User:Im a Socialist! What Are You/Democratic Republic of Afghanistan

The Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA) (جمهورية أفغانستان) was a self-declared socialist state (but often referred to in the West as a "communist state") in the Middle East established by the Afghan communist party, People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) by then leader Nur Muhammad Taraki in 1978 in the Saur Revolution. From the start the republic ran into conflict with the local mujahideens which started what is known as the Afghan civil war. In 1979 the Soviet Union entered the country to help the communist government, they left however in 1989 after staying in the country in nine years.

After the Soviet withdrawal, the Republic of Afghanistan continued to deal with attacks from the Mujahideen. They received funding and arms from the Soviet Union until 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed. For several years the government army had actually increased their effectiveness past levels ever achieved during the Soviet military presence. But the government was dealt a major blow when Abdul Rashid Dostum, a leading general, switched allegiances to the Mujahideen in 1992 and together they captured the city of Kabul.

The Saur Revolution


The emperor of Afghanistan, Shah Mohammed Zahir Shah, was overthrown in 1973 by his cousin Mohammed Daoud Khan who established the Daoud Republic of Afghanistan. The Daoud Republic only lasted for 4 years because of shaking government control in the country. Khan was able to take a military coup thanks to the underground party communist party People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA). After the coup Khan felt he didn't need the party to consolidate power any longer and ordered a crack down on the party. Because of this the PDPA seized power in a military coup in 1978 which is best known as the Saur Revolution.

Reforms and oppression
After seizing the control of the country the beginning of new reforms started. Such reforms such as no state religion, declaring a secular state and women getting the same rights as men. This met with much critizism from the Afghan population, and led to rebelian by religious fanatics in the country. This would eventually lead to the Afghan civil war and the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan.

Once in power, the PDPA implemented a socialist agenda. It moved to promote state atheism. Men were obliged to cut beards, women were banned from wearing the burqa, and mosques were placed off limits. It carried out an ambitious land reform, waiving farmers' debts countrywide and abolishing usury - intended to release the poorer farmers from debt peonage.

The new communist government of Afghanistan moved to prohibit traditional practices which were deemed feudal by the Government. They banned bride price and forced marriage among others and the minimum age for marriage was raised. The government stressed to marketing education in the country. Education was stressed for both men and women and the government sett up anti literacy programmes in the country.

These new reforms were not well-received by the majority of the Afghan population (particularly in rural areas). As many saw it was un-Islamic and was seen as a forced approach to western culture in Afghan society. This same problem had happened earlier in Afghan history had happened earlier in 19 and 20-century. Because of this much resentment with the government's new "western like" programme and the manner in which it was imposed, along with widespread repression, provoked the tribal and religious leaders. The urban population in Afghanistan supported the modernization of the community and country but was against the Soviet occupation of the country.

The Soviet Union was at the start reluctent to invade or give send troops to Afghanistan. The Soviet government at the start of the revolution didn't know enough about the situation in Afghanistan, so their analysis of the situation was done through the Marxist-Leninist doctrine. At the start the Soviet government never gave much attention to the traditional tribal issues in Afghanistan. Because they felt that the tribes would easly fall for the new communist ideas in the country. Soviet party ideologues Mikhail Suslov and Boris Ponomarev called Afghanistan a "second Mongolia." This led to various attempts to impose new social and economic reforms on Afghan society. This would eventually lead to forced land reforms in Afghanistan.

The Soviet Union didn't know much about Islams influential role of in Afghanistan, because their were very few experts on Islam or any other religion for that matter in the Soviet Union and their academic institutions. Because of this the leadership of the Soviet government was poorly informed about the strength of Islam in the Afghan population. When the Soviet armed forces invaded Afghanistan in 1979 the political and military leaders were suprised to find out that they were seen as "Afghanis foreign invaders" and "infidels" by the majority of the Afghan population. Later reports from the Soviet officials their showed growing awairness of the religious factor in the country.

Soviet war in Afghanistan
The Soviet Union decided to intervene militarily in Afghanistan in order to preserve the communist regime their. Based on information from the KGB, Soviet leaders felt that president Hafizullah Amin destabilized the situation in Afghanistan after the coup against former President Nur Muhammad Taraki, the KGB station in Kabul warned that his leadership would lead to "harsh repressions, and as a result, the activation and consolidation of the opposition."

The Soviet Union established a special commission on Afghanistan, of KGB chairman Yuri Andropov, Ponomaryev from the Central Committee and Dimitry Ustinov, the Minister of Defense. In late April 1978, they reported that Amin was purging his opponents, including Soviet loyalists; Amin's loyalty to Moscow was in question; and that he was seeking diplomatic links with Pakistan and possibly the commmunist state People's Republic of China. Specific concern were Amin's secret meetings with the US chargé d'affaires J. Bruce Amstutz, which, while never amounting to any agreement between Amin and the United States, sowed suspicion in the Kremlin.

