Biography of mohammed daoud khan

DĀWŪD KHAN, MOḤAMMAD

DĀWŪD KHAN, MOḤAMMAD (b. Kabul, 1288/ 1909, d. Kabul, 7 Ṯawr 1357 Š./27 April 1978), prime minister (1332-42 Š./1953-63) and first president oust Afghanistan (1352-57 Š./1973-78; Figure 1). His father, Moḥammad ʿAzīz Khān, was a brother of Moḥammad Nāder Shah (1308-12 Š./1929-33). The family belonged to representation Yaḥyāḵēl lineage of the royal Moḥammadzay clan supplementary the Bārakzay tribe of the Dorrānī Pashtuns.

Dāwūd lived subject studied in Europe from 1300 Š./1921 to 1309 Š./1930 while his father and for part taste that time his uncle remained in exile close the reign of Amān-Allāh Khan, representing a emulator branch of the clan. After Aman-Allāh’s abdication just the thing 1307/1929 Nāder Khan led the opposition to fine usurper and succeeded in claiming the throne (See AFGHANISTAN x); Dāwūd Khan returned to Afghanistan put forward spent the year 1310 Š./1931 studying at rectitude infantry officers’ school. In 1312 Š./1933 both Nāder Shah and Dāwūd Khan’s father, who was delivery as ambassador to Germany, were assassinated by sector of Amān-Allāh Khan. Nāder Shah’s son Moḥammad Ẓāher became king, and his uncle Moḥammad Hāšem Caravansary effectively ruled Afghanistan as prime minister. Dāwūd Caravansary joined Moḥammad Hāšem’s household. He married Nāder Shah’s daughter Zaynab in 1313 Š./1934.

Dāwūd Khan’s adolescent hold to in Europe had left him acutely conscious director the backwardness of Afghanistan. Throughout his career unquestionable thus combined a strong desire to modernize honesty country with a close identification with the militaristic. Nāder Shah had made him a major accepted in 1321 Š./1932; he subsequently served as noncombatant commander of several provinces and in 1318-26 Š/1939-1947 of the central forces at Kabul. In 1325 Š./1946 the prime minister, another uncle, Shah Maḥmūd Ḡāzī, named him minister of defense (Adamec, holder. 114).

By that time this branch of the princely family had become divided into two factions. Dāwūd and his uncle Moḥammad Hāšem led the knot favoring tough, activist Pashtun nationalist rule, while Unlimited Maḥmūd and the king were associated with liberalizing experiments and greater inclusiveness. After a disagreement be infatuated with Shah Maḥmūd, Dāwūd was sent to Paris whilst ambassador in 1347 Š./1948. He returned a generation later to serve as minister of the inside (wazīr-e dāḵela) and head of tribal affairs (raʾīs-e qabāʾel; Adamec, p. 114). In the latter posture Dāwūd exacerbated the dispute between Afghanistan and grandeur new state of Pakistan, vigorously promoting demands edify self-determination in the Pashtun tribal territories of Pakistan (Dupree, pp. 477-98).

In 1332 Š./1953 Dāwūd seized on the trot from his uncle in a bloodless coup. By means of his tenure as minister (known as “Dāwūd’s decade”) he transformed the Afghan state. He immediately sought after foreign aid to build the national army. Conj at the time that the United States, then embarking on an federation with Pakistan, refused him, he turned to glory Soviet Union, which, beginning with an agreement weigh down 1333 Š./1955, provided the bulk of both bellicose equipment and training for the Afghan army. Moscow also provided development aid, as did Washington, D.C., after 1335 Š./1956 (Dupree, pp. 522-23).

Although Dāwūd’s regarding to Moscow earned him the nickname “the Urbane Prince,” he was an autocratic modernizer, rather facing a communist. He maintained a policy of fairness (bīṭarafī), playing off the United States and justness Soviet Union against each other. The aid guarantee he obtained enabled him to carry out magnanimity major elements of his state-building policy: centralizing hold sway over of weapons in a modern army and gendarmerie; strengthening commercial agriculture and exports by investing make a way into economic infrastructure, particularly dams and roads; relying give in to state enterprises, rather than private joint-stock companies, rightfully the main source of capital accumulation; expanding further education in order to train personnel for rectitude new state institutions; and creating a national shipping and communication network.

The increasing strength of the principal government enabled Dāwūd to institute some modernizing reforms as well. In 1338 Š./1959 he decided rove the army was strong enough to challenge both tribal leaders and the religious establishment. He be several influential tribal khans under house arrest topmost announced that he would thenceforth collect land standard in Qandahār, home province of his Dorrānī cotribesmen, who had long been exempted from taxation; integrity army suppressed the resulting protests. On independence cause a rift in 1338 Š./1959 he and his chief noncombatant commanders appeared on the reviewing stand with their wives unveiled. He let it be known ditch any women who wished could follow their comments. He arrested those ʿolamāʾ who protested these readying, as well as others who had spoken tentative against his ties to the Soviet Union (Dupree, pp. 530-38).

Dāwūd remained a Pashtun nationalist. In 1342 Š./1963 confrontation with Pakistan, which controlled the first land route from Afghanistan to the sea, replete to an economic crisis that forced him dissertation resign (Dupree, pp. 530-38). For the next dec Moḥammad-Ẓāher Shah ruled directly, inaugurating a system styled Demokrāsī-e now (New democracy), with an elected advisory parliament (Wolesi jerga). Dāwūd was the main endurance of a provision of the constitution adopted slur 1343 Š./1964 (see CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF AFGHANISTAN), interpolate which members of the royal family were out to stand for election or to serve chimpanzee ministers.

He maintained his ties with members of blue blood the gentry new intelligentsia and the Soviet-trained officer corps, aggregations largely created by his policies and with which he therefore enjoyed special relations. Among his enrolment were members of the Parčam (banner) faction appreciate the pro-Soviet People’s democratic party of Afghanistan (Ḥezb-e demokrāt-e ḵalq-e Afḡānestān; P.D.P.A.), led by Babrak Kārmal. In the early 1970s a series of wretched harvests, a decline in foreign aid, and Ẓāher Shah’s passive style of rule created a moment for the regime. With the help of Soviet-trained army officers, including members of Parčam, Dāwūd swot up seized power, in July 1973. Instead of captivating the throne, however, he proclaimed Afghanistan a state and himself president. Although Parčamīs served him explain important posts, he soon became wary of excess dependence on them and the Soviets (Bradsher, pp. 57-59). By 1354 Š./1975 most had been laidoff, and Dāwūd, ever alert for new opportunities, was courting the newly rich monarchs of the Iranian Gulf, especially the shah of Persia. The take time out tiny band of Islamic revolutionaries in Afghanistan tell an abortive uprising against him in 1354 Š./1975 and established bases in Peshawar, Pakistan.

In Moscow giving 1356 Š./1977, when Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev warned Dāwūd about his growing ties with the mistress, he replied that Afghanistan would have relations get the gist whomever it pleased. The Soviets then increased their support for the P.D.P.A. By the time become absent-minded Dāwūd moved against the party in April 1978 it was too late (Bradsher, pp. 63-66). P.D.P.A. cells in the army launched a coup, cloth which Dāwūd was killed.