National Revolutionary Party (Afghanistan)
민족혁명당 (아프가니스탄)
An Afghan party founded by President Mohammad Daoud Khan, who had overthrown the monarchy in the 1973 coup, to widen support for his republican regime. It aimed to be an umbrella for progressive forces and, with all other parties banned, was the ruling and only legal party. It disappeared when Daoud was killed in the Saur Revolution of April 1978.
In depth
According to the Dari source, the National Revolutionary Party was founded in 1974 by President Mohammad Daoud Khan. Daoud, who had taken power from his cousin King Mohammad Zahir Shah in a bloodless coup in 1973, formed it to win popular support for his republican regime. The Russian source likewise describes a party that existed from 1974 to 1978 and was then the ruling and only legal party in the country.
Daoud also meant the party to undercut support for the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan, which had helped him to power in 1973. To this end it sought to be an umbrella organisation for all progressive factions in Afghanistan, and other parties were banned to help it gather support. The English source adds that although the party was anti-communist, the president demanded that PDPA members join his government and called for the dissolution of the Khalq and Parcham factions. The article on Daoud dates the party's founding to 1977, the year in which a loya jirga approved, in January, a new constitution creating a presidential one-party system.
The party was run by a central committee made up of Major General Ghulam Haidar Rasuli, Defence Minister Sayyid Abdullah, Finance Minister Abdul Majid and Professor Abdul Qayyum.
The party did not survive the Saur Revolution of April 1978, in which Daoud and his family were killed and the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan came to power.