afghanistanthe medieval quarters of Herat’s old town and its Timurid monuments. It
took a week for government forces to regain control of Herat and many
more people were executed in the reprisals that followed. The rebel army
units, commanded by a junior officer, Muhammad Isma‘il Khan, withdrew
into the hill country of Badghis, where they declared their support for
Rabbani’s Jami‘at-i Islami.
A month later, on the first anniversary of the Saur Revolution, there
were uprisings in the Hazarajat, Gurziwan and Badghis, and most of the
central and northern highlands fell into the hands of various mujahidin
factions. In the summer, insurgents overran district offices in Wardak,
Paktika, Logar, Panjshir and Takhar, while in Kabul there were riots in
Chindawal and the garrison in the Bala Hisar mutinied. As more and
more rural districts were lost to the rebels, Khalqi military officers turned
to Prime Minister Hafiz Allah ’Amin to step in, while Taraki and his
In April 1979
President Taraki’s
house in Jamal Mina,
west Kabul, became a
pdpa shrine. Less than
six months later he
had been overthrown
and later suffocated
by his successor Hafiz
Allah ’Amin.