A Kingdom, A Coup, and a Crisis: How Pak–Afghan Ties Collapsed

It has been four months since the trade ban on Afghanistan was imposed. Pakistan had placed a ban on Afghanistan for the first time in 1960 when, on the orders of Sardar Daoud Khan, the Afghan army attacked the Bajaur region. After the Afghan forces failed in Bajaur, Daoud Khan continued his aggressive policy, which led Pakistan to sever diplomatic ties with Afghanistan and shut down Afghan transit trade. This crippled Kabul’s economy and pushed Afghanistan into global isolation.

King Zahir Shah was the ruler of Afghanistan at that time, and he openly disliked Daoud Khan’s policies. Zahir Shah was a moderate leader who always tried to maintain Afghanistan’s traditional neutrality. He feared that the country might fully fall into the communist bloc. He wanted better relations with Pakistan, which is why during the 1965 and 1971 Pakistan–India wars, he adopted a positive and non-hostile stance toward Pakistan. This proved to be a major help for Pakistan.

In July 1973, when Daoud Khan carried out his coup, King Zahir Shah was not in the country. He had traveled to Italy for an eye check-up and treatment. Daoud Khan saw the opportunity and, with the help of loyal military officers, launched an operation and seized power. This marked the beginning of Afghanistan’s long period of destruction.

After taking power, Sardar Daoud Khan again adopted an aggressive anti-Pakistan policy, worsening relations between the two countries. His rule from 1973 to 1978 is considered the darkest phase of Pakistan–Afghanistan relations. Under the slogan of “Pashtunistan,” he used the full force of the Afghan state to destabilize Pakistan. Kabul became a base camp for creating unrest in Pakistan. With funding from the Soviet Union and India, disgruntled Pakistani elements were trained in guerrilla warfare.

Paramilitary groups such as Pashtun Zalmay were supported for carrying out armed activities inside Pakistan’s tribal areas and the then-NWFP (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa). Military camps were established around Kabul, Jalalabad and Kandahar, and trained operatives were sent into Pakistan for bombings and attacks, including the killing of Hayat Muhammad Khan Sherpao.

At that time, several Baloch, Pashtun, and Sindhi leaders took refuge in Afghanistan, where Daoud Khan gave them the status of state guests. Khair Bakhsh Marri and Ataullah Mengal were given camps in Kandahar and Helmand to support the Baloch insurgency. Abdul Samad Achakzai, father of Pakistan’s current opposition leader Mahmood Khan Achakzai, became unwanted in Kabul due to his disagreements with Daoud Khan’s extremist Pashtunistan policy, and Daoud was involved in his killing.

Unrest and bombings began in the NWFP, and by 1975, the Parcham and Khalq factions in Afghanistan had grown powerful. As Pakistan also started training the Mujahideen, Daoud Khan realized that Pakistan’s counter-pressure was increasing and that the Soviets were moving beyond his control. In 1976, he tried to make peace with Pakistan and promised to shut down the Marri–Mengal camps, but before he could act, he was overthrown.

On April 28, 1978, Daoud Khan was killed in a violent military uprising carried out by communist officers from the Khalq and Parcham factions. Nearly his entire family was targeted; between 18 and 30 people were killed. This massacre marked the beginning of direct Soviet involvement in Afghanistan.

After the Saur Revolution on April 27, 1978, the monarchy collapsed, Daoud Khan’s era ended, and power shifted to the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), a purely communist and pro-Soviet party. Nur Muhammad Taraki became the first communist president, but soon the Parcham and Khalq factions split. In September 1979, Hafizullah Amin killed his own leader Taraki and seized power.

Amin’s policies irritated the Soviets, and in December 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, killed Amin, and installed Babrak Karmal as ruler. Babrak Karmal remained in power from December 27, 1979, to November 24, 1986, and was widely seen by Afghans as a Soviet puppet. These were internal events, but the Saur Revolution plunged Afghanistan into a swamp from which it has never fully emerged.

Babrak Karmal came to power under the shadow of Soviet tanks. He crushed Afghanistan’s religious circles and enforced a strict communist system aimed at strengthening Soviet-aligned principles and Eastern Bloc governance. During his rule, freedoms, public opinion and religious education were heavily suppressed. Every form of resistance and religious activity was targeted. Religious scholars were intimidated, and opponents were arrested through security forces.

This harsh policy triggered a massive reaction. Religious groups and the general public rose against the rigid communist system. Resistance movements began across the country, exposing the government’s unpopularity. People struggled for freedom and religious identity, and this resistance later became the foundation of the Afghan Jihad.

Afghanistan has long been shaped by two dominant ideologies: religious and ultra-liberal. When the liberal ideology dominates, society becomes completely open. People adopt lifestyles even more liberal than the West, engaging in drinking, club culture and unrestricted social activities. When the religious ideology dominates, especially the Taliban’s interpretation (since the Muslim Brotherhood’s influence never lasted long), it brings its own strict model. Many religious rules are enforced according to their own interpretations. Under this system, suicide attacks, strict restrictions on women, and severe rules over daily life take hold, while opposing views are suppressed through violence or fear.

After Babrak Karmal, Dr. Najibullah took power. He was the last president of the communist era and is considered one of the most controversial figures in Afghanistan’s modern history. His rule relied on KHAD, the brutal intelligence agency responsible for the arrests, torture and killings of thousands of Afghan politicians, scholars, intellectuals and educated citizens. The most shameful and socially devastating aspect of this system was the mistreatment of Afghan women and girls in KHAD prisons and interrogation centers, something unprecedented in Afghan history.

The painful reality is that today some naive and honorless young people praise Najibullah and Babrak Karmal, ignoring the countless victims, orphaned children, widowed women and the nation that suffered under this blood-soaked.