Islam and Resistance in Afghanistan

284 Pages·1990·15.03 MB·English

by  Olivier Roy

In Islam and Resistance in Afghanistan, Olivier Roy convincingly
argues that the forces opposing Marxist rule of the country, though
advocating a return to the basic tenets of Islam, are not all reactionary
or backward-looking. Indeed, he contends that an Islamic revolution,
advocating a modernisation of Afghan society, took place under the
eyes of the Russian occupation forces, whose efforts to contain it
served mainly to consolidate it.
In this new edition, the author expands his penetrating study of the
history, ideology and structures of the Afghan resistance movement to
mid-1989. He examines the evolution of the military and political
situation inside Afghanistan during the last years of the Soviet
presence and discusses relations between the Afghan resistance and the
Islamic fundamentalist movements. The situation created by the
Soviet withdrawal from the country is also explored and in a new
conclusion Professor Roy assesses to what extent the war has altered
the traditional fabric of Afghan society.
Professor Olivier Roy is a researcher at the Centre National de la
Recherche Sdentifique.
Some reviews of the first edition:
"This is the most instructive study of the Afghan response to Marxist
rule and Soviet intervention published to date. It is based on Roy's
several lengthy visits throughout Afghanistan between 1980 and 1985
. . . this is preeminently a study of Afghan society, religion and politics
in an elemental struggle for cultural and national
survival." South Asia
"This superb book . . . has instantly become the standard reference
work on the subject." Religion in Communist Lands

Cambridge Middle East Library
Islam and resistance in Afghanistan
Cambridge Middle East Library
25 GLEN BALFOUR-PAUL
The end of empire in the Middle East
Britain's relinquishment of power in her last three Arab dependencies
24 JILL CRYSTAL
Rulers and merchants in the Gulf: oil and politics in Kuwait and
Qatar
23 DONALD MALCOLM REID
Cairo University and the making of modern Egypt
22 EHUD R. TOLEDANO
State and society in mid-nineteenth-century Egypt
21 FRED HALLIDAY
Revolution and foreign policy: the case of South Yemen
1967-1987
20 GERSHON SHAFIR
Land, labor and the origins of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
1882-1914
19 MAHFOUD BENNOUNE
The making of contemporary Algeria, 1830-1987
Colonial upheavals and post-independence development
18 DANIEL J. SCHROETER
Merchants of Essaouira
Urban society and imperialism in southwestern Morocco, 1844—1886
17 TIMOTHY MITCHELL
Colonising Egypt
16 NADIA HIJAB
Womanpower
The Arab debate on women at work
15 BENNY MORRIS
The birth of the Palestinian refugee problem, 1947-1949
14 MIRIAM COOKE
War's other voices
Women writers on the Lebanese civil war
13 MARY C. WILSON
King Abdullah, Britain and the making of Jordan
12 SEVKET PAMUK
The Ottoman empire and European capitalism 1820-1913
Trade, investment and production
11 JOHN C. WILKINSON
The Imamate tradition of Oman
10 SAMIR A. MUTAWI
Jordan in the 1967 war
NORMAN N. LEWIS
Nomads and settlers in Syria and Jordan, 1800-1980
OLIVIER ROY
Islam and resistance in Afghanistan
JUDITH E. TUCKER
Women in nineteenth-century Egypt
RAYMOND A. HINNEBUSCH JR
Egyptian politics under Sadat
The post-populist development of an authoritarian-modernizing state
HELENA COBBAN
The Palestinian Liberation Organisation
People, power and politics
AFAF LUTFI AL-SAYYID MARSOT
Egypt in the reign of Muhammad Ali
PHILIP S. KHOURY
Urban notables and Arab nationalism
The politics of Damascus 1860-1920
NANCY ELIZABETH GALLAGHER
Medicine and power in Tunisia, 1780-1900
YORAM PERI
Between battles and ballots
Israeli military in politics

Islam and resistance
in Afghanistan
OLIVIER ROY
CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE
Second edition
The right of the
University of Cambridge
to print and sell
all manner of books
was granted by
Henry Vlll in 1534
The University has printed
and published continuously
since 1584.
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
CAMBRIDGE
NEW YORK PORT CHESTER
MELBOURNE SYDNEY
cambridge university press
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore,
São Paulo, Delhi, Dubai, Tokyo, Mexico City
Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK
Published in the United States of America by
Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521397001
© Cambridge University Press 1986, 1990
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without the written
permission of Cambridge University Press.
Reprinted 1988
Second edition published 1990
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data
Roy, Olivier, 1949–
[Afghanistan. English]
Islam and resistance in Afghanistan / Olivier Roy. – 2nd ed.
p. cm. — (Cambridge Middle East library)
Translation of: L’Afghanistan.
Includes bibliographical references
isbn o 521 39308 6 – isbn o 521 39700 6 (pbk)
1. Islam and politics – Afghanistan. 2. Islam – Afghanistan.
3. Afghanistan – History – Soviet occupation, 1979–1989. 1. Title.
II. Series.
bp63.a54r6813 1990
322´.1´o9581–dc20 90-1709 cip

isbn 978-0-521-39308-9 Hardback
isbn 978-0-521-39700-1 Paperback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or
accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in
this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is,
or will remain, accurate or appropriate. Information regarding prices, travel
timetables, and other factual information given in this work is correct at
the time of first printing but Cambridge University Press does not guarantee
the accuracy of such information thereafter.