Information obtained by the KGB from its agents in Kabul provided the last arguments to eliminate Amin; supposedly, two of Amin's guards killed the former president Taraki with a pillow, and Amin was suspected to be a CIA agent. The latter, however, is still disputed: Amin repeatedly demonstrated official friendliness to the Soviet Union. Soviet General Vasily Zaplatin, a political advisor at that time, claimed that four of President Taraki's ministers were responsible for the destabilization. However, Zaplatin failed to emphasize this enough.

By the mid-1980s, the Afghan resistance movement, assisted by the United States, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, PRC and others, contributed to Moscow's high military costs and strained international relations. The US viewed the conflict in Afghanistan as an integral Cold War struggle, and the CIA provided assistance to anti-Soviet forces through the Pakistani intelligence services, in a program called Operation Cyclone.

Soviet withdrawal
The Soviet government realized early on that a military solution to the conflict could not work. Because of this they had discussions about troop withdrawal and the search for a political peaceful solution as early as 1980. But they never took any serious steps in that direction until 1988. Early Soviet military reports confirms the difficulties the Soviet army had while fighting on the mountainous terrain, for which the Soviet Army had no training whatsoever. Parallels between the Vietnam War was frequently referred to by Soviet army officers. Before the Soviet withdrawal they signed the Geneva Accords was a formall agreement between the Soviet Union and its allies and the Afghanistan and their allies. The agreement was sifned on 14 April, 1988 between Pakistan and Afghanistan with the United States and the Soviet Union serving as guarantors.

The accords consisted of several instruments: a bilateral agreement between the Republic of Afghanistan and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan on the principles of mutual relations, in particular on non-interference and non-intervention; a declaration on international guarantees, signed by the Soviet Union and the United States; a bilateral agreement between Afghanistan and Pakistan on the voluntary return of Afghan refugees; and an agreement on the interrelationships for the settlement of the situation relating to Afghanistan, signed by Afghanistan and Pakistan and witnessed by the Soviet Union and the United States. They also came to agreement about the Soviet Unions withdrawal, it started on 15 May, 1988 and ended on 15 February, 1989, offically ending the Soviet war in Afghanistan.

The whole time during the Soviet withdrawal over the border troop convoys were coming under attack by Afghan fighters. In all 523 Soviet soldiers were killed during the withdrawal. The total withdrawal of all Soviet troops from Afghanistan was completed in February, 1989. The last Soviet soldier to leave was Lieutenant General Boris Gromov leader of the Soviet military operations in Afghanistan at the time of the Soviet invasion.

Civil war continues — 1989—1992
After the Soviet withdrawal, the Republic of Afghanistan continued to deal with attacks from the Mujahideen. They received funding and arms from the Soviet Union until 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed. For several years the government army had actually increased their effectiveness past levels ever achieved during the Soviet military presence. But the government was dealt a major blow when Abdul Rashid Dostum, a leading general, switched allegiances to the Mujahideen in 1992 and together they captured the city of Kabul.

Economy
The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the ensuing civil war destroyed much of the country's limited infrastructure and disrupted normal patterns of economic activity, and eventually Afghanistan went from a traditional economy to a centrally planned economy up until 2001 when it was replaced by a free market economy. Gross domestic product has fallen substantially since the 1980s due to disruption of trade and transport as well as loss of labor and capital. Continuing internal strife severely hampered domestic efforts to rebuild the nation or provide ways for the international community to help.

The Gross National Product (GNP) according to the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan was Afghan Afghani (AFN) 154.3 billion in 1981 which was a drop, since in 1978 the GPD was AFN 159.7 billion. ANF fell from AFN 7,370 in 1978 to AFN 6,852 in 1982, based on estimated population of 15 million in GNP per capita.

The most dominant economic activity in the republic was Agriculture. It provided more than 63% of the total domestic product (GPD) in 1981.Over 50% of the labor force in Afghanistan worked with agriculture. Their biggest agriculture exports were wheat, corn, rice, fruits, nuts, and vegetables. The Afghan industry contributed to 21% of the total GDP in 1982 and employed more then 10% of the labor force in the country. As in alle communist countries, the industry was government-owned. The main export was natural gas, textiles, and food processing.

In total their export was about USD 707.7 million in 1982, dobbeling the 1978 figure. Their biggest exports were as following: natural gas, dried fruits, carpets and rugs, and karakul sheep skins. The countries import was about USD 695 million in 1982, 50% higher than it was in 1978. The biggest import were as following: machinery, manufactured goods, and refined petroleum products. There were also imported much food, both commercial and aidfinanced.

