Afghanistan`s History

Part I (50,000 BCE - 652)

50,000 BCE-20,000 BCE

Archaeologists have identified evidence of stone age technology in Aq Kupruk, and Hazar Sum. Plant remains at the foothill of the Hindu Kush mountains indicate, that North Afghanistan was one of the earliest places to domestic plants and animals.

3000 BCE-2000 BCE

Bronze might have been invented in ancient Afghanistan around this time.

First true urban centers rise in two main sites in Afghanistan--Mundigak, and Deh Morasi Ghundai.

Mundigak (near modern day Kandahar)--had an economic base of wheat, barley, sheep and goats. Also, evidence indicates that Mudigak could have been a provincial capital of the Indus valley civilization.

Ancient Afghanistan--crossroads between Mesopotamia, and other Civilizations.

2000 BCE- 1500 BCE

Aryan tribes in Aryana (Ancient Afghanistan)

The City of Kabul is thought to have been established during this time.

Rig Veda may have been created in Afghanistan around this time.

Evidence of early nomadic iron age in Aq Kapruk IV.

600 BCE -- (There is some speculation about this date)

Zoroaster introduces a new religion in Bactria (Balkh)---(Zoroastrianism--Monotheistic religion)

(about 522 BC)--Zoroaster dies during nomadic invasion near Balkh.

522 BCE--486 BCE

Darius the Great expands the Achaemenid (Persian) empire to its peak, when it takes most of Afghanistan., including Aria (Herat), Bactriana (Balk, and present-day Mazar-i-Shariff), Margiana (Merv), Gandhara (Kabul, Jalalabad and Peshawar), Sattagydia (Ghazni to the Indus river), Arachosia (Kandahar, and Quetta), and Drangiana (Sistan).

The Persian empire was plagued by constant bitter and bloody tribal revolts from Afghans living in Arachosia (Kandahar, and Quetta) Nadir Shah takes Kandahar.

An Afghan nation: from AD 1747

The region of Afghanistan has for much of history been part of the Persian empire. From time to time it has been linked with the northern plains of India, as under theKushan dynastyof the 2nd century AD. Very occasionally, as in the time ofMahmud of Ghazni, it has existed as a kingdom approximating more closely to the modern borders of Aghanistan.

The beginning of modern Aghanistan can be dated to 1747, when the Afghans in Nadir Shah's army return home after his death. Their leader, Ahmad Khan Abdali, enters Kandahar and is elected king of the Afghans in a tribal assembly. He takes the title Durr-i-Durran ('pearl among pearls') and changes the name of his tribe to the Durrani. 
Ahmad Shah Durrani, as he is now called, has learnt from Nadir Shah the profession of conquest. He applies his skills with great success over the next twenty-five years. The extent of his empire fluctuates, according to the success of his ceaseless campaigns to protect its boundaries. But for much of his reign Aghanistan extends from the Amu Darya in the north to the Arabian Sea, and from Herat to the Punjab.

Ahmad Shah wins from his people the title Baba(meaning approximately 'father of the nation'). The throne in Afghanistan remains with Ahmad Shah's tribe, though much disputed between his descendants, until they are ousted from Kabul in 1818. 

Dost Mohammed: AD 1818-1838

Kabul is taken in 1818 by an Afghan tribe, the Barakzai, led on this occasion by Dost Mohammed - the twentieth but the most forceful of the twenty-one sons of the tribal chieftain. Civil war against supporters of theDurranicontinues for several years, until in 1826 the country is safely divided between Dost Mohammed and some of his brothers.

Dost Mohammed receives the greatest share, in a stretch from Ghazni to Jalalabad which includes Kabul. He soon becomes accepted as the leader of the nation, taking the formal title of amir from 1837. He is accepted in this role by foreigners as well as by the Afghan tribes. 

Afghanistan's relationship with foreign powers is by now an important factor. Since the time of Peter the Great, in the early 18th century, Russia has been interested in developing a direct trading link with India. This means the need for a friendly or puppet regime in Afghanistan. The idea of Russian influence in this region (the only neighbouring territory with easy access to Britain's Indian empire) inevitably rings alarm bells in London. 

Dost Mohammed finds himself courted by both sides. A British mission is in Kabul in 1837. While discussions are under way, a Russian envoy also arrives and is received by the amir. 

The British immediately break off negotiations and are ordered to leave Kabul. The response of the governor-general of India, Lord Auckland, is forceful but in the event extremely unwise. He uses the rebuff as a pretext for an invasion of Afghanistan, in 1838, with the intention of restoring a ruler from the Durranidynasty (Shah Shuja, on the throne from 1803 to 1809) who has shown himself to be more malleable.
This is the first of three occasions on which theBritish attemptto impose their political will on Afghanistan. All three attempts prove disastrous.

Two Anglo-Afghan Wars: AD 1838-1842 and 1878-81

In December 1838 a British army is assembled in India for an Afghan campaign. By April 1839, after a difficult advance under constant harassment from tribal guerrillas, the city of Kandahar is captured. Here Britain's chosen puppet ruler, Shah Shuja, is crowned in a mosque. Four months later Kabul is taken and Shah Shuja is crowned again.

By the end of 1840 the rightful amir, Dost Mohammed, is a prisoner of the British. He and his family are sent into exile into India. But the British garrisons in Afghan towns find it increasingly difficult to control proud tribesmen, up in arms at this foreign intrusion in their affairs. 



In January 1842 the British garrison of some 4500 troops withdraws from Kabul, leaving Shah Shuja to his fate (he is soon assassinated). Most of the retreating British and Indian soldiers are also killed during their attempt to regain the safety of India.

A British army recaptures Kabul during the summer of 1842, more as a gesture of defiance than as a matter of practical policy - for the decision is subsequently taken to restore Dost Mohammed to his throne. He returns from India in 1843 and rules peacefully, without further British interference, for another twenty years. He extends his territory, by the end of his reign, as far west as Herat. 

Dost Mohammed is succeeded by his third son Sher Ali, after some years of bitter family feuding. It is Sher Ali's perceived leaning towards Russia which again provokes British hostility. Evoking memories of his father's offence in 1837, he welcomes a Russian mission to Kabul in 1878 and on this occasion even rejects a British one.

In November 1878 three British armies push through the mountain passes into Afghanistan. They take Jalalabad and Kandahar by the end of the year, and soon seem to have achieved everything they might wish for. A very advantageous treaty is agreed in May 1879 with Yakub Khan (the son of Sher Ali, who has died in February). 

Under the treaty Yakub Khan accepts a permanent British embassy in Kabul. Moreover Afghanistan's foreign affairs are from now on to be conducted by the British. But events soon prove that such a privilege can be dangerous in Afghanistan. In September the British envoy to Kabul and his entire staff and escort are massacred.

