sion to political authority. Bureaucracy under Daoud was no more
efficient than under the King; the regime’s claims to traditional
authority were slender. One thus saw three tactics predominating as
Daoud sought to secure his position in urban areas and at the com-
manding heights of the state. The first was increased use of coer-
cion. Under Daoud, the Afghan government built the largest prison
in Asia, at Pul-e Charkhi on the outskirts of Kabul. Opponents of
his regime, most notably former Prime Minister Muhammad
Hashem Maiwandwal, lost their lives in regime custody (Arnold,
1985: 60). The second was the attempt to clothe Daoud’s seizure of
power in the garb of ‘revolution’ (inqilab). This was a very danger-
ous rhetoric to inject into Afghan political discourse, not only
because it opened the door to reflection on the need for a bigger
and better ‘revolution’ than Daoud was attempting, but also because
the gulf between the rhetoric of ‘revolutionary’ change and the real-
ity of business as usual under a nepotistic Pushtun elite exposed the
regime’s claims as mere propaganda – of which a legitimateregime
has no need (Ferrero, 1942: 200). The third tactic Daoud used was
to work in coalition with other political forces, notably the commu-
nist Parchamgroup. In the short run, this assisted him in over-
throwing the monarchy. In the long run, it contributed materially to
his own overthrow and death in April 1978. ‘After me the deluge’
could have been his motto.
THE SOVIET CONTEXT
The Soviet system
Afghanistan had the misfortune to be located on the doorstep of a
restive autocracy, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (also
known as the USSR or the Soviet Union). The Soviet political sys-
tem continues to be the focus of scholarly attention, and many
aspects of Soviet political history remain hotly debated. This is not
the place to explore in any detail the contours of those debates, but
a brief overview may assist the reader. The USSR was a classic
‘Communist’ political system (White, 1983), marked by the
The Road to War 17