Afghanistan: Saur Revolution 1978

Islam

• approximately 99.7% of the Afghan population is Muslim

• 85-89% practice Sunni Islam (Muhammad’s successor is Abu Bakr)

• 10% practice Shia Islam (Muhammad’s successor is Ali)

Poverty in Afghanistan up to 1978

• 60% of the rural population lived in poverty

• GPD per capita was approximately $160 million

• USSR provided over $2.5 billion in economic and military aid between 1955-1973

The Coup

17 July 1973

• constitutional monarchy (king and parliament) faced economic stagnation, rising unemployment and growing dissatisfaction with the slow pace of modernisation

• Zahir Shah and Mohammad Daoud Khan are cousins

• the king leaves the country to receive medical treatment and does not return (Daoud has Soviet connections)

• Daoud Khan moves towards social justice and land re-distribution

1964 reforms

• introduced women’s rights and secular education

• Zahir Shah and Mohammad Daoud Khan push for modernisation

People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan forms

1 January 1965

• founded by Nur Muhammad and Babra Karmal

• marxist-leninist party

Saur Revolution

April 1978

• insurgent troops led by the PDPA stormed Daoud’s Kabul palace

• communists embarked on a radical new reform program accompanied by widespread repression. conservative Muslims opposed this.

causes of the saur revolution: assassination of Khyber

• assassination of Khaibar, 17 april 1978 → Khalq and Parcham factions of the PDPA put aside their differences

• prominent PDPA leader Mir Akbar Khyber is assassinated for being a vocal critic of Daoud

• over 15,000 mourners turned his funeral into an anti-government rally

Robert D Kaplan quote on assassination of Khyber

“[it] was the spark that ignited the revolutionary fervor within the PDPA ranks'“

causes of the saur revolution: Daoud Khan’s repression

• in the months leading up to the revolution, over 1,000 PDPA members were arrested or killed by Daoud’s regime

causes of the saur revolution: unemployment and social inequality

• Afghanistan’s unemployment rate reached 25% by the mid-1970s

• the levels of poverty led to widespread social unrest

Louis Dupree quote on social inequality

“the discontent among the populace, driven by economic hardships, provided fertile ground for the PDPA’s message of radical change”

causes of the saur revolution: rise of the PDPA and soviet influence

• marxist and communist ideologies began spreading in the 1960s, particularly among students at Kabul University

• by 1978 the PDPA had enough influence to lead the Saur Revolution

• by 1978 the USSR had delivered over $1.26 billion in military aid