This disaster brings an immediate escalation of British military activity in Afghanistan, but to little political advantage. Yakub Khan is exiled to India. In his place the British have to accept Abdurrahman Khan, a rival grandson of Dost Mohammed and the popular choice of the Afghan tribes as their amir. 

Abdurrahman has spent ten years in exile during the reign of his uncle Sher Ali, having been on the losing side in the bitter family war of succession. But his chosen place of exile does not chime well with British interests. He has been in the Russian empire, in Samarkand, acquainting himself with Russian methods of administration.

In 1880 Britain accepts Abdurrahman as amir of Kabul, agreeing at the same time not to demand residence for a British envoy anywhere in Afghanistan. When British troops finally withdraw in 1881 (having meanwhile helped Abdurrahman against some rebellious cousins), the political achievement of two costly wars against Russian interference seems on the debit side. But at least Abdurrahman proves an excellent amir. 


Abdurrahman Khan and his successors: AD 1880-1933

Abdurrahman is followed on the throne by three generations of his family. He sets a pattern, which they follow, of an authoritarian regime dedicated to the introduction of technology and investment from more developed countries - though the violence and anarchy of Afghan life often frustrate such modernizing intentions.
Abdurrahman is succeeded in 1901 by his son Habibullah Khan, who successfully maintains a policy of strict neutrality during World War I. After the war he demands international recognition of Afghanistan's full independence. This claim prompts Britain's third ineffectual intervention in Afghan affairs, though it is Habibullah's son Amanullah Khan who has to deal with the crisis (after his father is assassinated in 1919). 

A month of fighting between British and Afghan forces is inconclusive and rapidly leads to a treaty (signed in Rawalpindi in August 1919) in which Britain acknowledges Afghanistan's independence as a nation. With this much achieved, Amanullah accelerates a programme of reform on European lines. But in doing so he alienates the old guard. Amanullah is forced into exile during an outbreak of civil war in 1929.

Order is restored by Amanullah's cousin, Nadir Khan, until he in his turn is assassinated in 1933. This act of violence brings to the throne Nadir's only surviving son, as the 19-year-old Zahir Shah. 


Zahir Shar and Daud Khan: AD 1933-1978

In a reign of forty years Zahir Shah skilfully promotes Afghan interests. Once again neutrality is successfully maintained during a World War. And in the ensuing Cold War Afghanistan brilliantly demonstrates the power of a non-aligned country to derive benefits from the major players on both sides. Both the USA and the USSR build highways and hospitals, in a mood of superpower competition orchestrated by Zahir's cousin and brother-in-law Daud Khan (prime minister from 1953). 

Daud Khan resigns in 1963 because of tense relations with Pakistan (the border is closed from 1961 until just after his resignation). His departure prompts Zahir Shah to attempt a major constitutional reform. 

The constitution put in place in 1964 transforms Afghanistan in principle into a constitutional monarchy, excluding members of the royal family from political office and providing for an executive answerable to a legislative assembly of two chambers.

Elections are held in 1965 (and again in 1969). At first the system seems to work well, but soon there is friction between the king and parliament. A sense of political stalemate is aggravated in the early 1970s by drought (bringing famine and 100,000 deaths) and other economic difficulties. In 1973 Daud Khan returns to power with military support in an almost bloodless coup. Zahir Shah goes into exile in Europe. 

Daud Khan has come back into power (now as prime minister of the new republic of Afghanistan) with the help of left-wing elements in the Afghan army, but he nevertheless tries to maintain a centrist policy - combining measures of reform at home with a broadly based foreign policy less dependent on the USSR and the USA. In particular he takes steps to mend fences with Pakistan.

But in the perception of Afghanistan's radicals he is drifting back towards old royalist ways. A new constitution in 1977 promotes Daud to the role of president. It also brings in what is seen as a cabinet of cronies, including some of his own royal relatives. The result, in 1978, is a violent revolution setting Afghanistan upon an entirely new course. 


Reform and reaction: AD 1978-1979

Daud's government is overthrown (and he and most of his family killed) by a lef-wing faction within the army. When the coup is complete, the officers hand over control to the nation's two leftist political parties - Khalq (the People's party) and Parcham (the Banner party). The two are for once working in harmony, though only briefly.

Once in government, the two Khalq leaders seize power. Nur Mohammad Taraki becomes president and prime minister, with Hafizullah Amin as one of two deputy prime ministers. The Parcham leader, Babrak Karmal, is the other deputy prime minister - but he is soon despatched abroad as ambassador to Prague. 

Taraki and Amin press ahead with a rapid programme of reform along communist lines. Equal rights for women are introduced, land is redistributed - all against the advice of Moscow, which favours a more cautious approach for fear of a Muslim backlash. Meanwhile the leaders of the Parcham party are persecuted and in several cases killed. Many, including Babrak Karmal, take refuge in Russia.

The Kremlin is soon proved right. Within months insurrection is breaking out all over the country. In March 1979 a resistance group declares a jihad, or holy war, against the godless regime in Kabul. In the same month more than 100 Soviet citizens living in Herat are seized and killed.

Meanwhile the two Khalq leaders are themselves at loggerheads. In September 1979 the president, Taraqi, attempts to assassinate his prime minister, Amin. Instead, within two days, Taraqi is in the hands of Amin supporters. Three weeks later he dies - 'of a serious illness', according to the official announcement.

Since 1978 the Soviet presence has been gradually increasing in Afghanistan - their most recent puppet state, and potentially a prestigious scalp in the Cold War. Now, in the anarchy of late 1979, Moscow decides to take a more active role. In December Soviet troops move into Kabul. As Britain always feared, Russia finally bids to controlAfghanistan. And as Britain long ago discovered, this is a most unwise ambition. 



Soviet occupation: AD 1979-1989

The communist prime minister, Hafizullah Amin, is either shot or commits suicide within a day of the Soviet invasion. In his place the Russians bring Babrak Karmal from Moscow, as their puppet ruler. 

But ruling Afghanistan in these circumstances proves impossible. Russian tanks can take any town and Russian planes can bomb even remote valleys into temporary submission, but as soon as the focus of military might shifts elsewhere the guerrillas return to take control on the ground. Only Kabul remains a relatively safe area in ten years of devastation. And once the USA begins supplying the guerrillas with Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, even Soviet air attacks become dangerous missions. 

The most striking Soviet achievement is inadvertently persuading seven Afghan guerrilla groups to come together in a common cause. In 1985 these seven, meeting in Peshawar, form a united front as the Islami Itehad Afghanistan Mujaheddin (Islamic Unity of Afghan Warriors, or IUAW). The mujaheddin (from the same Arabic root as jihad, holy war) become famous throughout the world as the latest manifestation of the Afghan fighting spirit.

The warfare between Russia and the mujaheddin not only devastates an already poor country. It also depopulates it. Eventually some 2 million refugees flee into Pakistan and another 1.8 million into Iran. 

