Daud Khan was Born in 1919 and was the President of the Republic of Afghanistan from July 1973 until his assassination in April 1978 as a result of the Saur Revolution.

He was the son of Sardar Muhammad Aziz, and was governor and general officer commanding of the Eastern Province (1934), Kandahar (1935), and commander of Central Forces (1939 47) stationed in Kabul and minister of defense in 1946. A minister of interior (1949-50) and prime minister (1953-63), he encouraged social reforms and in 1959 permitted women to abandon the veil, thus contributing to their emancipation and participation in the economic life of Afghanistan.

He initiated two five-year plans (1956-61 and 1962-67) a seven-year plan in 1976, and relied for military and development aid on the Soviet Union. He demanded the independence of Pashtunistan (q.v.), the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan, which led to repeated crises with Pakistan and ended with his resignation in 1963.

Ten years later Muhammad Daud staged a coup against his cousin, King Zahir, and in July 1973 proclaimed Afghanistan a republic. Whether he just wanted power or felt that the political liberalization during the democratic decade (1963-73) had failed to remedy the social and economic problems of Afghanistan is not clear.

He relied on the support of leftists to consolidate his power, crushed the emerging Islamist movement, and in 1975 established his own "National Revolutionary Soviet influence in Afghanistan. Financial support from Iran and the Arab Gulf states was to enable him to repay Soviet loans and improve his relations with the West.


He and members of his fmily were assassinated on April 27, 1978, as a result of the Saur Revolt which brought Marxist parties to power in Kabul.



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The End. Feb 03 2005