ABSTRACT
The enormous growth of the Islamic movement in Iran in the late 1970s had its corollary in Afghanistan. The Iranian ulama enjoyed greater independence than their Afghan counterparts. Islamic political thought was far more developed in Iran than in Afghanistan; the Afghan Islamic movement was more fragmented; and, unlike the Iranian movement, the Afghan groups lacked a charismatic leader who enjoyed massive support. Although the political system in Afghanistan has been dominated by Pashtuns—who speak their own language, Pashtu—the language of the government and the lingua franca among the various Afghan ethnic communities is Dari, the Afghan dialect of Persian. Among the most persistent sources of conflict between Iran and Afghanistan has been the dispute over the Helmand River waters. At the level of declarations, the statements by Islamic Republican leaders on Afghan crises have been consistent with the general ideological preferences of the new regime.