When Mikhail Gorbachev comes to power in the Soviet Union in 1985, the festering sore of Afghanistan is one of the urgent problems confronting him. He attempts first a political solution, replacing the useless Babrak Karmal with a former chief of police, Mohammad Najibullah. 

Najibullah proves equally ineffective in reconciling the Afghan people to a Soviet presence, and in 1988 Gorbachev decides to cut his losses. He announces that Soviet troops will begin a phased withdrawal. The last battalion crosses the Friendship Bridge over the Amu Darya river in February 1989 - leaving President Najibullah to try and run a communist Afghan state on his own. 


Civil war: from AD 1989

Contrary to expectations Najibullah contrives to remain in power for three years, holding at bay the mujaheddin. But in 1992 Kabul falls to his opponents. He secures promise of a safe passage from the UN forces, who prove unable to escort him out of the city. He is given asylum in the UN compound in Kabul.

An Islamic state is immediately declared. On occasion the seven factions in the IUAW, together with three Shiagroups from western Afghanistan, do manage to work in harmony. But it is a fragile truce, shattered by outbreaks of internecine warfare around Kabul. The capital is frequently bombarded by rival guerrilla forces trying to assert themselves. 1.5 million inhabitants (75% of the total) flee the city. 



The Taliban: from AD 1994

In 1994 the most significant group in present-day Afghanistan emerges unheralded and without fanfare. A mullah in Kandahar, Mohammad Omar Akhund (commonly known as Mullah Omar), forms a group which he calls Taliban, meaning 'students' - in this case Sunnistudents of the Qur'an. In the violence and chaos of Afghanistan, the Taliban inevitably become a guerrilla group; and, compared to the blatant self-interest of certain other mujaheddin, the Taliban's simple message of Muslim fundamentalism proves immensely attractive.

Recruiting mainly among Pathan tribesmen in the east of the country and from refugee camps in Pakistan, the Taliban gain rapidly in numbers and in strength. 

After Kandahar itself, Herat falls to Taliban militiamen in September 1995 - to be followed by Jalalabad at the other extreme of the country a year later. Within weeks of taking Jalalabad, the Taliban achieve the ultimate success. They have been besieging Kabul for twelve months and more, while at the same time fighting other guerrilla groups engaged in the same activity. Now, in September 1996, with surprising suddeness they burst into the city.

Their first act is go to the UN compound and seize the ex-president Najibullah. Within hours he and his brother are swinging from a concrete structure, among grinning tribesmen, at Kabul's main traffic intersection. 
Ordinary citizens welcome the arrival of the Taliban for one of their outstanding qualities, incorruptibility. But the price is high in the ruthless imposition of Muslim fundamentalism. 

Women now are not only forced to wear the veil in public. They are prevented from working other than in the home, they are denied access to education, they are allowed to go shopping only if accompanied by a male relative. Meanwhile the strictest version of sharia (Islamic law) is introduced. There are amputation of hands for theft, and public executions and floggings. 

With the fall of Kabul the Taliban control about two thirds of the country, but beyond the mountains north of the city there remains a strong opposing force calling itself the Northern Alliance. It is led by members of the previous government in Kabul, but there is also a tribal distinction. The Taliban areas are largely the home of Pathan tribes (known more locally as Pashtun and speaking Pashto), whereas the Northern Alliance is made up of Uzbeks, Turkmen and others.

Warfare continues from 1996, with appalling atrocities on both sides. In 1997 Taliban prisoners are killed in their thousands by the Northern Alliance. When the Taliban briefly capture Mazar-e-Sharif in 1998, they similarly masssacre thousands ofShia Muslims in the city. 

In 1998 the Taliban renew their attack on Mazar-e-Sharif. This time they win more lasting control of the city, giving them now about 90% of Afghanistan.
With this much achieved, and to the surprise of international observers, the Taliban for the first time appear to see the value of compromise. In March 1999 their representatives and those of the Northern Alliance agree to take the first steps towards forming a joint government. There are no practical results, and early in the new century the Taliban seem to be becoming ever more extreme in their imposition of what they consider a pure Islamic society. The change may be due to increasing contact with al-qaeda fundamentalists, who subsequently have a profound effect on the history of Afghanistan. Because of al-qaeda, the events of September 2001 spell the end for the Taliban. 


War against al-Qaida

The terrorist attacks against the USA on 11 September 2001 transform the situation in Afghanistan. The immediate assumption in Washington is that the outrage is the work ofOsama bin Laden and his al-qaeda organization. At first there is widespread scepticism elsewhere, but the Bush administration is able to form a coalition after convincing sufficient leaders of foreign nations (crucial is neighbouring Pakistan, which has previously supported the Taliban).

For several years bin Laden has made his base in Afghanistan and has formed close links with the Taliban leadership. The first step in the US campaign is therefore a demand to the Taliban to hand over bin Laden and close down his al-qaeda training camps. 

The response of the Taliban leader, Mullah Omar, is that he is unable to do this - pleading ignorance of where bin Laden is, but also no doubt reluctant to surrender a guest who shares his fundamentalist views, who has provided financial support to the Taliban, and whose forces are probably as powerful as the Taliban army. President Bush, who has described the American campaign as a 'war on terrorism', declares that any who do not cooperate in this war are themselves equivalent to terrorists.

America holds back longer than many have feared, but on October 7 missile attacks are launched against Taliban and al-Qaeda targets in Afghanistan (in an operation code-named Enduring Freedom). It is the start of a bombing campaign which lasts into the early weeks of 2002. 
There are inevitable civilian casualties (known in the jargon of modern war as 'collateral damage') when missiles and bombs go astray, but in general the bombardment is extraordinarily accurate. The al-Qaeda training camps are rapidly destroyed, as are many Taliban military installations. And the Taliban infantry dug in on the ground endure an unrelenting bombardment with massive explosives.

The natural allies of the US (reluctant to send in their own soldiers for a ground campaign) are the Northern Alliance, who have survived a lengthy defensive war against the Taliban in the mountains north of Kabul. Now, with the enemy terminally weakened by the US bombs, the Northern Alliance at last begin to make sudden gains. 

Mazar-e-Sharif falls on November 9, to be followed by Kabul just four days later. But it is almost another month before the Taliban original base and centre of power, Kandahar, is taken. The city finally falls on December 7 but the Taliban leader, Mullah Omar, escapes the net. The whereabouts of this second-most-wanted man become unknown, as do those of the prime target, Osama bin Laden.

However it is widely believed that bin Laden has withdrawn, with many of his al-Qaeda fighters, to the Tora Bora mountains on the eastern border with Pakistan where he earlier tunnelled out a range of well-equipped caves as a safe haven against the Russians. 

