How the Events of 27th April 1978 Changed Afghanistan!

Many of us might not know what happened on that day in Kabul. The day that the Afghanistan Communist Party took over the Afghan presidential palace through a military coup and killed the then President of Afghanistan, Sardar Dawood Khan. Nothing major, just another event in the often bloody history of Afghanistan, except that it was at the height of the Cold War and a communist takeover of any country would get the attention of the other superpower, the United States.

The situation got even more dicey when the Soviet Army rolled into Afghanistan, triggered by the inter-fighting between various factions of the Afghanistan Communist party.  In response the United States turned to Pakistan, its major ally in the region, to put into place a program to get rid of the Communist government by using the Afghans to fight the Russians. The goals of the United States were based on the Cold War realities which was to fight Communism anywhere it appeared. The goals of the Pakistanis were to push its national interest by weakening a rival, Afghanistan, and this was a perfect opportunity. Pakistan and Afghanistan have major border dispute over the Durrand Line. Both, United States and Pakistan sat down and agreed that using religion to rally the Afghans was the easiest way to get to accomplish their objectives. There were some amongst the Afghans who suggested perhaps using nationalism to fight the Russians. The Afghan nationalists believed that in the long run it would create a strong Afghan identity amongst the various ethnic groups. The nationalist approach was buried before it made any headway. Pakistan saw this opportunity as a chance to divide and destroy its neighbor, anything to unify the various tribes of Afghanistan, would not be tolerated by Islamabad. Pakistan was used as the launching pad for the new Islamic warriors to go into Afghanistan to fight the Russians and its puppet Communist government. 

It also ran the madrassas (the religious schools), which were void of any Islamic curriculum except jihad and the art of killing the infidels. Pakistan became the jihad-making factory. The policy had immediate success for both the US and Pakistan. The Red Army was humiliated and the communist government held on for its dear life. When the Red Army left, the Afghan jihadi fighter now known to the world as Mujahideens turned against each other and killed Afghans and destroyed Afghanistan. The US at this point had left the scene, they had accomplished their objective and did not need to be around to deal with the cleanup. Pakistan on the other hand continued to push on through, the madrassas continued to produce the product, but now the name had change from Mujahedeen to Taliban. Just to be sure not to have any remnant of nationalism left in Afghanistan, the first thing the Taliban did was to kill in the most vial manner, President Najibullah. For all his sins Najibullah still invoked the Afghan love for his/her country. 

What no one at the time understood was that Pakistan's and other nations' dangerous, short-sighted policy towards Afghanistan would eventually engulf the world with radical ideology which no one country can counter and no one human is immune from its effects.