[Pakistan]

I was struck by the enormous contradictions within the Muslim psyche. On the one hand was the extraordinary warmth, hospitality, and ability to talk deeply about many topics. But then there were the constant hatreds running across the factions within Islam. It played itself out in a couple ways. In Northern Pakistan, 20 miles separates Sunni from Shiite Muslim towns, and I was moving through these areas day to day. Continual, open expressions of hate as people talked about each other…..

Peshawar was the home of the seven Sunni mujahadeen factions fighting the Russians. And these Sunni factions hated each other too. The people I was staying with were a part of “Jamiat-e-Islami,” and their leader was Buradin Rabbani (who later became president of Afghanistan). I particularly remember the hatred towards one of the other faction leaders, whose name was Gulbadin Hekmaytyar. (Even today, Hekmaytyar is agitating in Afghanistan, and is a serious threat to the new Karzani government.)