afghanistan
Shafiq was the most dynamic and proactive of premiers since the era
of Da’ud, but the complexity of the problems his administration faced were
daunting. Left-wingers and Da’udists in the cabinet knew it was only a
matter of time before Da’ud attempted a coup and Shafiq’s frantic attempts
to stop the ship of state from sinking were probably motivated by the
fact that he knew he and the king were living on borrowed time. Shafiq
forced through a number of key administrative reforms that allowed better
coordination of the famine crisis. In an attempt to appease the Islamists
he also released a number of students affiliated to the Niyazi network.
The new government had less success when it came to addressing the
economic and financial crisis. By the early 1970s about 40 per cent of all
Afghanistan’s foreign exchange earnings was devoted to serving interest
and repayments on the country’s huge foreign debt. In March 1973 Shafiq
requested a morator ium on repayments and rescheduling of foreign debt.
The ussr promptly agreed, but the usa and European countries were far
less sympathetic and even less willing to pour bad money after good.
Shafiq informed Neumann that he intended to ‘correct [the] deviant
trajectory of Afghan public life’, a euphemism for parliamentary demo-
cracy, for Zahir Shah was seriously considering cancelling the upcoming
elections, and ‘cement already close ties’ with the United States. 55 In
order to show his good faith, Shafiq negotiated a treaty with Iran that
settled the long-standing dispute over riparian rights to the waters of
the Helmand, an agreement that was fiercely opposed by Maiwandwal,
Da’udists and Pushtunists in the Wolusi Jirga. The Left too was incensed
when it emerged that, in return for concessions over water rights, the
Shah of Iran had pledged Afghanistan millions of dollars of aid. Da’ud
even went as far as to condemn the treaty as treasonous. The treaty was
eventually passed by a majority vote of both Houses, but Zahir Shah
delayed signing it into law and was deposed before he set his seal to the
treaty. In the end, the treaty was never ratified. Shafiq alienated Da’ud and
supporters of Pushtunistan further by inviting Pakistan’s prime minister,
Zu’l-fiqar ‘Ali Bhutto, to pay a state visit to Afghanistan. Unfortunately
for Shafiq the visit coincided with a bloody crackdown by the Pakistan
army in Baluchistan and the Northwest Frontier, which led to an influx
of refugees into Afghanistan.
Relations with the usa and European nations were not helped by a
series of scandals involving high-ranking members of the Afghan govern-
ment. Iranian customs seized a huge consignment of Afghan heroin
destined for Europe, and one of the king’s close confidants, Muhammad
Rahim Panjshiri, and other unnamed accomplices in the Afghan embassy
nandana
(Nandana)
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