Throughout the year Afghanistan continues to suffer from the effects of the shortage of rainfall that afflicted the northern and central areas during the preceding three years. Many of the affected areas are remote and difficult to reach, lying beyond the main lines of communication and the few good highways laid down by Soviet and U.S. engineers as part of the massive aid programs of their respective countries. Daud Khan and his cabinet in Kabul do their best to mount rescue operations with the help of aid from abroad, but in areas where the subsistence level remains low, even in the best of times, deaths from starvation can not be prevented. Inevitably, discontent over the failure of the new republican regime to cope with economic difficulties manifests itself in a number of areas. In the capital itself, the euphoria that followed the abolition of the monarchy in 1973 and the attendant hopes for the dawn of a more democratic era begin to falter and fade in the face of the president's masterful rule. Many who expected an improvement in their position, including members of the armed services and the central bureaucracy, find themselves disappointed. Nevertheless, the president's personal authority over the central government is never effectively challenged. He commands the loyalty of the bulk of the armed forces, and their efficiency, thanks to Soviet help in both training and the supply of sophisticated weaponry, is high. The central government is strong enough to enforce its will upon outlying areas should the occasion arise.
President Daud pays a three-day official visit to Moscow, during which he signs an extensive economic cooperation agreement with the Soviet Union. The close ties with the Soviet Union are not allowed to imperil Afghanistan's cherished and traditional neutrality, however. During the year Daud also concludes a cooperation agreement with China and forms a new link with Bangladesh, to which he promises assistance. Only with Pakistan are his relations difficult; he continues to support schemes for the creation of an independent Pakhtunistan and a new "Greater Baluchistan" that, if realized, would give Afghanistan a corridor through friendly territory to the coast of the Arabian Sea. His representatives raise these questions at numerous international gatherings, including the Islamic summit held at Lahore, Pakistan, early in the year, but they receive little or no encouragement. However, this in no way diminishes Daud's determination to persist with his plans.
Autumn 1974
It is announced that another attempt to overthrow the regime has been discovered and quashed; its leader has been executed and 11 participants imprisoned. Shortly afterward there is trouble in Tahar province, where the Muslim Brotherhood, which dislikes President Daud's secularizing policy, is very influential. The government is obliged to take stern action; 70 members of the brotherhood are arrested, along with the governor of the province, the Revenue Commissioner, and the Superintendent of Police, and all are brought to trial on charges of plotting against the state.
The Military history of Afghanistan began before 1709 when the Hotaki dynasty was established in Kandahar followed by the Durrani Empire. The Afghan military was re-organized with assistance from the British in 1880, when the country was ruled by Amir Abdur Rahman Khan. It was modernized during King Amanullah Khan's rule in the early 20th century, and then during King Zahir Shah's forty-year rule; the Soviet Union supplied almost all weapons, training and military needs between the 1950s and 1970s. From 1978 to 1992, the Soviet-backed Afghan Armed Forces engaged in heavy fighting with the multi-national mujahideen groups who were then backed by the United States, Pakistan and others. After President Najibullah's resignation in 1992 and the end of Soviet support, the Afghan military dissolved into portions controlled by different factions. This era was followed by the Taliban regime, whose leaders were trained and influenced by the Pakistan Armed Forces.
Mohammad Daoud Khan was an Afghan military officer and politician who served as prime minister of Afghanistan from 1953 to 1963 and, as leader of the 1973 Afghan coup d'état which overthrew the monarchy, served as the first president of Afghanistan from 1973 until his assassination in the Saur Revolution.
The Soviet–Afghan War was a protracted armed conflict fought in the Soviet-controlled Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA) from 1979 to 1989. The war was a major conflict of the Cold War as it saw extensive fighting between Soviet Union, the DRA and allied paramilitary groups against the Afghan mujahideen and their allied foreign fighters. While the mujahideen were backed by various countries and organizations, the majority of their support came from Pakistan, the United States, the United Kingdom, China, Iran, and the Arab states of the Persian Gulf. The involvement of the foreign powers made the war a proxy war between the United States and the Soviet Union. Combat took place throughout the 1980s, mostly in the Afghan countryside. The war resulted in the deaths of approximately 3,000,000 Afghans, while millions more fled from the country as refugees; most externally displaced Afghans sought refuge in Pakistan and in Iran. Approximately 6.5% to 11.5% of Afghanistan's erstwhile population of 13.5 million people is estimated to have been killed over the course of the conflict. The Soviet–Afghan War caused grave destruction throughout Afghanistan and has also been cited by scholars as a significant factor that contributed to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, formally ending the Cold War. It is also commonly referred to as "the Soviet Union's Vietnam".
The following lists events that happened during 1976 in Afghanistan.
The following lists events that happened during 1961 in Afghanistan.
