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Afghanistan: Coup anniversary
remembered
By Ron Synovitz
PRAGUE - This week marks the 30th anniversary of
the coup that forced Afghanistan's King Mohammad Zahir
Shah from the throne and brought his cousin Sardar
Mohammad Daoud Khan briefly to power.
The Afghan
king had gone to Britain for medical treatment in the
summer of 1973 when the events leading to Daoud Khan's
coup began unfolding.
By July 17, 1973, while
Zahir Shah and his family were on a reported stopover
visit to Italy, then-army commander Lieutenant-General
Mohammad Daoud Khan seized control in Kabul. Daoud Khan
declared Afghanistan a republic, calling the coup a
"national and progressive revolution", and then declared
himself president.
"I, in connection with my
various responsibilities, am serving my country. I have
always pursued a goal for my people - for the people of
Afghanistan. In particular, for the deprived and our
young, to provide a positive financial and spiritual
environment," Daoud Khan said.
But for millions
of Afghans, Daoud Khan's coup marked the end of the last
relatively peaceful and prosperous period of their
lives. For the remainder of the 20th century,
Afghanistan suffered through unstable governments,
bloody coups and, after the Soviet invasion in late
1979, more than two decades of war.
As Afghans
this week look back on Daoud Khan's role in their
history, many are asking why the coup of 1973 against
Zahir Shah occurred in the first place. Debate on the
issue centers on several theories. One suggests the coup
was the result of divisions within Afghanistan's royal
family.
Daoud Khan had been the Afghan prime
minister during the 1950s and early 1960s. But his views
on the so-called "Pashtunistan" issue seriously damaged
Kabul's relations with neighboring Pakistan. Daoud Khan
saw all of the Pashtun tribal regions straddling the two
countries' border as part of historical Afghanistan.
Pakistan, for its part, felt threatened by this claim.
The dispute stemmed from an agreement by British
officials in 1893 to create an eastern border for
Afghanistan - the "Durand Line" - in a mountainous area
that could be easily defended by the troops of British
colonial India.
But the Durand Line also cut
through Pashtun tribal lands. It has never been
officially recognized by any Afghan government - giving
the border a central role in disputes between Kabul and
Islamabad since the creation of Pakistan in 1947.
Afghan scholars say Daoud Khan's "Pashtunistan"
policies caused so many problems with Islamabad that
Zahir Shah removed him from the post of prime minister
in 1963.
Legal scholars say Afghanistan's 1964
constitution specifically forbade members of the royal
family from holding cabinet posts in order to prevent
Daoud Khan from regaining office.
But many
Pashtuns in both Afghanistan and Pakistan still speak of
a "Pashtunistan" that straddles parts of both countries.
With clashes and alleged incursions reported in
recent weeks by forces on both sides of the Durand Line,
as well as ongoing operations of the US-led
anti-terrorism campaign in those same border areas, the
possible re-emergence of "Pashtunistan" as a diplomatic
issue is something Afghan Foreign Ministry officials
rule out for now. Yet the experts consider
"Pashtunistan" to be a dormant issue rather than a dead
one.
Afghan Culture and Information Minister
Sayyed Makhdum Rahin said this week that historical
disputes between Daoud Khan and Zahir Shah may, indeed,
have had some effect on Daoud Khan's decision to launch
a coup.
But Rahin agreed that scholars and
historians may also be correct when they say the 1973
coup may have been the result of a plot by Afghan
communists or even direct involvement by Moscow.
Still, Rahin says he does not think Daoud Khan
would knowingly have gone along with any plot directed
by the Kremlin. "All of his life experience is evidence
that Sardar Mohammad Daoud Khan would not bow to
foreigners, regardless of their nationality," Rahin
said. "Particularly, in his last meeting with [Soviet
leader] Leonid Brezhnev, he proved his bravery and
patriotism. But KGB deceptions and the games that they
played could have benefited from Daoud Khan's influence
in the armed forces. So Daoud Khan, indirectly and with
total unawareness, could have been manipulated by the
KGB. But no other way."
Sayyed Abdullah Kazim
was the head of Kabul University during the time of
Daoud Khan's regime. He said the critical question
regarding possible Russian influence in the 1973 coup is
why the Kremlin would suddenly want a regime change in
Kabul after cooperating and supporting Zahir Shah's
monarchy for years.
Kazim said one possible
answer is that Musa Shafiq, the prime minister of the
early 1970s, was pushing an agenda for the
liberalization of traditional Afghan society. That
agenda favored a more pro-Western approach - including
better relations with the pro-American government in
Islamabad as well as the shah of Iran.
"It all
happened during the 'decade of democratization' when the
late Dr Shafiq became Afghanistan's prime minister. This
alarmed Russia because he was a renowned liberal, a
Muslim scholar, anti-communist, and pro-Western. To
change the perception [in the region] he signed [a]
contract with [the shah's] Iran and resumed a direct
relationship with Pakistan. Therefore, Russian officials
felt threatened and thought Afghanistan may decrease its
interest toward Russia," Kazim said.
Whatever
the causes behind Afghanistan's 1973 coup, the years
that followed saw the opposite of Daoud Khan's declared
desire to better the economic and spiritual conditions
of Afghans.
Daoud Khan was killed, along with
his wife and children, in the Saur revolution of 1978
that brought Afghanistan's communists to power. And
after the Soviet invasion of 1979, millions of Afghans
either were killed or fled to refugee camps in Pakistan,
Iran, or neighboring Central Asian republics.
When Moscow finally withdrew its troops from
Afghanistan in 1989, the mujahideen commanders who had
fought against the Soviet forces began fighting among
themselves - creating the desperate conditions that gave
rise to the Taliban regime.
Copyright 2003,
RFE/RL Inc. Reprinted with the permission of
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty,
1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington, DC 20036.
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