In 1978, a bloody coup in Afghanistan …
Years: 1978 - 1978
In 1978, a bloody coup in Afghanistan brings a pro-Soviet coalition into power.
Following the early 1978 withdrawal of Iran and Pakistan from CENTO, the remaining members dissolve the organization.
Iraq, in 1978, expels exiled Iranian Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who moves to France, where he leads the burgeoning antishah movement.
Three months after the Marxist coup in Afghanistan, the Soviets help to install a government even more to their liking.
Years of chaotic guerrilla warfare ensue, with Soviet troops and Afghan regulars in combat with various bands of rebels backed by Western interests.
Massive strikes and demonstrations paralyze Iran’s government, led by an antishah opposition united under the leadership of Khomeini.
The country is placed under martial law.
Khomeini appoints a Revolutionary Council and refuses to negotiate with the Shah or his aides.
The Shah leaves Iran on January 16, 1979.
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The Ellice Islands become the independent nation of Tuvalu in 1978.
The Solomon Islands, the scene of such major World War II battles as Guadalcanal, also gain independence in 1978.
Muldoon reportedly travels to the United States to meet top Rockefeller-connected officials including Warren Christopher, Deputy Secretary of State, and Richard Holbrooke, who are in charge of the State Department’s new “South Pacific Desk” allegedly established by Rockefeller to target exploitation of both New Zealand and Australia.
In Los Angeles, Muldoon allegedly meets with top Rockwell executives Robert Anderson (Rockwell Chairman, also a director of the Security Pacific National Bank supposedly owned by Kashoggi) and P. Larkin (Rockwell Director and Chairman of Security Pacific National Bank Executive Committee and Marac director).
Muldoon establishes Petrocorp in April, 1978.
New Zealand taxpayers cover exploration costs; Big Oil controls all distribution outlets.
Muldoon allegedly blocks development of Maui B as restructured supplies mean higher prices and greater profits for Shell.BP/Todd.
The South Island gas market remains undeveloped as the Great South Basin fields are closer than Kapuni.
Plans are allegedly developed for opening New Zealnd’s National Parks for mineral exploitation.
Brierley’s declared assets reach a reported $200 million, with shareholders’ funds totaling only $17 million.
Australia’s Northern territory, until now administered by the federal government, is granted partial self-rule in 1978.
Muldoon establishes Petrocorp in April, 1978.
New Zealand taxpayers cover exploration costs; Big Oil controls all distribution outlets.
Muldoon allegedly blocks development of Maui B as restructured supplies mean higher prices and greater profits for Shell/BP/Todd.
The South Island gas market remains undeveloped as the Great South Basin fields are closer than Kapuni.
Plans are allegedly developed for opening New Zealand’s National Parks for mineral exploitation.
On July 22, 1978, the Director of Australia’s Federal Bureau of Narcotics suspends his investigation into the Nugan Hand Bank after alleged pressure from the CIA July 22 and pro-US politicians including Malcolm Fraser.
Brierley’s declared assets reach a reported $200 million, with shareholders’ funds totaling only $17 million.
Australian director Fred Schepisi’s 1978 film of Keneally’s novel “The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith,” introduces aboriginal protagonists to international audiences.
Australian poet David Malouf evokes a primitive time in 1978’s hallucinatory “An Imaginary Life.”
Australia’s Northern Territory is granted limited self-rule in 1978.
Vietnam invades Cambodia in late 1978, captures Phnomh Penh, ousts the Khmer Rouge and backs a new government, continuing clashes with insurgents along the Thai border.
China attacks Vietnam in 1978.
Archbishop Makarios III and Rauf Denktash had agreed on acceptable guidelines for a bizonal federation in Cyprus early in 1977, dividing the island provisionally, but achieve no lasting, workable solution.
When Makarios died in August, Spyros Kyprianou, president of the House of Representatives, became acting president of the republic; he returns unopposed to this office in January 1978 for a five-year term.
Conflicts regarding centralization within the government in 1978 prompt Dubai and Ra's al-Khaymah to refuse to submit their forces to federal command, and Dubai begins purchasing weapons independently.
A proposal to form a federal budget, merge revenues, and eliminate internal boundaries is rejected by Dubai and Ra's al-Khaymah, in spite of strong domestic support.
On February 21, 1978, Mohammad Daud leaves Kabul for Belgrade on an official visit to Yugoslavia.
Three days later, a trial of 25 people accused of plotting to assassinate President Daud begins in Kabul.
On April 17, Mir Akbar Khaibar, one of the founders of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), is assassinated in Kabul.
PDPA leader Hafizullah Amin, his arrest apparently imminent, contacts PDPA members in the armed forces and devises a makeshift but successful coup.
On April 27, 1978-7 Saour, 1357 AH, according to the Muslim calendar-Daud's five-year-old Republican regime is overthrown.
On April 29, the government radio reports that Defense Minister Ghulam Haidar Rasuli, Interior Minister Abdul Qadir Nuristani, and Vice President Saeed Abdulillah have been killed in the coup, along with President Daud and his brother Mohammad Naim.
The next day, a "Revolutionary Council" is proclaimed.
Nur Mohammad Taraki is elected president of the Revolutionary Council, prime minister of the country, and secretary general of the combined PDPA.
Babrak Karmal, a Banner leader, and Hafizullah Amin are elected deputy prime ministers.
