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The People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) was a popular party that in 1978 overthrew the regime of Mohammad Daoud, King Zahir Shah's cousin.
The PDPA took power in a revolution that was supported by an enormous majority of the population. Accoring to the New York Times, "nearly every Afghan interviewed said [they were] delighted with the coup." The reform program of the party comprised
- abolition of feudal power in the countryside
- freedom of religion
- equal rights for women and various ethnic minorities
- the release of more than 13,000 political prisoners
In the words of Australian journalist John Pilger,
- Under tribalism and feudalism, life expectancy was thirty-five and almost one in three children died in infancy. Ninety per cent of the population was illiterate. The new government introduced free medical care in the poorest areas. Peonage was abolished; a mass literacy campaign was begun. For women, the gains were unheard of; by the late 1980s, half the university students were women, and women made up 40 per cent of Afghanistan's doctors, 70 per cent of its teachers and 30 per cent of its civil servants.
After the Soviet Union had leveled most of the villages south and east of Kabul, creating a massive humanitarian disaster, the demise of the PDPA began with the rise of the mujaheddin terrorists, who were trained Pakistan camps supported by the US and Britain. Between 1982 and 19921992 is a leap year starting on Wednesday. Events January January The Internet Society is formed. January 1 Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Perez de Cuellar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General January 1 George H. Bush becomes the fi, the number of people recruited by Pakistan's Inter-Services IntelligenceThe Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence (also Inter-Services Intelligence or I. is the principal intelligence body of the nation of Pakistan. The ISI provided most of the operational and organizational leadership during the U. funded insurgency in (ISI) agency to join the Afghan jihadJihad is an Arabic word which comes from the Arabic root word "jahada"; which means "exerting utmost effort" or "to strive. The word connotes a wide range of meanings, from an inward spiritual struggle to attain perfect faith to an outward material strugg topped 100,000. The training of the future TalibanThe Taliban ( Pashtun: "students of Islam"), also transliterated as Taleban is an Islamist movement which ruled most of Afghanistan from 1996 until 2001, despite having diplomatic recognition from only three countries (the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, and al-QaedaAl-Qaeda ( Arabic: #x627;لقاعده "the foundation" or "the base") is a militant Islamist organization founded by Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan in 1988 to expand the mujahideen resistance movement against the Soviet occupa operatives was mostly done in a VirginiaVirginia is one of the original 13 states of the United States that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution and is generally classified as part of the South. Its official name is the Commonwealth of Virginia it is one of four Commonwealth CIA camp, under the so-called " Operation Cyclone ".
The last president of the PDPA was Mohammad NajibullahMohammad Najibullah ( 1947 September 27, 1996) was the fourth President of Afghanistan during the period of the communist Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. Born in Kabul of a Ahmadzai Ghilzai Pashtun family. He was educated at Habibia High School and Ka, who was murdered by the Taliban when this group took power in 1996.
See also: Democratic Republic of Afghanistan