The next wave of US bombing is therefore directed against these mountains. One by one the caves are taken by Afghan forces, now working with a few US forces on the ground. Large numbers of al-qaeda troops are killed or captured. But their leader proves as elusive as Mullah Omar. When the war fizzles out, early in 2002, there are two evident benefits. The brutal Taliban regime has been toppled. And the network of al-qaeda training camps in Afghanistan has been destroyed. But the primary purpose of bringing bin Laden to justice remains unfulfilled.

Instead a retribution of some unspecified kind awaits many junior combatants captured in the war. 
Among the prisoners the Afghans are assumed to be Taliban soldiers and are treated as such, often being released or allowed to change sides by their Afghan captors. But foreigners, most of them Arabs, are assumed to be members of al-qaeda and are treated as suspect terrorists. In a development which causes widespread international concern, planeloads of them are flown, blindfold and shackled, to a US army base atGuantánamo in Cuba. Here it is the US intention for them to be tried by secret military courts which have the power to order execution.

Meanwhile Afghanistan is back in the hands of the factions and warlords whose rivalries brought the country years of misery before the Taliban prevailed. How to ensure a more peaceful future? 


A new start?

The United Nations takes the lead in trying to help Afghaninstan towards a more stable political future. The country's various factions are invited to send delegates to a summit conference at Königswinter, a resort near Bonn. After a week of difficult negotiation, arrangements are in place for an interim government. It is to be headed by the Pashtun leader Hamid Karzai. It is to rule for six months from 22 December 2001. At the end of that period a Loya Girga, or meeting of tribal elders, will be held to decide on the nature of a permanent adminstration.

Karzai is elected president at the Loya Girga. With stability of a kind restored, more rapidly than anyone had dared to hope, the task can resume of rebuilding a shattered economy and providing for the millions of Afghan refugees displaced by years of warfare and repression. But a nearly successful assassination attempt on Karzai in 2002 reveals how dangerous the situation remains.

This was delivered as a speech at a Students Against War teach-in in Duluth, Minnesota (USA)

The story of Afghanistan is in so many ways a very tragic one. Afghanistan is one of the most impoverished nations of the world. It is one of the most war-torn, most ravaged, and most beleaguered of nations. It is a nation that has been beset by invasion, external pressure and internal upheaval since before the time of Alexander the Great. Its people are a people who have endured more than most of us can ever imagine. In fact, for many Afghanis, all that has changed in the last one thousand years are the weapons which have been used against so many of them. It is therefore with great sadness and respect that I tell the story of Afghanistan.

First of all, who are the Afghanis? Afghanistan has historically been the link between Central Asia, the Middle East and the Indian sub-continent. It is therefore a nation made up of many different nationalities – the result of innumerable invasions and migrations. Within its current borders there are at least a dozen major ethnic groups – Baluch, Chahar Aimak, Turkmen, Hazara, Pashtun, Tajik, Uzbek, Nuristani, Arab, Kirghiz, Pashai and Persian.

Historically the Pashtun nationality has been the most dominant. The term Afghan, for example, generally is viewed by other peoples in the country to refer to the Pashtuns. The royal families of the country were Pashtun, and today the Pashtun represent about 50% of the total population. Tajiks come in second with 25%, and the rest make up considerably smaller percentages.

Within the country there are tiny Hindu, Sikh and Jewish communities, but the vast majority of this people are Muslims – and in fact many ethnic groups consider Islam to be one of the defining aspects of their ethnic identity. This is true of the Pashtun for example.

Islam was brought to Afghanistan during the eight and ninth century by the Arabs. Prior to that the nation had been ruled by various Persian, Greek, Sassasian and Central Asian empires. Following a subsequent break down in Arab rule, semi-independent states began to form. These local dynasties and states however were overwhelmed and crushed during the Mongolian invasions of the 1200s – conquerors who were to remain in control of part or all of the country until the 1500s, despite much resistance and internal strife. Following the collapse of Mongol rule, Afghanistan found itself in a situation much like what has continued into modern times – caught between the vice of two great powers. During this time it was the Mughals of northern India and the Safavids of Iran that fought over the mountains and valleys of Afghanistan. Armies marched to and fro devastating the land and murdering the people, laying siege to city after city, and destroying whatever had been left by the invading army that preceded it.

It was not until 1747 that Afghanistan was able to free itself. This was the year that Nadir Shah, an empire builder from Iran, died and left a vacuum in central Asia that a former Afghan bodyguard, named Ahmed Shah, was able to fill. Ahmad was a Pashtun, and his Pashtun clan was to rule Afghanistan, in one form or another, for the next 200 years.

Ahmad was able to unify the different Afghan tribes, and went on to conquer considerable parts of what are today eastern Iran, Pakistan, northern India and Uzbekistan. His successors though proved unable to hold his vast empire together, and within 50 years much of it had been seized by rival regional powers. Within the country there were numerous bloody civil wars for the throne, and for many Afghanis it meant little that their lives were now being uprooted and destroyed by ethnic kin, as opposed to foreign invaders.

Beginning in the 1800s Afghanistan’s internal affairs became dramatically aggravated by the increasing intervention by two new imperialist powers – the British Empire and Czarist Russia. The British were expanding and consolidating their colonial holdings on the India sub-continent, and were looking at the Hindu Kush mountains of Afghanistan as a natural barrier to prevent invasion by rival imperialists. The Russians, for their part, were expanding south and east, swallowing up several formerly independent sultanates and emirates in Central Asia. The two great powers essentially engaged in a race for Afghanistan, and their fiendish seizures of land, overthrow of indigenous nations and reckless interference into the affairs of the remaining independent states in the region became known as “the Great Game.”

Imperialists often give such trivial, and even humorous, sounding names to their interventionist schemes, but don’t be fooled into thinking that the peoples of the region experienced the consequences of these actions in a manner that they in any way would have interpreted as a game. For them the consequences were devastating. The arrival of European imperialism into the region simply accelerated, and made more devastating, the wars, poverty and material destruction that had already wracked the region.

During this time, on two separate occasions, British armies from India outright invaded Afghanistan in attempts to install puppet governments amenable to British economic interests, and that would oppose the economic interests of Czarist Russia.

The first, which became known as the First Anglo-Afghan War, took place in 1838. Outraged by the presence of a single Russian diplomat in Kabul, the British demanded that Afghanistan shun any contact with Russia or Iran, and that it hand over vast tracts of Pashtun inhabited land to British India (regions that are today party of Pakistan). Dost Mohammad, the Afghan ruler, agreed to these humiliating demands, but the British still invaded the country. The British seized most of the major cities in Afghanistan with little resistance, but their heavy handed rule soon resulted in a popular uprising by the people which resulted in the massacre of the entire British army of 15,000, save one.