On May 6, Taraki declares Afghanistan "nonaligned and independent." The leaders of the new government insist that the Soviet Union does not control them.
They proclaim their policies to be based on Afghan nationalism, Islamic principles, socioeconomic justice, nonalignment in foreign affairs, and respect for all agreements and treaties signed by previous Afghan governments.
Unity between the People's and Banner factions rapidly fades as the People's Party emerges as the dominant wing, particularly because their major base of power lies in the military.
Karmal, Najibullah, and other selected Banner leaders are sent abroad as ambassadors, and the government systematically purges any Banner members or others who might oppose the Taraki regime.
Najibullah briefly serves as ambassador to Iran and then goes into exile in Eastern Europe.
Employing classic Marxist-Leninist rhetoric, the government announces its reform programs, including the elimination of usury, changes in marriage customs, equal rights for women, land reforms, and administrative decrees.
The highly conservative people in the countryside, familiar with Marxist broadcasts from Soviet Central Asia, assume that the People's Party is Communist and pro-Soviet.
The reform program-which threatens to undermine basic Afghan cultural patterns as well as deeply rooted Islamic traditions-and political repression antagonizes large segments of the population, but major violent responses do not occur until a major uprising in eastern Afghanistan's Nuristan region late in the summer of 1978.
Other insurgencies, largely uncoordinated, spread throughout all of Afghanistan's provinces, and periodic explosions rock Kabul and other major cities.
On August 18, Kabul Radio announces that a plot to overthrow the government has been foiled and Defense Minister Abdur Quadir has been arrested for his role in the plot.
On August 23, the politburo of the PDPA orders the arrest of Planning Minister Sultan Ali Kishmand and Public Works Mohammad Rafi for their parts in the conspiracy.
Pakistan's Chief Martial Law Administrator Mohammad Zia-ul Haq meets with Taraki at Paghman, near Kabul, on September 9.
On September 22, Taraki dismisses six ambassadors who had been appointed in July; all are members of the Parcham section of the PDPA.
In October, the green, red and black national flag is changed to an all-red field, after the Soviet fashion.
A five-pointed star again surmounts the new national device, in gold.
On December 3, Taraki arrives in Moscow for talks with Soviet leaders.
Two days later, the two nations sign a 20-year treaty of friendship and cooperation.
After the communist coup of 1978, Mas'ud joins Rabbani and returns from Pakistan to Afghanistan.
With the help of Mawlawi Abdul Razaq of Nuristan, he establishes his bases in Panjshir, receiving money and arms from Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI).
Although Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto had tried to redirect Pakistan's regional orientation toward West Asia, and Zia continues this trend, the nation's geostrategic interests dictate a concentration on South Asia.
Pakistan's foreign policy is very much centered on India.
Less than two years after Zia's assumption of power, Congress, led by Indira Gandhi, is voted out of office and replaced by the Janata Party, whose foreign minister is Atal Behari Vajpayee of the Jana Sangh, long seen as anti-Pakistan.
Nonetheless, Vajpayee visits Pakistan in February 1978.
There are exchanges on many issues, and agreements are signed on trade, cultural exchanges, and communications-but not on such essential issues as Kashmir and nuclear development.
After elections are canceled by decree on March 1, 1978, Zia bans all political activity, although political parties are not banned.
The same month, some 200 journalists are arrested, and a number of newspapers were shut down.
Zia, however, maintains that there will be elections sometime in 1979.
The attacks on the Bhutto administration increase as time passes and culminate in Bhutto's trial and death sentence on March 18, 1978, for complicity in the murder of a political opponent.
Zia's efforts to create an acceptable political alternative have only limited success.
Thirteen months after taking over the martial-law administration, he announces the formation of a civilian Cabinet of administrators, technocrats, and some political leaders drawn from the Muslim League and the religious parties.
Members of some of the PNA parties, including the Jamaat-i-Islami and the Pakistan Muslim League, join Zia's cabinet as he attempts to give a civilian cast to his government.
The PNA is now split, with most elements forming an opposition that demands early elections, withdrawal of the army from Balochistan, and the introduction of a full Islamic code of laws.
A zealous Muslim, Zia has already imposed Islamic criminal punishments such as flogging and maiming, but he declines to meet the full opposition demand.
He announces, however, that Pakistani law will be based on Nizam-i-Mustafa, one of the demands of the PNA in the 1977 election.
The requirement means that any laws passed by legislative bodies have to conform to Islamic law; any passed previously will be nullified if they are repugnant to Islamic law.
Nizam-i-Mustafa raises several problems.
Most Pakistanis are Sunni, but there is a substantial minority of Shia whose interpretation of Islamic law differs in some important aspects from that of the Sunnis.
There are also major differences in the views held by the ulama in the interpretation of what constitutes nonconformity and repugnance in Islam.
President Fazal Elahi Chaudhry remains in office until his term expires on September 16, 1978, when Zia assumes that office in addition to his role as chief martial law administrator.
The Kashmir issue again becomes the leading cause of conflict between India and Pakistan.
Responding to the market opportunity caused by the drought in Southeast Asia, heroin production in Southwest Asia suddenly expands to fill gaps in the global market.
Opium production rises there from 504 tons in 1971 to an estimated 1,400 tons in 1978.
(Source: The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade; Opium)