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Republic of Afghanistan | |||||||||
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| 1973–1978 | |||||||||
| Anthem: څو چې دا ځمكه آسمان وي (Pashto) Śo ce dā źməka āsmān wi Tso che daa dzmuka aasmaan wee "So long as there is Earth and Heaven" | |||||||||
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| Capital | Kabul 33°N65°E / 33°N 65°E /33; 65 | ||||||||
| Common languages | Pashto,Dari | ||||||||
| Religion | Islam | ||||||||
| Demonym | Afghan | ||||||||
| Government | One-partypresidential republic under adictatorship | ||||||||
| President | |||||||||
• 1973–1978 | Mohammad Daoud Khan | ||||||||
• 1978 | Abdul Qadir (acting) | ||||||||
| Vice President | |||||||||
• 1973–1978 | Sayyid Abdulillah | ||||||||
| Legislature | Loya Jirga | ||||||||
| Historical era | Cold War | ||||||||
| 17 July 1973 | |||||||||
| Late July 1975 | |||||||||
| 27–28 April 1978 | |||||||||
• Establishment of theDemocratic Republic of Afghanistan[1] | 30 April 1978 | ||||||||
| Currency | Afghani | ||||||||
| Calling code | +93 | ||||||||
| ISO 3166 code | AF | ||||||||
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TheRepublic of Afghanistan (Pashto:د افغانستان جمهوریت,Dǝ Afġānistān Jumhūriyat;Dari:جمهوری افغانستان,Jumhūrī-yi Afğānistān) was the firstrepublic inAfghanistan. It is often called theDaoud Republic, as it was established in July 1973 byGeneralSardarMohammad Daoud Khan of theBarakzai dynasty (alongside senior Barakzai princes) who deposed his cousin,KingMohammad Zahir Shah, in acoup d'état. The occasion for the coup was the1964 Constitution of Afghanistan which took power from most members of the royal family in favour of centralization under Zahir Shah and his offspring under the tenet ofdemocracy.[2] Daoud Khan was known for hisautocracy and attempts tomodernize the country with help from both theSoviet Union and theUnited States, among others.[3]
In 1978, a military coup known as theSaur Revolution took place, instigated by the communistPeople's Democratic Party of Afghanistan, in which Daoud and his family were killed. The "Daoud Republic" was subsequently succeeded by the Soviet-backedDemocratic Republic of Afghanistan.[4]
In July 1973, whileKingMohammad Zahir Shah, the reigning Afghan monarch at the time, was inItaly undergoing eye surgery as well as therapy forlumbago, his cousin and brother-in-law,GeneralSardarMohammad Daoud Khan, the formerprime minister, staged acoup d'état inKabul. Thiscoup overthrew theKingdom of Afghanistan and established theRepublic of Afghanistan in its place, which was asingle-party state. General Daoud had been forced to resign as prime minister by King Zahir a decade earlier.[5] The King abdicated the following month rather than risk an all-out civil war.[5]
After seizing power, Daoud Khan, who had himself proclaimed as the firstPresident of Afghanistan, established his ownpolitical party, theNational Revolutionary Party. This party became the sole focus of political activity in the country. In 1974, the new flag ofAfghanistan was introduced, as well its emblem, with a flag raising ceremony being held outside of theArg presidential palace.[6] In January 1977, aloya jirga was convened following theConstitutional Assembly election, and approved a new constitution establishing a presidentialone-party state, with political opposition being suppressed, sometimes violently.[4]
Also in 1973,Mohammad Hashim Maiwandwal, a formerprime minister, was accused of plotting a coup, though it is unclear if the plan was actually targeting the new republican government or the abolished monarchy. Maiwandwal was arrested and allegedly committed suicide in jail before his trial, but widespread belief says he was tortured to death.[4]
After General Daoud's 1973 establishment of the Republic of Afghanistan, members of thePeople's Democratic Party (PDPA) were given positions in the government.[7] In 1976,President Daoud established a seven-yeareconomic plan for the country. He started military training programs withIndia andEgypt,[8] commencedeconomic development talks withIran. Daoud also turned his attention to oil richMiddle Eastern nations such asSaudi Arabia,Iraq, andKuwait among others for financial assistance.[4]
During Daoud's presidency, relations with theSoviet Union deteriorated. They saw his shift to a more Western-friendly leadership as dangerous, including Daoud's criticism ofCuba's membership in theNon-Aligned Movement and Daoud's expulsion of Soviet military and economic advisers. The suppression of political opposition furthermore turned the Soviet-backed PDPA, an important ally in the 1973 coup against the King, against him.[4]
Daoud in 1978 had achieved little of what he had set out to accomplish. TheAfghan economy had not made any real progress and the Afghan standard of living had not risen. Daoud had also garnered much criticism for his single party constitution in 1977 which alienated him from his political supporters. In March 1978, Daoud visitedIslamabad and agreed to stop supporting rebel groups inPakistan, as well as agreeing to expelPakistani militants in the future. He additionally made plans for Afghan military personnel to be trained by thePakistan Armed Forces.[8]
When Afghans by 1978 had grown disappointed with the "do nothing" Daoud government, the PDPA government officials alone were identified by some with economic and social reform.[7] By this time, the two main factions of the PDPA, previously locked in a power struggle, had reached a fragile agreement for reconciliation. Communist-sympathizing army officials were by then already planning a move against the government. According toHafizullah Amin, who becameAfghan head of state in 1979, the PDPA had started plotting the coup in 1976, two years before it materialized.[4]
The PDPA seized power in a brutal militarycoup in 1978, which is best known as theSaur Revolution.[9] On April 27, troops from the military base atKabul International Airport started to move towards the center of the capital. It took only 24 hours to consolidate power, with the rapid push including an air raid on theArg (the Presidential palace), and insurgent army units quickly seized critical institutions and communication lines. The deposed Daoud and most of his family were executed the following day.[10]
Nur Muhammad Taraki,General Secretary of the PDPA, was proclaimed Chairman of the Presidium of theRevolutionary Council and effectively succeeded Mohammed Daoud Khan as head of state. He simultaneously became head of government of the newly establishedDemocratic Republic of Afghanistan.[10]
Daoud Khan pursued the policy ofbi-tarafi, meaning "without sides", during theCold War.[11] He sought investments from theSoviet Union and theUnited States. Secularists supported Daoud as he was in favour of letting theIslamic veil (and more specifically thepurdah) remain optional for Afghan women, however, extremists would harass women who chose not to veil themselves, even resorting to throwing acid on exposed legs.[8]
After the1975 Panjshir Valley uprising, a failed Iranian–Pakistani (SAVAK and theISI) backed rebellion which sought to oust the Republican government usingJamiat-e Islami, Daoud realised a friendlier Pakistan was in his best interests, therefore he was in support of resolving the border dispute withPakistan and balancing Afghanistan’s ties with theSoviet Union by expanding relations with the West and reaching out to Muslim nations such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, Egypt and others for financial assistance.
