors' fieldwork in Afghanistan over the past three decades, is perhaps the strongest chapter in the book. Nevertheless, their claim that "the crucial failure of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) regime of Taraki and Amin derived from the lack of party...