Government
After the April coup in 1978, the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) rose to power. There were two divided factions in this party. Khalq ruled the party and the country from 1978-79. The first leader was Nur Mohammad Taraki, who was later killed by second and last leader of the Khalq faction, Hafizullah Amin. The other faction, Parcham ruled the country from 1979 til its collapse in 1992. The most important part of the political body of the PDPA was the Politburo, the secretariat and the central committee, in the government it was the Council of Ministers, the Presidium and at last the Revolutionairy Council.

The Government and political structure of Afghanistan had been copied from the Soviet model. As with all communist states, the communist party had supreme power in the government. The party members got all the government positions in the country. When the Parcham took governmental power in Afghanistan, the governmental structure was not altered. The biggest change was that the Khalqies was forced of from their governmental positions and replaced by Parchams.

When the Soviet Union occupied Afghanistan in 1979 they killed Khaq leader Amin and replaced hin with Babrak Karmal the same year. Karmal's government was more or less a puppet government for the Soviet Union. The Soviets took total control over governmental politics after the invasion until their withdrawal in 1989.

Foreign relations and military
The Democratic Republic of Afghanistans foreign affairs had most of its history close ties with the Soviet Union. In total the country was recognised by 8 countries worldwide. The Soviet Union gave the country aid and billions of USD to keep the country going from 1979-1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed. The republic had tense relations with Pakistan, Iran, People's Republic of China, and the Arab World. On the other hand it had generally friendly relations with India. The United Nations annual resolution was pull-out of the Soviet armed forces in the country. The mujahideen resistance leaders receive weapons and funds from Pakistan, United States and United Kingdom among others. While the west didn't have much contact with the republic, they often had small diplomatic missions in Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation.

The armed forces total strength in 1985 according to the Afghan government was around 47,000, but its believed to be lower. The army had around 35-40,000 soldiers, who was mostly conscripts, the air force had around 7,000 soldiers. Desertion from the army was common and in 1992 after the fall of the Afghan government the army disindigrated. The Afghan army got most of its equipment from the Soviet Union. The total of Soviet forces active in Afghanistan was estimated from 105,000 to 115,000. The Afghan army cassulties was as high as 50-60,000 and another 50,000 deserted the armed force. The Afghan armies defection rate was about 10,000 per year, the average deserters left the Afghan army after the first five months. There were 60,000 combat troops, 30,000 to 40,000 support troops, 10,000 paratroopers and 5,000 air assault troops. Soviet army operations were set in Kabul, the Soviet Union controlled all the operations to the Afghan army.

Religion
One of the few things the different Afghan tribes have in common is Islam, while each tribe have a different interpretation to it. There are no other religion that can match Islam in the country, since there are only som scattered minorities in the country. With most of them living in Kabul and other major cities. Most of the minorities came to the country as traders. Their are virtually no Jews in Afghanistan by 1985.

In the Afghan civil war between 1978-1992 most of the resistance recrutted more soldiers on the basis of their Muslim identity. The name Mujahdeen if translated to english is "those waging jihad." Seen by the western world Jihad means holy war. All Muslims are obligated to joining Jihad when it happens.

Ethnic groups
The biggest group in Afghanistan between 1978-1992 was the Pushtuns. The Pushtun tribe in Ghilzai, the second biggest Pushtun tribe in Afghanistan. They dominated the party politics of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) since 1978 to its collapse in 1992. The Pushtun would later dominate party politics to the successor state of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, Islamic State of Afghanistan which collapsed in 1996. The second largest ethnic group in the country is the Tajiks. Afghan Tajik during most of their history lived in the Pansjer Valley north of the city of Kabul and in the northeastern provinces of Parwan, Takhar, Badakhshan, Baghlan and Samangan. Tajiks can also be found in their own state of Tajikistan.

Other ethnic groups in Afghanistan are the Hazaran, Uzbeks, Turkmens, Arabs, Kirghizs, Wakhis, Farsiwan, Nuristanis, Baluchs, Brahuis, Qizilbash and the Jats.

Refugees
As the Afghan and the Soviet occupation forces became more agressive, refugees from other parts of the country flocked to the capitol, Kabul and other mayor provincial cities. While no authentic census was taken, an estimate in the late 1980s, estimated the Kabul population to be around 2 million. 3-4 million Afghans were under government authority. Because of this PDPA was able to claim a membership hight of 160,000 thousand, in 1989 after the Soviet withdrawal the party claimed a membership of 5-10 thousands. While its unclear how many of these members were active in the government and party politics. The party lured more and more members thanks to foond and fuel supplies which had protected prices.

The refugee problem in the republic started in April, 1978. The first refugees were running from the government, but this would drastically change in the following years. The refugee numbers hit a peak in 1981 with over 4 thousand Afghans crossing the border to Pakistan daily. In 1989 the number of Afghan refugees in Pakistan was 3.2 million and in Iran 2.2 million. The Afghan population was and is still the biggest ethnic group of refugees in the world.