During Daoud Khan’s meeting with Prime MinisterZulfikar Ali Bhutto in June 1976, Daoud indicated that there were countries (in reference to the Soviet Union) “that did not want to see the amelioration of Afghan–Pakistani relations. It was imperative that those quarters be denied the satisfaction of witnessing the worsening of relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan”.[12] After Daoud Khan’s other visit in August 1976, relations between the two countries improved and transit trade benefited significantly, with India’s surplus crop being allowed to be transported over land from India to Afghanistan. Consequently, both Bhutto and Daoud were close to reaching an agreement on the recognition of the Durand Line in return for Pakistan granting autonomy to theNorth-West Frontier Province (NWFP) andBalochistan.[13] This did not come to fruition due toZia ul-Haq’smilitary coup in June 1977 which ended Bhutto’s government, and Daoud being killed a year after during theSaur Revolution in April 1978.[14]
A few days after the coup, the formerRoyal Afghan Army under Zahir Shah was now being referred to as theAfghan Republican Army under Daoud Khan inThe Kabul Times newspaper.[15]
A 1973United States Department of State report stated that there was a problem of allegiances within the Afghan military, describing the issue: “The population in general regards the armed forces as an instrument of government, rather than an organisation of citizens in service of the nation. The individual normally respects authority, but this respect is shown first and foremost to his own tribal chief or head of family”. By the end of the 1970s, theAfghan Air Force had over 180 aircraft, consisting ofMikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17,Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19 andMikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 fighters,Sukhoi Su-7BM strike fighters andIlyushin Il-28 bombers.
Daoud Khan made intensive efforts to cultivate closer military ties to India as a means to avoid total reliance on Soviet training and supply.[17] By November 1974, Afghanistan began a massive military build-up along the Durand Line, with a promise of more Soviet military support including infantry gear, radar systems, 1,170 tanks (such as theT-62,T-54, andT-55, and bridge-laying tanks), over 6,000 pieces of artillery (including 500 each ofSAM-7 andSAM-2 missiles), transport vehicles, infantry equipment, radars, 40MiG-21s and 40MiG-17 aircraft, and 50 combat helicopters. 270 officers departed for training in the Soviet Union, while another 250 were sent to India.[18]
Under Daoud, the Afghan Republican Army additionally grew in size, from 13 infantry divisions to 16. Each of the 3 army corps were reinforced with a mechanised brigade and tank battalion. Along the Jalalabad–Khyber Pass front, the Afghan Republican Army’s presence was strengthened. Previously, there had only been one mountain brigade and a single infantry division, until they were reinforced with an infantry division that had its own tank battalion, along with an additional mountain brigade, two more tank battalions, and an infantry brigade. This was in the efforts to form a “Jalalabad Corps”, planned to consist of two infantry divisions, one of them a mountain division, and an armoured division consisting of three tank battalions.[19]
In the Gardez–Matun area facing Bannu, the Afghan Army were also reinforced. A tank battalion and an armoured brigade were added to a sector that already contained two infantry divisions and one mountain brigade. In the province of Kandahar, the 7th Armoured Division was reorganised, with two tank battalions being removed and three new tank battalions taking their place with new armour. A mechanised brigade, artillery brigade, an anti-aircraft brigade, and another mountain brigade were added to forces of the 2nd Army Corps in Kandahar which already consisted of an infantry division, an armoured division, and a mountain brigade. Kandahar Airfield was activated and fully operational, hosting two squadrons of MiG-17 aircraft.[19]
Starting in 1976, Daoud began to wean away from political and military dependence on the Soviet Union and formed a commission of senior Afghan military officials to review and change Soviet military manuals so they could accommodate Afghanistan’s operational environment and national military traditions. The commission did not make any significant progress, but the exercise to modify manuals for all branches of theAfghan Armed Forces alerted the Soviets, which coincided with the temporary reunification ofParcham and theKhalq factions of thePDPA in the summer of 1976. The reunification of the two factions and the Soviet role in mediation worried Daoud, who saw the action as hostile to the Afghan Republic.[20]
Daoud Khan heavily focused oneducation andwomen's rights during his reign. His government opened many schools and by the time of the Saur Revolution, 1 million Afghan students were enrolled in school, many whom were girls.[11]
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