The first attempt at the democratisation of Afghanistan, known as the “silent revolution”, failed in October 1965. Up to April 1978, there were nine subsequent governments, also nowhere near being able to satisfy the basic needs of the population.
According to UN statistics, Afghanistan was the most underdeveloped state in Asia. Despite the neo-colonial “development aid” granted to Afghanistan by the Western states over decades, the socio-economic situation in Afghanistan had deteriorated from year to year. The only thing that continued to grow was the debt, so that the situation became increasingly threatening for the monarchy.
The majority of the Afghan population had already been living on the edge of subsistence, and when, after the devastating drought of 1971/72, there were approximately a million and a half famine victims, this sealed the fate of King Mohammad Saher’s reign. On 17 July 1973, militia officers belonging to the Democratic People’s Party of Afghanistan (DVPA) staged a coup against the monarchy and installed Muhammad Daud (who had been Prime Minister from 1953 to 1963, and was the brother-in-law and cousin of the king) in power.
The Daud government, however, did not carry out any of the reforms which he had promised in his first “address to the nation.” In his foreign policy, he abandoned Afghanistan’s traditional policy of nonalignment by intensifying relations with the Shah of Iran, with Anwar Al Sadat of Egypt, with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Daud gradually excluded all left forces from important positions, proceeding to open repression against the party leadership of the DVPA in the spring of 1978. In addition, there was the political terror of the Islamists and the secret services, to which prestigious DVPA politicians and representatives fell victim. Mir Akbar Chaibar, founding member of the party and a member of the politbureau was shot dead in the street on 18 April 1978.
