E/CN.4/1503
Annex II page 4
10. In this setting, the authority of persons and by exten- sion of the central government was far less extensive than was that of Islam, the jirgah and social and tribal codes. Thus, if someone in a position of authority was perceived to be acting contrary to Islamic and/or traditional codes, disobeying him became the duty of every Afghan. The chief was one of Allah's subjects, and if he did not abide by what was perceived to be Allah's will and observe the rules, it was the duty of the rest of the group to remove him. This provided the foundation for open questioning of authority at any time, made the tribes volatile and meant that there was no institutional basis for authority for political leaders, since all obedience and respect were based on how well the leading figure performed his duties in accordance with Islam.
11.
It was due to such concepts of legitimacy that more than one government fell after failing to resolve conflicting interests of those wishing to promote change and those deter- mined to
The resist anything but the most gradual change. mullahs, the tribal leaders, the modernizing élite and the students made up an unstable political mix responsible for continuous deadlock between government and parliament and little legislative reform.
12. Neither could those who took power in July 1973 in a military coup, or
their successors, hope to resolve all the conflicts and establish political stability not, at least, without resort to force.
13. In July 1973, Muhammad Daud deposed his cousin, King Zahir Shah, announced the establishment of a republic which soon became an autocracy and rapidly discarded the left-wing rad- icals of the Parcham faction of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) which had supported him. He went on to repress his rivals in a series of purges, and was no more successful in establishing a responsive government than he had been earlier. In early 1977 a new constitution was at last approved but only one political party functioned under it, the National Revol- utionary Party. Meanwhile the Parcham group, led by Babrak Karmal, was reuniting with the Khalq faction of the PDP led by Noor Mohammed Taraki, following several years of schism which had come about despite their similar Marxist-Leninist leanings and their close links with the Soviet Union. Infiltrating the armed forces, they prepared a successful coup which they staged on 28 April 1978 following an unprecedented outburst of anti- government demonstrations. Taraki took over the reins of government in what came to be known as the Great Saur Revolution.
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