The Saur Revolution

Outside the Palace Gate in Kabul, the day after Saur revolution on April 28, 1978

The Saur Revolution (Persian: انقلاب ثور) is the name given to the Communist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) takeover of political power in Afghanistan on 27 April 1978. The word 'Saur' refers to the Dari name of the second month of the Persian calendar, the month in which the uprising took place.

In 1978 a prominent member of the Parcham, Mir Akbar Khyber, was killed. Although the government issued a statement deploring the assassination, Nur Mohammad Taraki of the PDPA charged that the government itself was responsible, a belief that was shared by much of the Kabul intelligentsia. PDPA leaders apparently feared that Mohammed Daoud Khan was planning to exterminate them all.

During the funeral ceremonies for Khyber a protest against the government occurred and shortly thereafter most of the leaders of PDPA, including Babrak Karmal, were arrested by the government. Hafizullah Amin, however, was put under house arrest. This gave him a chance to order an uprising, one that had been slowly coalescing for more than two years.  Amin, without having the authority, instructed the Khalqi army officers to overthrow the government.

The regime of President Mohammad Daoud Khan came to a violent end in the early morning hours of April 28, 1978, when military units loyal to the Khalq faction of the PDPA stormed the palace in the heart of Kabul. The coup was strategically planned for this date because it was the day before Friday, the Muslim day of worship, and most military commanders and government workers were off duty. With the help of Afghanistan's military air force which were mainly Soviet made MiG-21 and SU-7's, the insurgent troops overcame the resistance of the Presidential Guard and killed Daoud and most members of his family.

The PDPA, divided between the Khalq and Parcham, succeeded the Daoud regime with a new government under the leadership of Nur Muhammad Taraki of the Khalq faction. In Kabul, the initial cabinet appeared to be carefully constructed to alternate ranking positions between Khalqis and Parchamis. Taraki (Khalqi) was Prime Minister, Karmal (Parchami) was senior Deputy Prime Minister, and Hafizullah Amin (Khalqi) was foreign minister.

Once in power, the PDPA implemented a socialist agenda. It moved to promote state atheism, and carried out an ill-conceived land reform, which were misunderstood by virtually all Afghans.  They also imprisoned, tortured or murdered thousands of members of the traditional elite, the religious establishment, and the intelligentsia. They also prohibited usury and made a number of statements on women's rights, by declaring equality of the sexes and introduced women to political life. A prominent example was Anahita Ratebzad, who was a major Marxist leader and a member of the Revolutionary Council. Ratebzad wrote the famous May 28, 1978 New Kabul Times editorial, which declared: "Privileges which women, by right, must have are equal education, job security, health services, and free time to rear a healthy generation for building the future of the country ... Educating and enlightening women is now the subject of close government attention." Their opposition became particularly pronounced after the Soviet Union occupied the country in late December 1979, who feared the government was in danger of being toppled by mujahideen forces.

The U.S. saw the situation as a prime opportunity to weaken the Soviet Union, and the move essentially signaled the end of the détente era initiated by former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. In 1978 the United States began training insurgents and directing propaganda broadcasts into Afghanistan from Pakistan. Then, in early 1979, U.S. foreign service officers began meeting insurgent leaders to determine their needs. According to the then National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski, CIA aid to the insurgents within Afghanistan was approved in July 1979, six months before the Soviet Invasion. Brzezinski said that aid to the insurgents, begun under the Carter administration with the intention of provoking Soviet intervention, was significantly boosted under the Reagan administration, which was committed to actively rolling back Soviet influence in the Third World.

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