afghanistanlooted archaeological and heritage sites. Mas‘ud initially funded his war by
trading in lapis lazuli and other gemstones from the mines in Badakhshan,
other commanders encouraged opium production. During the 1980s the
area under poppy cultivation inside Afghanistan expanded exponen-
tially. The raw opium was then refined in Pakistan’s Tribal Territory and
smuggled back through Afghanistan, Iran and the Central Asian States,
eventually ending up on the European, North American and Russian black
markets. Opium was openly on sale at roadside stalls outside Peshawar,
while heroin addiction became an increasingly serious social problem in
Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier and among Afghan refugees.
The mujahidin and IslamizationWhile the cia armed and funded the mujahidin resistance, little consid-
eration was given to a post-Soviet government for it was believed that,
although the mujahidin might tie down Soviet forces for many years, they
did not have the capacity to defeat the Red Army or overthrow Babrak
Karmal. The Peshawar Islamists and pro-Iranian Shi‘a militias, on the other
hand, had a very clear idea about the future shape of Afghanistan. All of
the main militias wanted an Islamic State ruled by the shari‘a, though
there was no consensus over what this meant or what form an Islamic
government might take. It was only after 1986, when it became clear the
ussr was planning to withdraw, that the usa, Pakistan and un officials
tried to cobble together a government in exile, but ideological differences,
personal rivalries and competition for funding failed to produce anything
more than token agreement. International conferences held to discuss the
Afghanistan crisis were more often than not marred by angry, personalized
insults, boycotts and walkouts.
The war between the mujahidin and the Soviet-backed government
in Kabul dragged on for a decade, yet during this time no single unifying
figure emerged from the resistance movement, a statesman of the calibre
of Yasser Arafat, Kemal Atatürk or Nelson Mandela, who represented the
national interest rather than personal interest or one particular faction. un,
nato and u.s. negotiators continued to cling to the belief that the ex-king
Zahir Shah was such a figure, but though there was a certain degree of
popular support for the return of the monarchy, all the Islamist factions
opposed any role for the monarchy in a post-Communist administra-
tion. During the period of Soviet occupation, the ex-king never set foot
in Pakistan, partly because the Pakistanis were not keen to host him and
partly because the risk of assassination was too great.