Afghanistan

= Afghanistan- A Struggle For Power, From The Inside And Out =



Zahir Shah became king when he was only 19 after the assassination of his father. His uncles rule as prime ministers until 1953, with Shah sitting in the background.
Following in the footsteps of kings before him, he ruled in a total [|autocratic] style. King Shah ruled as he wished and no one went against him for the 40 years he ruled. What he chose was what happened, his rule was all powerful and while he had advisory councils which could recommend ideas for ruling, they had no true power and absolutely no way to voice the opinions of the people. He struck out against any protests and went as far as murdering protesters to stop them. Any opposing political parties were barred from being created or existing. (Britannica)

The final king was able to keep Afghanistan neutral through the second world war and other world afflictions. Though they didn't take any sides, they did take in all the financial aid that was offered to them without hesitation.(Afghan gov)

While the final king did as he wished, he did help the economy of Afghanistan move forward greatly. With the immense help of foreign aid, mainly with the help of the U.S and the Soviets. The creation of many big projects were formed through the government, such as irrigation and the construction of highways.(Afhan gov)

The Creation Of The Peoples Democratic Part Of Afghanistan (the PDPA) Was On January 1, 1965 And Had Its Split In 1967.
They were a party originally created as a political party with close ties to the Soviets. In its split the two sides were named the Parcham and the Khalq. The Parcham followed secretary Babrak Karmal, while the Khalq followed Taraki, the party's general secretary.(Britannica)

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In 1973 a military coup was created and led by Zahir Shah's cousin Daoud Khan, with the help of the PDPA. He had been upset with how the country had been run by his cousin for the last decade and believed there needed to be changes made. The coup was highly influenced by the Soviets, the main leaders who carried out the procedures were junior officers who were all trained in Russia. Before the coup, the Soviets had organized street riots and gave fiery speeches, which in turn pushed the current king, Zahir Shah, toward not signing the policy on allowing other political parties to form. After a year of planning the coup finally took place in July of 1973 while the king was receiving eye treatment in Italy. After a fairly bloodless coup, Daoud Khan had elected himself as president and created his own political party by the name of the ===== National Revolutionist Party. In January of 1997 Daoud changed Afghanistan to a one party political government. In Daoud Khan's first months at power he began to ease out members of his cabinet who belonged to the Parcham giving him short term gains. During the President's five year term he began to lose ties with the Soviets. During this time though, the Soviets stayed as Afghanistan's largest aid donors and had enough influence that no Western affiliations were made politically or socially. Daoud Khan believed in a state centered economy and after three years of being in power he created an ambitious seven year plan for Afghanistan's economy. This plan included major projects and relied heavily on foreign aid. In 1974 he began distancing himself from the Soviets and made alliances such as forming a military training group with India, talking with Iran about economic development aid, and he went to the oil rich Muslim nations in seek of financial support.(Afghan land)

PDPA reunites
After a ten year separation the PDPA came together in a rise against Daoud. On April 27, 1978 a coup d'état starting from a military base in Kabul made slow movements over 24 hours while rebels fought officials loyal to Daoud in and around the capital. It took a mere 24 hours, because the next day Daoud and most of his family had been shot dead. "Two hundred and thirty-one years of royal rule by Ahmad Shah and his descendants had ended, but it was less clear what kind of regime had succeeded them."(Afghan land)

A New Direction
With the fall of Daoud, the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan was formed on April 27, 1978. Nur Mohammad Taraki was elected president of the Revolutionary Council, Prime Minister of the country, and Secretary-General of the combined PDPA. He had placed under him leaders of the two now joined sides of the PDPA. These new leaders formed their government in a completely different way. They based it around not being under Soviet control or influence but in fact basing what the government did around Afghan nationalism, Islamic principles, socioeconomic justice, nonalignment in foreign affairs, and respect for all agreements and treaties signed by previous Afghan governments.(Britannica) They saw this as the way to run Afghanistan as more for the people than for a single leader. This peace quickly died as parties separated again and the Khalq quickly rising to the top because of its large military base. The Khalq's quickly and efficiently sent away Parcham's as ambassadors and purges were set up to take out any Parcham leaders who might be an opposition to them. (Britannica)

The Removal Of Two Leaders
While Taraki helped a great deal with the new implementation of the country's new policies, they did not go over well with the people of Afghanistan. These ideas included eliminating usury, ensuring equal rights for women, instituting land reforms, and making administrative decrees in classic Marxist-Leninist rhetoric. These all seem like great and appealing movements toward modernization but instead the very traditional people of Afghanistan who's beliefs were still conservative took action in violent uprisings. These uprisings began in the summer of 1978 with the eventual death of the U.S Ambassador and the full disregard of American help in the country. In March of 1979 Taraki was forced to name a leader of the Khalq, Hafizullah Amin, prime minister but he was still able to keep his general of secretary position. After a meeting with the Soviets Taraki was advised to make for the assassination of Amin but this failed. Amin was able to successfully seize power on September 14, 1979. In his rise to power there was a lot of violence and amidst this violence Taraki was killed. Shortly after he gained power Amin realized he was being planned to be assassinated and despite his best efforts on December 24, 1979 along with the invasion of Afghanistan by Soviet Russia, Amin and many of his followers were killed.(Britannica)

