Some theorists attribute the current tension in Afghanistan to a clash between tradition and religion, which historically has been represented by religious madrassas and modernism. By tradition we mean a sum of ancient beliefs, values, habits and customs inherited that are guarded by specific establishments, most notably religious organizations or madrassas. These establishments are popular among the people of Pakistan, India and Afghanistan. Shiite Muslims call these organizations Hawza Ilmiyya or the Center for Science; the two most popular places for such organizations are Qom and Najaf. Meanwhile, the most famous of them among Sunni Muslims are Al Azhar, Zitouniya, and al-Qarawiyyin.
When Muslims started to acquire and learn western modern science, these organizations provoked the fear of waning Eastern-Islamic identity among Muslims, and thus took a devoted position to counter western influence. First, they drew a red line that forbade use of western technology such as radio or speaker to even publish Quran. As time passed, that line was erased and another red line was drawn; this time against natural science like chemistry and biology. They retreated again and started to fight against western influence in the domain of social science. Later some madrassas underwent reforms, but some resisted, that faced violent reactions from leaders trying to reform, like Atatürk of Turkey, King Amanullah of Afghanistan, Reza Shah Pahlavi of Iran, and India under the British rule. But in geographies like Afghanistan, madrasas and tradition hit back violently against modernism as in uprisings of Mullah-e-lang, Jihad against the communist regime, and most recently revival of Taliban.
The clash between tradition and modernism has drained people’s political and social capacity. It continues to drag people down even deeper into this swamp. Modernism represented by modern thoughts are flogged everyday under Taliban rule, and people hardly can contain their anguish and disgust from Taliban that interfere in every step of their lives. If traditional forces that are in power do not make peace between modernism and tradition, and continue monopoly of power, a bloody fate is awaiting them, like the French revolution, where people hanged priests and a new chapter of bloodshed will begin in Afghanistan.