Coup at the Crossroads

After 40 years as monarch of Afghanistan, King Mohammed Zahir Shah, 58, presumably thought it safe to take a holiday in Italy to soak up some sun and get treatment for a troublesome eye condition. That, as it turned out last week, was a royal mistake. While the King was bathing his eyes with mud and mineral water at a thermal spa on the isle of Ischia off Naples, his kingdom was peremptorily converted into a republic. Leading the coup was his cousin and brother-in-law, ex-Prime Minister Sardar Mohammed Daoud Khan.

Although there had been growing discontent over government inertia and corruption in recent months, the takeover came as a surprise to most in Kabul. The coup was launched during the night. Army units moved through the capital and surrounded the palace, the airport and other key buildings. According to reliable reports, several officers loyal to the King were executed.

Early on the morning after the coup, French-educated General Daoud, 65, went on Radio Kabul and announced that he had acted to end the King's "despotic regime" and replace it with a "genuine democracy." He charged that the government had been corrupt and ineffective, and had been heading "toward total bankruptcy." The depth of Daoud's commitment to democracy may be open to question, since he staged his takeover at a time when the King was about to sign a bill permitting formation of political parties. That would have been at least one step forward in Afghanistan's painfully slow transition from a feudal monarchy to a modern state.

Under the present constitution, promulgated in 1964, Daoud, as a member of the royal family (he is a prince), is forbidden to hold public office. Last week he announced that he would reserve for himself the posts of President, Prime Minister, Defense and Foreign Minister. He will need to muster all the support he can to solve Afghanistan's many problems, which include a three-year drought that has claimed more than 20,000 lives. The country is noted for its harsh landscape (barren deserts interspersed with rugged mountains), wretched poverty (per capita annual income is $88), and widespread disease (half of all children die before the age of five). Kabul is also something of a hash haven for hippies from the U.S. and Europe. Narcotics are sold openly.

Daoud, during his tenure as Prime Minister, between 1953 and 1963, cleverly exploited Afghanistan's strategic location (with access to the Khyber Pass and common borders with Iran, Pakistan, China and Russia) to get the U.S. and the Soviet Union to compete with each other in giving aid. "I feel happiest when I can light my American cigarette with a Russian match," he once joked. But Moscow's nearly $1.5 billion in military and economic aid over the past 20 years far outdistanced Washington's $500 million, and inevitably the flame of the match grew a little warmer than the glow of the cigarette. The Soviet Union and India became the first countries to recognize the new government last week. In Washington, the State Department said that it had recognition under consideration.

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