The Afghan War (1979-1989)
Babrak Karmal one of the superior leaders of the Parcham's returned to Afghanistan and took over as prime minister, President of the Revolutionary Council, and Secretary-General of the PDPA. As he came to power, the citizens did not favor him or the Soviets taking control along side him. Violent protests broke out all along the country. Many religious groups know as the Mujahideen came together. They united in Afghanistan and along the Pakistan border all in the attempt to stop the Soviet invasion. With little support from the people the PDPA gained back its close ties with Russia who aided them throughout the war.(Britannica) Before the actual invasion of 30,000 Russian troops took place in December of 97, after the new government, with the outside help from the Soviets put in place "ruthless purges of all domestic opposition, and began extensive land and social reforms that were bitterly resented by the devoutly Muslim and largely anti-Communist population."(cold war) Every type of coup or uprising took place, the "Muslim tribal-based insurgencies arose against the government, and these uprisings, along with internal fighting and coups between the Khalq and Parcham governmental factions"(cold war) These all led up to the needed invasion of soviet troops. The spread of the Mujahideen was much more rapid than the Soviets had expected and they even originally left the Afghan army to take care of the uprising, but this quickly turned for the worst with mass desertion from the army. (The Afghan army itself served close to no use in the entire war) The Soviets took control of the major cities and towns with the swift insertion of about 100,000 troops. The Mujahideen freely went about the country side and while the Russians used as many tactics to crush them as they could, the Mujahideen knew the land all to well and were able to divert themselves away from any attack for the most part. The Soviets new tactic was to destroy and conquer the Mujahideen's civilian support, this was done by immense amounts of bombing leading to having almost 5 million people exiled and running from their destroyed homelands to places such as Pakistan and Iran. while this occurred the Mujahideen gained new air tactics by being supplied with shoulder fire anti aircraft missiles given by the U.S. As the Mujahideen worked against the advancements of the Soviet invasion, they received financial and military help from surrounding countries, the most notable ones being the U.S, China, and Saudi Arabia. This helped tremendously with the fight against the Russians. The problem with the Mujahideen was that they were made up of so many different groups with different beliefs, that no military tactics were coordinated, if they had been able to they may have been able too end the war much faster. In May 1986 [|Mohammad Najibullah], former head of the secret police, replaced Karmal as secretary-general of the PDPA, and in November Karmal was relieved of all his government and party posts."In November 1987 a new constitution changed the name of the country back to the Republic of Afghanistan and allowed other political parties to participate in the government. Najibullah was elected to the newly strengthened post of president. Despite renewals of the official cease-fire, Afghan resistance to the Soviet presence continued, and the effects of the war were felt in neighboring countries: Afghan refugees in Pakistan and Iran numbered more than five million. Morale in the Afghan military was low. Draftees deserted at the earliest opportunity, and the Afghan military dropped from its 1978 strength of 105,000 troops to about 20,000–30,000 by 1987. The Soviets attempted new tactics, but the resistance always devised counter tactics."(Britannica) As the war waged on the military pieces being supplied to them by America and other nations gradually improved. These new implements were all funneled through Pakistan where they could be brought directly into Afghanistan without conflict and distributed as needed. After a long 9 years of fighting in "1988 the United States, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the Soviet Union signed an agreement for the withdrawal of Soviet troops and the return of Afghanistan to nonaligned status."(cold war) In February of 1989 Soviet completely withdrew from Afghanistan but civil war still waged on. (Britannica)

Globalization in Afghanistan:
The growing modern world with technology and politics greatly impacted struggle for power in Afghanistan. The upside to globalization was the removal of a ruler who only dictated its people. After that though globalization only hurt the country. The incredible amount of foreign aid throughout the years regarding the creation of a new more modern Afghanistan to the supply of mass amounts of weapons to rebels in order to undertake an invasion. All the drastic moves that took place throughout the years would not have been so substantial if not for the pressure of globalization. Afghanistan would have stayed to themselves but when they tried to join the rapid growth of the world, it backfired harshly on the people and its government. Without globalization Afghanistan would be a much different place, one with much less conflict.

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Bibliography:

Ritscher, Adam, ed. //A Brief History of Afghanistan//. Students Against War teach-in in Duluth, Minnesota (USA), n.d. Web. 15 May 2014. .

Museum, Cold War, ed. //The Cold War Museum//. The Cold War Museum, n.d. Web. 15 May 2014. .

Momand, Wahid, ed. //Afghanland//. Afghanland.com, n.d. Web. 15 May 2014. .

// Afghanistan Documentation Project //. American University Washington College of Law, n.d. Web. 15 May 2014. .

"Afghanistan." //Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online Academic Edition//. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2014. Web. 1 5 May. 2014. < [] >.

"Nur Mohammad Taraki." //Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online Academic Edition//. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2014. Web. 15 May. 2014. < [] >.

"Mohammad Zahir Shah." //Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online Academic Edition//. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2014. Web. 15 May. 2014. < [] >.