a house divided, 1933–73Zahir Shah and the administrations that had followed his own resignation
in 1963. 6 Da’ud then listed a swath of unrealistic and unattainable goals,
including the nationalization of all major industrial, commercial, financial
and social assets; a minimum wage; the ‘complete emancipation of women’;
the eradication of opium cultivation and the resettlement of kuchis so that
‘all traces of nomadic and tribal life will be eliminated’. There was to be a
new flag and national anthem while 26 Sunbula (17 July), the date of Da’ud’s
coup, was to be a national holiday. Da’ud also announced the establishment
of a committee to draft a new Constitution but made it clear that there
would be no multiparty democracy in his Republic.
In an attempt to address the economic crisis, Da’ud announced the
government was imposing ‘protective tariffs’ on cheap imports and strict
controls on exchange rates and the export of hard currency. To alleviate the
impact of the drought, the prices of bread, rice and other essential food-
stuffs were to be fixed by the state, and shopkeepers who overcharged were
threatened with fines and imprisonment. The price controls were popular
but the nanbais and small shopkeepers suffered since the state-imposed
prices did not cover their costs and the subsidies were insufficient to make
up the shortfall. As for the new, artificial exchange rate, this earned the
government a great deal of hard currency, for Muhammad Khan Jalallar,
the Minister of Finance, cunningly played the money markets. Foreign
export companies, tourists, un agencies and non-governmental organ-
izations, on the other hand, were badly hit for they were obliged to buy
afghanis at the official exchange rate rather than on the open market, where
the rate was often more than twice that of the banks. Within a matter of
months, the free market ground to a standstill. 7
In the wake of the coup, hundreds of card-carrying pdpa members
were appointed to mid-level positions in the civil service, while Khalqi
army and air force officers who had supported the coup were promoted.
In order to find posts for these new appointments many existing civil
servants and military officers lost their jobs or were forcibly retired.
Since most of the officials who were dismissed owed their position of
privilege to their support of the Musahiban dynasty, their sacking under-
mined Da’ud’s power. The Parchamis and Khalqis then proceeded to
exploit their newfound power to promote their Communist ideas in
schools, the University, the Teachers’ Training College and the media.
However, the new appointees lacked the experience of running the civil
service and government departments were even more chaotic than usual.
Less than three months into the Republican era, Neumann informed the
State Department that President Da’ud’s regime had made ‘a distinctly