Today’s crises legacy of 1978 coup: MPs

KABUL was facing today stemmed from the coup against President Sardar Mohammad Daud Khan by the communist People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) on April 27, 1978.

The coup happened in the presidential palace and President Duad was killed along with his family members.

On June 28, 2008, the body of President Daud and those of his family were found in two separate mass graves in the Pul-i-Charkhi area.  On March 17, 2009, Daud was given a state funeral.

Daud seized power from King Mohammad Zahir Shah (1933 to 1973) and became a prime minister from 1954 to 1963. PDPA’s strength grew considerably in these years.

In 1967, the PDPA split into two rival factions, the Khalq (Masses) faction headed by Nur Mohammad Taraki and Hafizullah Amin and the Parcham (Flag) faction led by Babrak Karmal.

On April 27, 1978, the then army, which had been sympathetic to the PDPA cause, overthrew and executed President Daud and Taraki, the secretary general of the PDPA, became President of the Revolutionary Council and Prime Minister of the newly established Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.

By mid-1978, a rebellion started with rebels attacking the local military garrison in eastern Nuristan province and soon civil war spread throughout the country. In September 1979, Deputy Prime Minister Hafizullah Amin seized power, arresting and killing President Taraki.

Over two months of instability overwhelmed Amin’s regime as he moved against his opponents in the PDPA and the growing rebellion. A final pre-war treaty, signed in December 1978, allowed the PDPA to call upon the Soviet Union for military support.

The withdrawal of Soviet combatant forces from Afghanistan began on May 15, 1988 and executed on February 15, 1989, with mujahideen rebels overthrowing Mohammad Najibullah’s Democratic Republic of Afghanistan in 1992.

At today’s session, an upper house member from central Logar province, Sifatullah Haqmal, said the ongoing crises in Afghanistan had been a result of the coup staged against President Duad.  “The misfortunes, the killings and the barbarism you see today are the legacy of that coup.”

His colleague from northeastern Badakhshan province Ahmad Bashir Samim said neighbouring countries had been interfering in Afghanistan’s affairs over the past several decades.

MP Maulvi Muhiuddin Munsif from central Kapisa province held similar views. He called on the government to enthusiastically observe the Mujahideen Victory Day (April 28).

Chairman Fazl Hadi Muslimyar also called the April 17 coup the real cause of today’s problems in Afghanistan.

“Some people say April 17 (coup day) and April 28 (mujahideen day) both were responsible for today’s problems, but the two events are not the same. I cannot tolerate a single bad word against the April 28,” Muslimyar warned.

He said the Mujahideen government had been peaceful during its first few months, but later the civil war broke out.

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