Shi’ite Resistance Groups The Afghan Shi’ite minority of Hazaras
and Qizilbashes were for the first time as active as the Sunnis
against an invasion. Among their educated, however, a
considerable number sided with the Kabul regime. The Shi’ite
leaders were more divided than the Sunnis. As Shi’as, their
loyalty to Iran was a major reason for disunity. Some followed
the Ayatullah Khomeini of Iran as a political as well as a
religious leader, while others followed him only as a religious
leader. With the rise of Khomeini the Afghan Shi’as became more
militant. The Shi’ite faith obliges every Shi’a to follow a
mujtahid (an authority in the interpretation of the faith),
wherever he may be, an injunction not in line with principles on
which a nation-state is based. The Ayatullah Sayyed Ali Bihishti
had in 1979 set up in Waras in Hazarajat the United Islamic
Council (Shura-e-Ittifaq-e-Islami), comprising traditional,
secular, and religious Hazaras. Through the efforts of its
commander, Sayyed Mohammad Jagran, the co