The Fourth Balochistan Conflict was a four-year military conflict in Balochistan, the largest province of Pakistan, between the Pakistan Army and Baloch separatists and tribesmen that lasted from 1973 to 1977.
Iran and Pakistan established relations on 14 August 1947, the day of the independence of Pakistan, when Iran became the first country to recognize Pakistan. Both sides continue to cooperate economically where possible and have formed alliances in a number of areas of mutual interest, such as fighting the drug trade along their border and combating the insurgency in the Balochistan region.
Pakistan and the United States established relations on 15 August 1947, a day after the independence of Pakistan, when the United States became one of the first nations to recognize the country.
The following lists events that happened during 1960 in the Kingdom of Afghanistan.
The following lists events that happened during 1973 in Afghanistan.
The following lists events that happened during 1975 in the Republic of Afghanistan.
The following lists events that happened during 1978 in Afghanistan.
During 1991 Pakistan engaged simultaneously in the preservation of democracy, liberalization of its economy, and a reorientation of foreign policy. The year saw significant initiatives on all three fronts, but these encountered equally significant obstacles. The interplay of light and shadows left the people rather confused about the direction of their lives and the destiny of their country. The year really began in October 1990 with two events that continue to cast their shadows over the nation. One was the suspension of U.S. aid and the other was the disputed national elections ; the fallout from both these events largely dominated the national debate and determined the national agenda in 1991.
Afghanistan–Pakistan relations refer to the bilateral ties between Afghanistan and Pakistan. In August 1947, the partition of British India led to the emergence of Pakistan along Afghanistan's eastern frontier, and the two countries have since had a strained relationship; Afghanistan was the sole country to vote against Pakistan's admission into the United Nations following the latter's independence. Territorial disputes along the widely known "Durand Line" and conflicting claims prevented the normalization of bilateral ties between the countries throughout the mid-20th century. Various Afghan government officials and Afghan nationalists have made irredentist claims to large swathes of Pakistan's territory in modern-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Pakistani Balochistan, which complete the traditional homeland of "Pashtunistan" for the Pashtun people. Afghan territorial claims over Pashtun-majority areas that are in Pakistan were coupled with discontent over the permanency of the Durand Line which has long been considered the international border by every nation other than Afghanistan, and for which Afghanistan demanded a renegotiation, with the aim of having it shifted eastward to the Indus River. During the Taliban insurgency, the Taliban has received substantial financial and logistical backing from Pakistan, which remains a significant source of support. Nonetheless, Pakistan's support for the Taliban is not without risks, as it involves playing a precarious and delicate game. Further Afghanistan–Pakistan tensions have arisen concerning a variety of issues, including the Afghan conflict and Afghan refugees in Pakistan, water-sharing rights, and a continuously warming relationship between Afghanistan and India, but most of all the Taliban government in Afghanistan providing sanctuary and safe havens to Pakistani Taliban terrorists to attack Pakistani territory. Border tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan have escalated to an unprecedented degree following recent instances of violence along the border. The Durand Line witnesses frequent occurrences of suicide bombings, airstrikes, or street battles on an almost daily basis. The Taliban-led Afghan government has also accused Pakistan of undermining relations between Afghanistan and China and creating discord between the neighbouring countries.
Relations between Afghanistan and Russia first emerged in the 19th century. At the time they were placed in the context of "The Great Game", Russian–British confrontations over Afghanistan from 1840 to 1907. The Soviet Union was the first country to establish diplomatic relations with Afghanistan following the Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919. On 28 February 1921, Afghanistan and the Soviet Russia signed a Friendship Treaty. The Soviet Union intervened in Afghanistan against the Basmachi movement in 1929 and 1930.
The Soviet Union and Pakistan first established the diplomatic and bilateral relations on 1 May 1948.
Mohammed Daud Daud, also known as General Daud Daud, an ethnic Tajik, was the police chief in northern Afghanistan and the commander of the 303 Pamir Corps. He was an opponent of the Afghan Taliban.
Diplomatic relations between Afghanistan and China were established in the 18th century, when Afghanistan was ruled by Ahmad Shah Durrani and China by Qianlong. But trade relations between these nations date back to at least the Han dynasty with the profitable Silk Road. Presently, China has an embassy in Kabul and Afghanistan has one in Beijing. The two countries share a 92 km (57 mi) border.
Pakistan and the Soviet Union had complex and tense relations. During the Cold War (1947–1991), Pakistan was a part of Western Bloc of the First World and a close ally of the United States.
Gholam Mohammad Niazi, was a leading professor at Kabul University, member of the Muslim Brotherhood, and the founder of the Islamic movement in Afghanistan. In 1974 he was jailed for promoting the Islamist regime and was killed in jail in 1979.
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