British outrage over the uninvited arrival of a Russian diplomatic envoy in Kabul in 1878 resulted in the Second Anglo-Afghan War. Again the British were able to occupy all of the major cities, but unlike the last time, the British got wind of an impending rebellion against their occupation, and brutally crushed it in a pre-emptive move. They did subsequently withdraw, but not before they set up a puppet ruler and forced the country to hand over control of its foreign affairs to Britain.

Afghanistan would remain a British protectorate until 1919. Then, following the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 and the wave of popular rebellions that rippled through Asia subsequently, the then king of Afghanistan, Amanullah, declared his country’s full independence by singing a treaty of aid and friendship with Lenin, and declaring war on Britain. After a brief period of border skirmishes, and the bombing of Kabul by the Royal Air Force, Britain conceded Afghanistan’s independence. Stung by this turn of events though, Britain conspired with conservative religious and land owning elements with the country who were unhappy with Amanullah’s attempts to secularize and reform the country. The outbreak of an uprising and civil war forced him to abdicate in 1929. Different warlords contended for power until a new king, Muhammad Nadir Shah took power. He was assassinated four years later by the son of a state execution victim, and was succeeded by Muhammad Zahir Shah, who was to be Afghanistan’s last king, and who would rule for the next 40 years.

Zahir Shah’s rule, like the kings before him, was one of almost total autocratic power. The word of the king was the word of law. And while advisory councils and assemblies were sometimes called to advise the king, these bodies had no power, and in no way represented the people of Afghanistan. These bodies were made up of the country’s tribal elders – a nice sounding term that in reality referred to the brutal land owners and patriarchs. And while some history books refer to this time of Afghanistan’s history as one where attempts were made to “modernize” the country – all this really meant was newer rifles for the army, the purchase a few airplanes for a token air force, the creation of a tiny airline to shuttle the ruling elite around, and some telegraph wires to allow the king to collect this taxes more promptly. Under his rule political parties were outlawed, and students were shot and killed when they protested.

In 1973, the king was overthrown and a republic was declared. But this in reality represented very little. For the king had simply been overthrown by a prominent member of his own family, Daoud, who decided to title himself president instead of king.

Under Daoud a certain liberalization took place, meaning that some of the most draconian realities of the monarchy were rolled back, but by and large whatever hopes and expectations arose among the people – little was done to satisfy them.

Daoud had seized power with the help of an underground party named the Peoples Democratic Party of Afghanistan – a pro-Moscow communist party. The PDPA had aided and collaborated with Daoud in exchange for government posts. Once he had consolidated power though and felt he no longer needed these controversial allies, he ditched them, and ordered a crack down upon the party.

In 1978 the PDPA seized power from Daoud in a military coup. After seizing power they began a series of limited reforms, such as declaring, more or less, a secular state, and that women were deserving of equal treatment of men. They sought to curtail the practice of purchasing brides, and tried to implement a land reform program. They quickly met with fierce opposition from many sections of the deeply religious population though. The PDPA’s response to this was very heavy-handed, aggravating the situation. Soon several rural areas rose in open armed rebellion against the new government.

At the same time, the party’s long history of factionalism came to a bloody head as the more radical wing of the party sought to wipe out the more moderate leaning wing.

Immediately following the PDPA coup, the Soviet Union took an active interest in the so-called socialist revolution unfolding in its backyard. Dismayed by the clumsiness of the radical faction of the PDPA, the Soviet Union invaded in 1979 and handed power over a man named Karmal, who was the leader of the more moderate faction of the PDPA.

Though perhaps this was not the Soviets original intent, once inside Afghanistan, they found themselves forced to commit more and more troops and material to prop up the unpopular PDPA government. Several Islamic fundamentalist groups sprang up and began waging guerilla warfare, many of them operating from camps set up by the CIA and Pakistani Intelligence within Pakistan, from which they could strike into Afghanistan, and then beat a hasty retreat over a guarded border.

For its part, the United States government initially paid little attention to the PDPA coup in Afghanistan; its attention was instead focused to the west, where a popular revolution has overthrown their most valuable Middle East ally, the brutal and autocratic Shah of Iran. This changed of course once the Soviet Union sent troops into Afghanistan.

At that point the United States took an active interest in the Islamic fundamentalists waging war on the PDPA and the Soviets. The CIA began providing military training to the Mujahadeen – the name the Islamic guerillas came to be called. They provided what in the end amounted to billions of dollars worth of weapons, including sophisticated anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles that allowed the guerillas to take out modern Soviet tanks and jet planes.

After offensive after offensive, year after year, gradually the Soviet military became discouraged. They were able to occupy and hold all of the major cities, just at the British imperialists had been able to the century before, but they were unable to subjugate the countryside. Soviet causalities began to mount dramatically, and with the CIA’s providing the Mujahadeen with Stinger missiles, even their control of the air was becoming a costly affair.

At the same time the CIA kept increasing and updating the Mujahadeen’s supply of weaponry, the Saudis and Persian Gulf Emirates contributed billions of dollars to their coffers, and thousands of Arabs responded to the Mujahadeen’s call for jihad, or holy war, against the secular Soviets – including the wealthy Saudi playboy, Osama bin Laden – who quickly became one of the CIA’s most important operatives in its proxy war against communism.

In 1989 the Soviets withdrew, leaving the PDPA government to fend for itself. The CIA soon lost interest in its mercenary forces now that they had accomplished their mission of bleeding the Soviets white. The misc. Mujahadeen factions began fighting as much with themselves as with the PDPA forces, resulting in increased suffering and bloodshed. It wasn’t until 1992 that Mujahadeen fighters were able to topple the remnants of the PDPA government – ending the Stalinists attempts to bring revolution to the people of Afghanistan at the point of a gun.

Different Mujahadeen warlords occupied different cities and regions of the country. Burhanuddin Rabbani, the same Northern Alliance warlord who recently took Kabul from the Taliban, was the warlord who ruled over the city from 1992 until his ouster in 1996. During his reign over 60,000 people were murdered and thousands of women were raped. Current Northern Alliance warlord Rashid Dostum who is in control of the city of Mazar –E – Sharif, also ruled over it from 1992 until his ouster in 1997. Similarly the warlord Ismail Khan again rules the city of Heart, which he also ruled from 1992 to 1995; and warlord Yunis Khalis is back in control of Jalabad, which he ruled from 1992 to 1996.

The collapse of the PDPA government did not mark the end of Afghanistan’s civil war. The Mujahadeen warlords continued to bring death and destruction upon the country as they fought over the spoils, and sought to enlarge their new fiefdoms at the expense of their neighboring rivals.

