Framing “Visions” of State and Modernity: The ideological discourse of Hezb-i Islami, Jamiat-i Islami and the Afghan National Liberation Front during and shortly after the Soviet-Afghan war (1982-1992)

Abstract

This thesis explores the ideological discourse of three Afghan mujahideen parties – Hezb-i Islami, Jamiat-i Islami, and the Afghan National Liberation Front (ANLF) – during and shortly after the Soviet-Afghan War (1982–1992). Through a detailed analysis of their English-language periodicals, it examines how these factions framed their resistance against Soviet intervention, articulated their “visions” of state and modernity, and sought to position themselves as legitimate political leaders to the outside world. Building on Elisabeth Leake’s framework of competing “visions of modernity” and employing framing theory, the study investigates how these factions defined their enemies through diagnostic framing, proposed strategies for resistance through prognostic framing, and inspired mobilization through both military and non-military motivational framing. The analysis reveals that, far from being passive “proxies” in a Cold War conflict, the Afghan mujahideen were actors that actively engaged with, appropriated, and redefined notions of Afghan “nationhood” and Islamic “modernity” within the intersecting histories of the Cold War, imperialism, and pan-Islamism.