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-- Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, 48, the least-known but perhaps most fanatical of the fundamentalists, runs the Islamic Union for the Liberation of Afghanistan. A member of Islam's Wahhabi sect, which is prevalent in Saudi Arabia, he , operates primarily with Saudi funds.
The three nationalists:
-- Pir Sayed Ahmad Gailani, 56, is the most pro-Western and secular of the mujahedin leaders, despite his claim of direct descent from the Prophet Muhammad. Gailani's National Islamic Front is nicknamed the "Gucci Muj" for its leader's taste in well-tailored camouflage uniforms. Though he favors the return of exiled King Zahir Shah, Gailani is also a fervent believer in Western-style elections.
-- Muhammadi, the President-designate, heads the Harakat-i-Inqilab-i-Islami (Islamic Revolutionary Movement). He is a former Muslim educator and is known as a vociferous anti-Communist.
-- Sibghatullah Mojaddedi, 63, presides over the Afghan National Liberation Front, the smallest and weakest militarily of the resistance parties. Mojaddedi, who speaks five languages, is currently chairman of the rebel alliance, but he wields limited power.
There was a growing consensus in Washington that whatever the short-term twists, the country's eventual government would be Islamic in character, though not as radical as Iran's. According to this view, the new regime would not only be sufficiently decentralized to keep power outside Kabul largely in tribal hands but nonthreatening to the Soviets as well. Even the most anti- Soviet mujahedin, says a State Department official, realize that "the Afghans sleep next to the bear, and so they must act accordingly."