Deposing of King Zahir Shah and thereafter, 17 July 1973.
BENGALURU
Fifty years ago in the summer of 1973, Mohammed Zahir Shah, King of Afghanistan, went to Rome for eye surgery. He and Queen Humaira along with their entourage set up residence in a large villa in Olgiata, a stylish suburb of Rome.
It was not unusual for this westernized monarch to go to Europe now and then. As crown prince he was sent by his royal guardians to school and then to university in France. As a 24-year-old king he had attended a meeting of the League of Nations in Geneva when this little kingdom was admitted as a member state of the League—a rare honour for an Asian state in the colonial age.
That something so mundane as a cataract eye surgery of a king should change the destiny not only of the king but his country was unique. On 17 July 1973, Zahir Shah was informed that his cousin cum brother in law, Mohammed Daoud Khan had seized power, abolished the monarchy and declared Afghanistan as a republic.
Thus ended the Durrani dynasty, which ruled Afghanistan since the 18th century. And thus began the interminable and tragic turmoil into which that country has been plunged since then.
Monarchs are deposed if they become tyrannical or utterly incompetent or if they stand against the momentum of history. None of this was applicable in the case of Zahir Shah. He was an educated and able ruler. Like his ancestor King Aminullah Khan, he wanted to drag the country from medievalism into modernity. Though a devout Muslim, he abhorred Islamic fundamentalism and tried to curb the power of the mullahs. He encouraged education for both men and women, promoted representative government, took up development of agriculture, industry and irrigation such as the Helmand Valley Project. Tactful and astute, he navigated his country’s foreign policy through the troubled waters of superpower conflicts. He had amicable relations with both the United States and Russia. But he knew that Russia valued Afghanistan’s neutral status whereas the US, like Britain a century earlier, was sniffing around for a foothold on Russia’s frontier in Central Asia.
When King Zahir Shah did not comply with American terms for economic aid, the US stopped funds for the Helmand Valley project. An unfazed Zahir Shah turned to Russia, who readily offered substantial economic and military aid. In lean years, Russia sent abundant wheat to Afghanistan. In return Afghanistan sold the famed Karakul lamb’s wool, dried and fresh fruits and lapis lazuli and onyx to Russia. Young Afghans went to study science and medicine in Russian universities, army and air force personnel were trained there and Russia helped modernize Afghan’s national carrier, the Aryana Airlines. There were daily Aeroflot flights between Moscow and Kabul.
King Zahir Shah was slowly but surely taking his country forward.
He was astounded when he heard of his deposition and his cousin’s treachery. Daoud Khan had served as Zahir Shah’s prime minister but when he began agitating for establishment of Pakhtunistan, Zahir Shah dismissed him as this policy created tension with Pakistan. Zahir Shah recognised the danger of conflict with Pakistan who had become an armed vassal of the US through the CENTO Pact.
Messages were sent to the distraught king to return to Afghanistan and evict Daoud Khan who was not very popular with the people. The deposed king refused. He knew his return would ignite a bloody civil war. The welfare of his people and country was his prime concern—not power. Some groups urged him to establish a government-in-exile in Rome. This too he refused, stating that his people would be drawn into internecine conflict.
As the Italian government provided security for him and his queen, Zahir Shah settled in Rome, tended his garden at Olgiata, played chess and golf, spent hours in bookshops, chatted with friends at cafes sipping caffe macchiato. He followed the moves of his “my idiot cousin” first with satisfaction and then growing concern.
Prince, now President, Daoud Khan settled down to governance. As the coup had been bloodless there was no internal strife between the people. He did not harm his predecessor’s follower or friends. But he began to display arrogance, which led to mistakes in policy.
Russia continued military, development and training aid to Afghanistan. In return she neither asked for alliance or bases. However, Russia did give support to the Peoples Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) comprising socialist and communist intellectuals and members of the bureaucracy. Daoud Khan opposed this, though members of his council reminded him that Russia supported the Communist Party of India to which the Indian government made no objection. “PDPA members are traitors,” Daoud Khan retorted. “They will become traitors if you persecute them,” a senior general cautioned. To counter the PDPA Daoud Khan brought back the Rightist and Islamists whom King Zahir Shah had dismissed from government. To please them he sent army personnel for training to Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
The Russian government advised President Daoud Khan to continue the neutral policy of King Zahir Shah. With the arrogance of a foolish man, Daoud Khan turned to the US despite earlier disappointments with that state. A delegation was sent to Washington to negotiate for aid but the terms of cooperation were unacceptable. President Daoud’s officers advised him repeatedly to remain neutral.
In mid-1976, President Daoud Khan invited the Indian Prime Minister on a state visit to Afghanistan where she received a tumultuous welcome from all sections of the population. While emphasising their civilizational connections and their desire for peace on the subcontinent, they also sought to minimize Pakistan’s disruptive powers on their eastern and western borders. Indira Gandhi offered economic aid and military training to Afghanistan. Amity between the two countries deepened.
In the meantime the influence of PDPA grew among the people of Afghanistan—except the clergy and landed gentry. Ignoring the disaffection among his people Daoud Khan was not aware of the defection of senior army officers and security police and some of the bureaucracy to the PDPA.
On 28 April 1978, there was another turning point in Afghanistan’s destiny. The PDPA and their allies in government and army seized power in a violent coup. President Daoud Khan and his family members were killed. The triumvirate of Mohammed Taraki, Hafiz Aminullah and Babrak Karmal headed the new government. At first they gained popular support for their policy of land and agrarian reforms, industrial development, universal education, curbing powers of the ulema and mullahs. Russia greatly enhanced its assistance to Afghanistan.
Seeing the deepening cooperation between Russia and Afghanistan, the US decided to step in. The CIA director Robert Gates told the inexperienced President Jimmy Carter, “Let us make Afghanistan Russia’s Vietnam.” Islamic fundamentalism had reached a fever pitch in neighbouring Iran under Ayatollah Khomeini. While trying to overthrow the Islamic regime in Iran, the US fuelled an Islamic rebellion in Afghanistan. Billions of dollars’ worth of arms were poured into Afghanistan. The CIA recruited unemployed youth and mercenaries to disrupt the PDPA government. Britain and Saudi Arabia joined to depose the government. Seeing the mounting chaos and violence, the PDPA government and Afghan National Army entreated Russia to intervene. For months the Kremlin debated the matter, pondered over the intervention and dreaded its consequences. When Hafizullah Amin negotiated with the CIA to provide bases on the Soviet-Afghan border, Russia had no option but to send its army in December 1979.
The US enhanced arms and money to the newly anointed “warriors of god”—the Mujahidin. A bitter civil war was unleashed on Afghanistan. By the Geneva Accord in 1989, Russia pulled out its troops. Having achieved this aim the US also lost interest and left that unfortunate country to a dark age when the Taliban took over and killed thousands of their compatriots. The modern Afghanistan of the 1970s slipped back into medieval darkness.
In 2001, the US invaded Afghanistan and occupied it for a decade. Millions of Afghans were killed, agriculture and industry were ruined. Today we see the poverty, starvation, disease and violence that has befallen that country where Lord Shiva was worshipped on the peaks of the Hindu Kush, where Buddhism had flourished, where Hellenic and Hindu culture had fused to create the exquisite Gandhara school of art, where Frontier Gandhi had arranged Subhash Chandra Bose’s escape from British agents.
The tragedy of Afghanistan commenced on a bright summer day in the eternal city of Rome—fifty years ago.
Achala Moulik is former Education Secretary, Government of India, historian, novelist, Pushkin Medal awardee, and member of the jury for the Leo Tolstoy International Peace Prize.