Afghanistan is first of all a multiethniccountry. Anthony Smith,
in one of the most detailed studies of the dimensions of ethnic
group formation, has pointed to a collective name, a common myth
of descent, a shared history, a distinctive shared culture, associ-
ation with a particular territory, and a sense of solidarity, as the
salient markers of ethnic distinction (Smith, 1986: 22–31). The
most detailed study of ethnic groups in Afghanistan (Orywal,
1986) identifies no fewer than 55, although exact numbers are
debatable, since how people are seen by others need not coincide
with how they see themselves. This also stands in the way of any
serious attempts to determine the proportions of different ethnic
groups in the overall population, although scholars tend to agree
that Pushtuns comprise the largest single ethnic group, followed by
Tajiks, Uzbeks, and Hazaras (see Glatzer, 1998: 169). In some of
these ethnic groups, most notably the Pushtuns, one finds distinct-
ively tribalforms of social organisation, marked by a belief in the
existence of common ancestors and by the prevalence of norms of
reciprocity and solidarity which give rise to social and (on occa-
sion) political obligations.
Afghanistan is overwhelmingly a Muslim country, albeit with
small Hindu, Sikh, and even Jewish minorities. However, while the
bulk of Afghanistan’s Muslims are adherents of the orthodox
‘Sunni’ school, the heterodox ‘Shiite’ school has a significant num-
ber of followers, especially among the Hazaras. While the differ-
ences between Sunni and Shiite Islam are grounded in the history
of political succession in the early Muslim community (see
Momen, 1985; Lapidus, 1988), they have at times given rise to
fierce intergroup antagonisms, with variations in doctrine and ritual
being seen as heresies. Afghanistan has not been insulated from
such tensions (see Roy, 1990; Olesen, 1995). Afghanistan also has
had strongly developed ‘Sufi’ brotherhoods, which on occasion
have been drawn into the political life of the country, albeit in sub-
tle ways. Islam in Afghanistan, like any religion in any country,
functions as a social force only through these agents, the absorp-
tion into ‘religion’ of values and traditions which originate from
the sphere of secular culture and can claim no spiritual sanctity; or
The Road to War 9