ABSTRACT
The war in Afghanistan has been going on for nearly eight years; for six years a large portion of the population has been fighting the Soviet invading forces. Occasionally reports of negotiations in Geneva or of talks between Russia and America indicate the possibility of a political solution to the Afghanistan conflict. In modern historiography there is a tendency to view the rise and fall of Iranian empires as the starting point for an understanding of Afghanistan. When the resistance movement came into existence, its instigators were aware neither of the social dimension of their struggle, nor of the complexity of their opponents. The most decisive changes concern the emergence of new elites and new political ideologies. The new consciousness of allegiance beyond one’s village, clan or tribe, the political association of the individual to parties, as well as the resistance movement expressing itself in ideological terms are factors leading to the development of a new political culture.