While the CIA, after having done such a fine job of instigating unrest and warfare in the 1980s, could care less about the aftermath, Pakistani Intelligence forces maintained their interest. Seeking to end the civil war which threatened the stability of their own country – itself a prison house of many nationalities – Pakistani Intelligence aided in the creation of a new Islamic fundamentalist movement, the Taliban. The Taliban was born in the Islamic schools that had sprung up inside the Afghan refugee camps inside Pakistan. Its leadership and the bulk of its initial ranks, were made up of young religious students, primarily Pashtuns, motivated by the zeal of religion and the belief that they were ordained to bring stability and the ways of Allah back to their war torn land. They railed against the corruption, greed and factionalism of the contending Mujahadeen factions inside Afghanistan, and when they mounted a military push to conquer the country, they were initially well received by certain sections of the weary population. Their ranks were filled by rank and file Mujahadeen fighters and young idealists from inside the country, and city-by-city they were able to occupy most of the country. In 1996 they captured the capital city of Kabul, and had forced most of the remaining warlords into a small pocket in the far north of the country. These warlords subsequently formed a defensive alliance termed the Northern Alliance. By the time of the start of the current war, Taliban offensives had reduced their enclave to a mere 10% of the country.

Once in power the Taliban sought to create a theocratic state based on their interpretations of the Koran. Though already severely repressed by the various Mujahadeen warlords, the plight of Afghanistan’s women was made even worse under the new regime. The veil became the law of the land, and women were forbidden from attending school or holding employment outside of the home. Television was banned and an effort was made to purge the country of any signs or remnants of secular or Western influence. The country became politically and diplomatically isolated.

Then came the current war. Following the September 11 World Trade Center bombings the United States accused Osama Bin Laden of the crime. Bin Laden, who had left Afghanistan following the defeat of the Soviets, had returned after falling out of favor in Saudi Arabia, and being pressured to leave his first nation of refuge, the Sudan.

The U.S. government demanded that the Taliban hand over Bin Laden. The Taliban’s response was to demand proof of Bin Laden’s guilt, and after receiving none, they refused to hand him over.

Within a few weeks the United States began bombing the impoverished country, as well as providing active support to the Northern Alliance warlords. Following weeks of devastating bombing, and several failed offensives, the Northern Alliance succeeded in breaking out of its northern enclave, seizing the city of Mazar – E – Sharif, and then moving on to take Kabul. This set in motion a series of defeats for the Taliban, which began surrendering and abandoning almost every major city in the country, and retreating into the mountains. The U.S. meanwhile has continued its bombing campaign, and now has Marines on the ground hunting for Bin Laden. All the while the people of Afghanistan continue to suffer.

The United Nations, hardly a radical source of information, has estimated that up to 8 million Afghanis may starve this winter due to a shortage of food, made all the more severe by the intentional U.S. disruption of humanitarian aid, and bombing of Red Cross and other humanitarian aid facilities inside the country. At least hundreds, and more likely thousands, have been killed by U.S. bombs, and many more are dieing as the Northern Alliance and Taliban warlords fight it out. Hundreds of thousands of land mines and unexploded cluster bombs lay scattered across the nation’s landscape. And there is no end in sight to the misery.

It’s hard to say how much longer the Taliban will continue to fight, or when the U.S. will end its war. Afghanistan’s future, like its past, looks very dark indeed. Currently Northern Alliance warlords, southern Pashtun warlords, opportunistic émigré politicians, and even supporters of the aging deposed autocrat King Zahir Shah, are arguing about who will be the exploiter-in-chief of the devastated land. Most likely they will come up with some sort of coalition government – that will perhaps hold the different factions together, perhaps not. In the end it matters little, since none of the figures involved represent the people of this country, and none of them seem to have ever had their interests at heart.

What is the solution for Afghanistan? What will end the suffering of its people? The most immediate thing would be for the United States government to end its bombing, withdraw its troops, and respect the Afghan peoples right to self-determination. And while this alone would not end all of the bloodshed and the fighting, it would create a situation where the workers and farmers of Afghanistan would be more able to cast off the warlords and petty feudal tyrants, take control of their destinies, and create a society that is based upon cooperation and solidarity. Towards that end let us redouble our efforts to stop the U.S. bombing, to stop the U.S. war on the people of Afghanistan!

Contemporary Afghanistan - The Last Sixty Years (1919-1979)

We have spoken of the history and historical role of Afghanistan, and of its strategic geopolitical importance in that sensitive area of the world. Now we shall study particularly the history of relations between this country and its great northern neighbour, the Soviet Union, describing the different phases of the relationship, said to be "good neighbourly", which has ended in the invasion of the country by the Red Army in 1979.

King Amanullah, proclaiming unilaterally the independence of his country in 1919 without waiting for the reaction of the English, sent out a roving delegation to establish diplomatic relations with the different countries of Asia, Europe, and America. The first stage of that delegation's mission was in Moscow, where it was received in October 1919 with open arms by the leaders of the new regime. It was the first diplomatic delegation to visit Moscow since the bolshevik revolution of 1917. So, Afghanistan was the first country to recognise the new "state of workers and peasants of all the Russia". The new regime in Moscow not only recognised the independence of Afghanistan but even "hastened to offer the young state of Afghanistan her moral and material support in her heroic struggle against the English imperialists".

This was the beginning of a sort of "special relationship" between the two neighbouring countries which lasted, with ups and downs, for sixty years until the invasion of Afghanistan by the units of the Red Army in December 1979.

In order to illustrate the evolution of Russian policy towards Afghanistan over these sixty years, we may divide the period into three distinct phases.

First Phase:

During the first phase (1919-1929) relations were very amicable, but too hasty. The two countries needed each other. Afghanistan, having broken her traditional bonds with Great Britain, turned towards the Soviet Union for all kinds of support and assistance. In this way, for the first time in the history of relations between these two countries, many Russian technicians and instructors arrived in Afghanistan to set up telephone and telegraph communications, and to train young Afghan technicians, so that the first pilots of the Afghan air force were trained in the Soviet Union. At the same time, Soviet goods came onto the Afghan market which had, up to that time, been monopolised by the English.

This "flirtation" did not appeal to the English, particularly as Bolshevik propaganda made its way slowly across Afghanistan into India. The reaction of Great Britain was brutal. Nevertheless, the ground had been prepared by King Amanullah himself. In his patriotic zeal, he had started a series of reforms which were too bold and hurried, modeled along Turkish lines, without taking into consideration conditions peculiar to his own country, or the negative attitude of the religious factions towards these innovations, or their influence on the tribes. The result of this was the fall of the reformer monarch and the establishment of a regime which was both conservative and favourable to British policy.

Second Phase:

The accession of Nader Shah, in 1929, marked the beginning of a new phase in relations between Afghanistan and the Soviet Union. We shall call that phase the "closed borders era". In fact, under the reigns of Nader Shah and the early part of Zaher Shah (who was King until the 1973 coup d'etat organised by his cousin Daoud), the relations with the USSR were limited to diplomatic representation and commercial exchanges of no significance.

