Page 208 - The Winter of Islam and the Spring to Come

The Winter of

ISLAM

and the Spring to Come AFGHANISTAN

Endless civil wars due

to communist savagery

N inety-nine percent of the popula-

tion of Afghanistan is Muslim.
The country encountered Islam
during the caliphate of Osman. It fell into
the hands of the Samanids during the sec-
ond half of the ninth century, then came to
be ruled by the Ghaznavids in the tenth.
Afghan territory was then occupied by
India's Moguls, and then frequently
changed hands until the beginning of the
eighteenth century.
Nadir Shah, who ascended to the
Iranian throne in 1736, added Afghanistan
to his territories within a few years. After he
was killed in an uprising, the state that he
had established was quickly torn apart by
internal conflict. Guard commander Ahmad
Abdali was then chosen as shah by a num-
ber of tribes, and eventually managed to get