>
> This is hardly surprising, since the Taliban are a
> heavily Pashtun group,
> and much of the conflict in Afghanistan after the
> Soviet withdrawal can be
> explained with reference to rival brands of ethnic
> clientelism. It was the
> leading Uzbek warlord, Rashid Dostum -- a former
> PDPA military commander --
> who basically handed Kabul over to the muj by
> switching sides (in 1992 I
> think).
Once again, this is totally anecdotal, but the Uzbeks I know (not many) couch things in terms of religion -- they say that "we real muslims" (the Muslim Uzbeks, Tatars, etc.) drink alcohol and wear miniskirts. They say that they are fighting a foreign contagion from Saudi Arabia that is trying to uproot "real muslim" ways of life and supplant it with puritanical bullshit.
Nu, zayats, pogodi!
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