This was the situation until the end of the Second World War, during which time Afghanistan was able to maintain its neutrality because, at least during the last three years of was, its two powerful neighbours were fighting on the same side.

In 1947, the political status quo in this area was fundamentally changed by the withdrawal of the English from the Indian sub-continent, an event which left a political vacuum for Afghanistan.

The impact was so strong that the conservative government of Prince Hashem elder uncle of the young King Zaher Shah and a strong-minded man, who as Prime Minister had ruled the country since the the assassination of his older brother, King Nader Shah in 1933 fell, and his brother, Marshal Shah Mahmud, came into power as Prime Minister. In order to fill the political gap, the new government asked the USA to take the place vacated by the English, at least in the economic and technical fields, by initiating research works to explore the natural resources of the country, and by building irrigation and communications systems. The Afghan government offered substantial incentives to American commercial firms, in the form of very favourable contracts, in order to develop large areas of so far unproductive land in the Hilmand valley, in the south of the country.

Unfortunately, the Americans were not yet aware of the political and strategic importance of Afghanistan, and looked on this approach with great suspicion. The imperative reasons motivating the Afghan approach were not apparent to the American government, which assumed it to only a means of obtaining financial assistance and large investments to develop doubtful resources in a backward country.

Washington's suspicions further increased when, in 1951, Shah Mahmud personally presented a request to President Truman for the purchase of American arms. The "cold war" was beginning and the American government was already planning a strategy to curb the influence of the USSR and Communist China. This strategy was drawn up and implemented by General Eisenhower and the Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles, in the form of regional NATO, CENTO and SEATO pacts, covering the entire zone from Europe to the Far East, in which Pakistan was to play an important part as a link between Central and South East Asia.

Since 1947, Pakistan and Afghanistan had a political dispute over the right of self-determination of the Pashtun and Baluch tribes who live along the frontier between the two countries. The Indian government was on the Afghan's side and these two factors led the American government to consider the request for arms as a prelude to a new Kashmir situation in the Area.

Faced with the negative attitude of President Truman, Shah Mahmud made a very significant remark, which was widely commented upon by the press. To a journalist, who had inquired whether the Afghan government would turn to the USSR for arms, he replied: "Muslims are forbidden to eat pork, except when a Muslim is dying of hunger!".

Although, it was at that stage only a bluff, but later on Afghanistan had no alternative but to turn to Moscow.

Third Phase:

Prince Daoud, a cousin of King Zahir, who meanwhile had come to power, tried once more to convince the American government of the Afghan government's good will and of its desire to settle the dispute with Pakistan through diplomatic channels. He met Vice-President Nixon during his short visit to Kabul in 1953. But another prerequisite was demanded, namely that Afghanistan should abandon its long tradition of neutrality to join Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, and Turkey as a party to the Baghdad Pact.

This was enough to push Prince Daoud, who was already tired of American lack of comprehension, into the open arms of Moscow.

Thus the third phase had started and the Great Assembly (Loe Jirga), at a special meeting convened to decide on the Pashtunistan situation and the purchase of arms, unanimously, decided that arms "should be bought wherever this was possible".

In Moscow, the new post-Stalin leaders were following these events with great interest. They had already started their Peace Policy towards the Third World and were eager to draw Afghanistan into their sphere of influence.

In December 1955, Bulganin and Khrushchev stopped in Kabul, on their way back from a trip to India, to assure their new client of the full support of the USSR, not only in terms of arms, but also on the Pashtunistan issue, and a long-term loan of 100 million dollars was granted to Afghanistan.

On the other hand, numerous Soviet experts started investigating all over the country; thousands of young Afghans were sent to the USSR to complete their studies in various fields, but mostly to get an army training. Large projects were undertaken by the Russians, mostly in the communication sector and the research of natural resources. Several main roads and airports were built; gas, oil, iron and copper resources were carefully studied. A large polytechnic institute in Kabul and several smaller ones in the provinces were built. During the years 1958 to 1973, 50% of the young officers and army technicians were trained in the USSR, or under the supervision of Russian instructors in Afghanistan.

A long-term plan had been drawn up by the Russians and each step had been carefully studied by qualified experts.

During the whole preparatory and transitional period, the western countries which, in spite of the growing Russian influence had maintained a presence in Afghanistan, did not suspect the intentions of the USSR. On the contrary, they were quite happy at this unprecedented peaceful competition with Russians. For example, Kabul's airport was built by the Russians and the technical equipment was supplied by the Americans.

A few Afghans, who were familiar with the Russians' methods, and in particular with their way of dealing with the Muslims in Central Asia, voiced some doubts about their impartiality.

They were able to convince King Zaher that his cousin was going too far in his relations with the USSR, especially after relations with Pakistan were severed in 1961, making the country totally dependent on Russia.

Already some signs of Marxist ideas were becoming apparent and were reflected in the press. The King, who was quite slow in making up his mind (this was due to the many years during which all decisions were taken by his uncles and then his cousin), came to a drastic decision.

He "accepted the resignation" of Daoud and, for the first time, appointed a Prime Minister who belonged neither to the Royal family, nor to the aristocracy. Dr. Muhammad Yusuf, who was Minister of Mines and Industry in the Daoud government, presented his cabinet, composed of technocrats and intellectuals, in March 1963. He suggested that a new Constitution be prepared with a view to changing the country to a constitutional monarchy. The King agreed to that proposal, and the new constitution was drafted by Afghan experts, in collaboration with foreign legal advisers (a Frenchman, an Indian and an Egyptian). It was based on the principles of classical democracy, but maintained the traditional values, so deeply rooted in Afghan society, of Islam and monarchy. It also excluded all members of the Royal family from the political scene.

The Constitution was adopted in October 1964, with only one vote against it, and ratified by the King. General elections were due to take place in October 1965, and, therefore, the interim government had sufficient time to prepare and promulgate by Royal decree the laws for the first democratic general elections.

For the first time in the history of Afghanistan, political parties were allowed, on the condition, however, that their aims and activities should conform to the fundamental principles of the Constitution: Islam, constitutional monarchy and individual freedom. Therefore, the formation of Marxist parties of any tendency was indirectly excluded. As the elections were to take place prior to the formation of the political parties, it was left to the elected Parliament to pass the law on the creation of political parties, trade unions, and other political activities. But the leftist groups were eager to start and did not wait until the legal formalities were completed. On the contrary, they took advantage of the general authorisation and started to organise themselves. Several groups, formed mainly of youngsters, began their future political activities; the other groups, being much more law conscious, waited until the promulgation of the law to form the centre parties, which were to be the main-stream of the new Parliament.

The law on freedom of the press, prepared by the interim government and promulgated by Royal decree, made things easy for the leftist groups which launched an intensive campaign aimed at gaining the support of young people - most of them inexperienced.

