Back جمهورية أفغانستان الديمقراطية Arabic República Democrática d'Afganistán AST Əfqanıstan Demokratik Respublikası Azerbaijani افغانیستان دموکراتیک جومهوریتی AZB Дэмакратычная Рэспубліка Афганістан Byelorussian Демократична република Афганистан Bulgarian আফগানিস্তান গণতান্ত্রিক প্রজাতন্ত্র Bengali/Bangla República Democràtica de l'Afganistan Catalan کۆماری دیموکراتی ئەفغانستان CKB Afghánská demokratická republika Czech
| 1978–1992 | |||||||||
| Anthem: گرم شه, لا گرم شه (Pashto) Garam shah lā garam shah "Be ardent, be more ardent" | |||||||||
.svg) | |||||||||
| Status | Satellite state of the Soviet Union[1][2] (until 1991)
| ||||||||
| Capital and largest city | Kabul | ||||||||
| Official languages | |||||||||
| Religion | Islam (official)[3] | ||||||||
| Demonym(s) | Afghan | ||||||||
| Government | Unitary Marxist–Leninist[4] one-party socialist republic under a totalitarian state[5]
(1978–1987) Unitary dominant-party presidential republic (1987–1992) | ||||||||
| General Secretary | |||||||||
• 1978–1979 | Nur Muhammad Taraki | ||||||||
• 1979 | Hafizullah Amin | ||||||||
• 1979–1986 | Babrak Karmal | ||||||||
• 1986–1992 | Mohammad Najibullah | ||||||||
| Head of State | |||||||||
• 1978–1979 (first) | Nur Muhammad Taraki | ||||||||
• 1987–1992 (last) | Mohammad Najibullah | ||||||||
| Head of Government | |||||||||
• 1978–1979 (first) | Nur Muhammad Taraki | ||||||||
• 1990–1992 (last) | Fazal Haq Khaliqyar | ||||||||
| Legislature | Revolutionary Council (1978–1987) National Assembly (from 1987) | ||||||||
| House of Elders (1988–1992) | |||||||||
| House of the People (1988–1992) | |||||||||
| Historical era | Cold War | ||||||||
| 27–28 April 1978 | |||||||||
• Proclaimed | 30 April 1978 | ||||||||
| 27 December 1979 | |||||||||
• 1987 loya jirga | 29/30 November 1987 | ||||||||
| 15 February 1989 | |||||||||
| 28 April 1992 | |||||||||
| Population | |||||||||
• 1990 estimate | 15,900,000[6] | ||||||||
| HDI (1992) |  0.316low | ||||||||
| Currency | Afghani (AFA) | ||||||||
| Calling code | 93 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
The Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA),[a] renamed the Republic of Afghanistan[b] in 1987, was the Afghan state during the one-party rule of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) from 1978 to 1992. It relied heavily on assistance from the Soviet Union for most of its existence, especially during the Soviet–Afghan War.
The PDPA came to power through the Saur Revolution, which ousted the regime of the unelected autocrat Mohammed Daoud Khan; he was succeeded by Nur Muhammad Taraki as the head of state and government on 30 April 1978.[7] Taraki and Hafizullah Amin, the organizer of the Saur Revolution, introduced several contentious reforms during their rule, such as land and marriage reforms and an enforced policy of de-Islamization alongside the promotion of socialism.[8] Amin also added on the reforms introduced by Khan, such as universal education and equal rights for women.[9] Soon after taking power, a power struggle began between the hardline Khalq faction led by Taraki and Amin, and the moderate Parcham faction led by Babrak Karmal. The Khalqists emerged victorious and the bulk of the Parchamites were subsequently purged from the PDPA, while the most prominent Parcham leaders were exiled to the Eastern Bloc and the Soviet Union.
After the Khalq–Parcham struggle, another power struggle arose between Taraki and Amin within the Khalq faction, in which Amin gained the upper hand and later had Taraki killed on his orders. Due to earlier reforms, Amin's rule proved unpopular within both Afghanistan and the Soviet Union. A Soviet intervention supported by the Afghan government had begun in December 1979, and on 27 December, Amin was assassinated by Soviet military forces; Karmal became the leader of Afghanistan in his place. The Karmal era, which lasted from 1979 to 1986, was marked by the height of the Soviet–Afghan War, in which Soviet and Afghan government forces fought against the Afghan mujahideen in order to consolidate control over Afghanistan. The war resulted in a large number of civilian casualties as well as the creation of millions of refugees who fled into Pakistan and Iran. The Fundamental Principles, a constitution, was introduced by the government in April 1980, and several non-PDPA members were allowed into government as part of its policy of broadening its support base. However, Karmal's policies failed to bring peace to the war-ravaged country, and in 1986, he was succeeded as PDPA General Secretary by Mohammad Najibullah.
