![]() The Saur Revolution of April 1978 in which the Afghan communist party, the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan, seized power in a coup and killed the country’s prime minister, also created space for a foreign invasion into a country that lacked a legitimate government. This separation of the Afghan elite and the central government from local tribal leaders eventually caused a revolt against the monarchy. It was led by King Zahir Shah, who, like his predecessors, was unable to merge the existing tribal society with a central government. The Soviets entered Afghanistan in 1979 with the aim of establishing a key position in Asia, one with trade possibilities and access to Gulf oil, Barnett Rubin said in his book, “The Fragmentation of Afghanistan.”Īt the time, Afghanistan was a vulnerable monarchy. alliance with Pakistan and the surrounding Persian Gulf states. ![]() The Soviets in return used the strategic location of Afghanistan, at the juncture of Asia and the Middle East, to counter the U.S. After World War II, as both the United States and the Soviet Union competed for global power, Afghanistan increasingly turned to the Soviet Union for support after the United States established military ties with Pakistan in 1954, according to an October 2001 report from Human Rights Watch. ![]()
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