That is how the Marxist groups, with the help of their Russian advisors managed to gain a strong position and overtake all the other political groups, whose aim it was to play a positive and constructive role in a democracy.

To a large extent, the Marxists were helped by some pressure groups, who were ready to go to any lengths to retain their power. Instead of stopping the illegal activities of the Marxist groups, they tried to oust the group which had drawn up and defended the new Constitution before the Constituent Assembly.

After the first student riots, organized by Marxist elements after the opening of the first democratic Parliament, they suggested that the government should be changed, in spite of the fact that the government had just won a vote of confidence by large majority.

They accused the Prime Minister, Dr. Muhammad Yusuf of incompetence in this matter, when they knew very well that the Prime Minister and the members of his government were at the meeting of the parliament.

Muhammad Hashem Maiwandwal, a former Minister of Information and former Ambassador to Washington, was asked to form a new government.

This event was the beginning of the failure of the experiment in democracy in Afghanistan. The liberal group, which had been a promoter of the constitutional monarchy, was excluded from the government and replaced by persons who did not believe in the Constitution. As a result, the constitution was only partly applied, and some important laws, which had been approved, never came into effect. It was the case for the law on political parties and the results thereof were that groups loyal to the Constitution could not organise themselves, whereas the Marxist groups could expand.

So encouraged, the Marxist groups openly started their activities and had representatives in the Parliament (Three during the first legislation and two during the second).

Simultaneously, the Marxist parties were taking advantage of the successive governments' policies of "laisser-aller, laisser-faire", and were publishing articles in which their ideology and programmes were explained; their newspapers were "khalk" (Masses) and "Parcham" (Flag) and "Shola" (Flame), the latter belonging to the Maoist ideology.

The governments were too weak to stop the publication of these articles, which were contrary to the letter and the spirit of the Constitution. It was only through the pressure applied by the Parliamentary majority on the government that, from time to time, the publication of these illegal newspapers was stopped. The constitutional monarchy was already condemned, and the last blow was soon to come.

Daoud's Coup and the Fall of Monarchy

Moscow had not easily accepted the replacement of Daoud and the steps taken towards democracy. One positive result for the Russians was that it provided an opportunity officially to create the Communist Party.

The workers started to get organised and became very active in the industrial areas of the country; the demonstrations, which had begun on the campus of the University and in the secondary schools of Kabul, soon spread to the provinces: riots became more and more frequent; the King was openly criticized.

Moscow had a plan ready and in Kabul and army was being infiltrated by the "Parcham" group. A period of transition was necessary before a Marxist government could be established. Someone had to be found, who could, at the same time, be trusted b Moscow and accepted by the Afghan people, in order to replace the King who was gradually loosing his popularity. Only one person met all the requirements, and that was Daoud. After ten years away from the political scene, he was still ambitious and eager to regain power. To achieve this goal, he was to take the King's place, even if that meant as President of the Republic only. The Russians were in a hurry to put an end to the monarchy, which they considered to be a major obstacle to their objectives.

An agreement was reached in 1971 between two officers belonging to the "Parcham" group (Moscow's favourite) and Dr. Hassan Sharq who was acting on Daoud's behalf.

Prince Daoud was to lead an army coup which had been prepared by the Parchami officers in Kabul and under the direct supervision of Russian military advisers.

The opportunity came when the King traveled to Europe for a medical check-up. The Heir Apparent, Ahmad Shah, was to replace the King; the government was led by Muhammad Musa Shafiq, an intelligent young intellectual but without experience, and General Abdul Wali, a cousin and son-in-law of the King, who was the commanding officer of the armed forces in Kabul.

On 18 July 1973, Daoud made a radio announcement, informing the Afghan people that the monarchy had come to an end and that a Republic was being set up. The 1964 democratic Constitution was annulled; a temporary government and a revolutionary council - both headed by Daoud - came into power. Six members of the "Parcham" group were in the government, and half of the members of the revolutionary council were Parchami officers.

The programme of the new government promised a fast and revolutionary development of the country, based on democracy and socialism. This programme was practically identical to the one published in the first issue of the Parcham newspaper, four years earlier, especially with regard to land reform, nationalisation of banks, large industries and social justice, etc.

Daoud was not a communist, not was he a man to accept orders from anyone, especially foreigners. It may be that he believed he could get rid of his demanding allies... At any rate, he tried to keep them to one side as he strengthened his own position. Two years later, all the Marxist ministers were replaced. Some were sent abroad as ambassadors, some simply asked to resign.

Moscow did not react immediately. Daoud had a new Constitution drawn up, providing for one party only, on the model of Algeria and Egypt (during Naser's time). Once more the Russians tried to reason with Daoud; he was invited to Moscow, but would not yield on this point which, for him, would have meant total surrender. After this eventful meeting, the Russian leaders decided that Daoud should be removed from power, and the first condition to achieve this was the reconciliation of the two Marxist groups Parcham and Khalk.

After eight years of antagonism, the two groups united to become the "People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan", under the leadership of Nur Muhammad Taraki, the Khalk leader, who was to become President of Afghanistan.

Babrak Karmal, the Parcham leader, would only be Vice-President, and later, for a few months, Ambassador in Prague. This shows the irreconcilability of the Afghans: once an enemy, always an enemy until death... as we were to see.

After his visit to Moscow, Daoud became worried about his own safety, and was ready, but too late, to follow the advice of other political leaders. The machine of the KGB was already moving in his direction.

The new Constitution was accepted by the Constituent Assembly and he was elected, in March 1977, as President of the Republic for a term of six years. Daoud knew, however, that he could no longer count on either Moscow's support, or the loyalty of the officers who had brought him into power four years earlier. He had become unpopular after his open "flirtation" with Moscow and his incredible tolerance towards the leftist groups which had monopolised the political scene of the country.

His only chance was to turn to the Muslim countries, at least to obtain financial and moral support in case of total break-up with Moscow. His trips to Kuweit, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, in March and April 1978, and the reconciliation with the Shah of Iran, were desperate efforts which only precipitated his fall.

The Russian plan was so well conceived and prepared that Daoud did not have time to leave the presidential palace, where he, his whole family, and his aids were killed, without even being able to call on the half-a-dozen army camps which he had set up around the capital for such an event [footnote: But according to the survivors of this bloody massacre he was personally directing the defense of the Palace until and end, and refused to surrender even when the marxist officers entered the building.

The plan had also foreseen the elimination of Mir Akbar Khaiber, the theoretician of the party, who had opposed the total take-over by the Russians. He was murdered on 18 April 1978, and his funeral provided the opportunity for the members and sympathisers of the Marxist parties to launch the protests and riots which were to last for several days. All the communist leaders were arrested, and the open confrontation started. The winner was the Popular United Khalk party, and the first Marxist government was thus established in Afghanistan.