Najibullah pursued a policy of National Reconciliation with the opposition: a new Afghan constitution was introduced in 1987 and democratic elections were held in 1988 (which were boycotted by the mujahideen). After the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1988–1989, the government faced increasing resistance. 1990 proved to be a year of change in Afghan politics as another constitution was introduced that stated Afghanistan's nature as an Islamic republic, and the PDPA was transformed into the Watan Party, which continues to exist. On the military front, the government proved capable of defeating the armed opposition in open battle, as demonstrated in the Battle of Jalalabad. However, with an aggressive armed opposition and internal difficulties such as a failed coup attempt by the Khalq faction in 1990 coupled with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Najibullah government collapsed in April 1992. The collapse of Najibullah's government triggered another civil war that led to the rise of the Taliban and their eventual takeover of most of Afghanistan by 1996.
Geographically, it was bordered by the Soviet Union (Tajik, Turkmen and Uzbek SSRs) to the north, China (Xinjiang) to the east, Pakistan to the south and Iran to the west.
- ^ Azmi, Muhammad R. (Spring 1986). "Soviet Politico-Military Penetration in Afghanistan, 1955 to 1979". Armed Forces & Society. 12 (3). Sage Publishing: 343, 344. doi:10.1177/0095327X8601200301. JSTOR 45304853 – via JSTOR.
- ^ Amstutz, J. Bruce (1 July 1994). Afghanistan: The First Five Years of Soviet Occupation. DIANE Publishing. pp. 52, 59, 190, 343. ISBN 9780788111112.
- ^ Hussain, Rizwan. "Socialism and Islam". The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 27 December 2021 – via Oxford Islamic Studies Online.
The leaders of the DRA emphasized the similarity between Islam and socialism and retained Islam as the state religion.
- ^ Sources describing the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan as a Marxist-Leninist state:
- Roy, Olivier (2018). "3: The Sovietization of Afghanistan". In Hauner, Milan; L. Canfield, Robert (eds.). Afghanistan and the Soviet Union: Collision and Transformation. New York, NY: Routledge. p. 49. ISBN 978-0-367-01216-8.
- Cordovez, Deigo; S. Harrison, Selig (1995). Out of Afghanistan: The Inside Story of the Soviet Withdrawal. New York, USA: Oxford University Press. p. 59. ISBN 0-19-506294-9.
- Girardet, Edward (2011). "Introduction". Afghanistan: The Soviet war. New York, NY: Routledge. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-415-68480-4.
- ^ Sources describing the DRA regime as a totalitarian state:
- Tucker, Ernest (2019). "21: Middle East at the End of the Cold War, 1979–1993". The Middle East in Modern World History (Second ed.). New York, NY: Routledge. p. 303. ISBN 978-1-138-49190-8. LCCN 2018043096.
During their first few months in power, the Communists remade Afghanistan into a Soviet-style totalitarian state, collectivizing land holdings and abolishing Islamic law entirely. The new government tolerated no opposition to these changes.
- Kamrany, Nake M (1982). "Afghanistan Under Soviet Occupation". Current History. 81 (475): 219–222. doi:10.1525/curh.1982.81.475.219. JSTOR 45317401. S2CID 73677693.
...the Communists violently seized power in Kabul and, with the help of growing numbers of Soviet "advisers," began forcibly to impose upon the people of Afghanistan a foreign ideology and a totalitarian system.
- Kirkpatrick, Jeane J (1981). "Afghanistan: Implications for Peace and Security". World Affairs. 144 (3): 243. JSTOR 20671902.
No sector of Afghan society has been spared the consequences of the Soviet occupation and the ruthless effort to impose upon the Afghan people a Communist totalitarian system-an effort that began in 1978 with the initial Communist coup overthrowing the Daoud government.
- Roy, Olivier (2018). "3: The Sovietization of Afghanistan". In Hauner, Milan; L. Canfield, Robert (eds.). Afghanistan and the Soviet Union: Collision and Transformation. New York, NY: Routledge. p. 51. ISBN 978-0-367-01216-8.
- S.Margolis, Eric (2001). "2: The Bravest Men on Earth". War at the top of the World: The struggle for Afghanistan, Kashmir, and Tibet. New York, NY: Routledge. p. 15. ISBN 0-415-92712-9.
- Tucker, Ernest (2019). "21: Middle East at the End of the Cold War, 1979–1993". The Middle East in Modern World History (Second ed.). New York, NY: Routledge. p. 303. ISBN 978-1-138-49190-8. LCCN 2018043096.
- ^ Freedom in the World 1990–1991 Freedom House
- ^ Mark Urban (1990). War in Afghanistan: Second Edition. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 10. ISBN 978-0-312-04255-4.
- ^ "In Afghanistan, Soviets find replacing Islam with communism isn't easy". Christian Science Monitor. 6 August 1985. ISSN 0882-7729. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
- ^ "THE AFGHAN COMMUNISTS" (PDF).
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).