1975 Panjshir Valley uprising
{{Short description|Uprising in Afghanistan}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict = 1975 Panjshir Valley uprising
| place = Panjshir, Afghanistan
| combatant1 = {{flagcountry|Republic of Afghanistan (1973–1978)|1974}}
| combatant2 = {{flagicon image|Flag_of_Jamiat-e_Islami.svg}} Jamiat-e Islami
{{Flagicon|Pakistan}} Pakistan
- 20px ISIOwen L. Sirrs, Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate: Covert action and internal operations, Routledge (2016), pp. 112-113{{cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/08/13/archives/afghanpakistani-trouble-brewing-again-near-the-khyber-pass.html | title=Afghan-Pakistani Trouble Brewing Again Near the Khyber Pass | work=The New York Times | date=13 August 1975 }}{{cite book |last=Kiessling |first=Hein|title=Unity, Faith and Discipline: The Inter-Service Intelligence of Pakistan |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press|quote=The era of ISI action in Afghanistan now began. A first large scale operation in 1975 was encouragement of large scale rebellion in the Panjshir valley.}}{{cite book|last=Houèrou|first=Fabienne La|title=Humanitarian Crisis and International Relations 1959-2013 |year=2014 |publisher=Bentham Science Publisher|page=150|quote=The president Khan revived adversarial stance not only toward Pakistan, but to the sponsor, USSR. First Daoud Khan set off proxy war in Pakistan, but in retaliation faced growing Islamic fundamentalists movement within Afghanistan}}{{cite book |last=Newton|first=Michael|title=Famous Assassination in World History:An Encyclopedia|page=106|publisher=ABC-CLIO |date=2014|quote=By 1976, while proxy guerilla war with Pakistan, Daoud faced rising Islamic fundamentalists movement led by exiled cleric aided openly by Pakistani prime minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.}}
Supported by:
{{Flagicon image|State_flag_of_the_Imperial_State_of_Iran_(with_standardized_lion_and_sun).svg}} Pahlavi Iran
- 16px SAVAKOwen L. Sirrs, Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate: Covert action and internal operations, Routledge (2016), pp. 112-113https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Chapter-1-3.pdf
| commander1 = {{flagicon image|Flag of Afghanistan (1974–1978) (Variant).svg}} Mohammad Daoud Khan
{{flagicon|Republic of Afghanistan (1973–1978)|1974}} Abdul Karim Mustaghni
{{flagicon|Republic of Afghanistan (1973–1978)|1974}} Faiz Mohammed
{{flagicon|Republic of Afghanistan (1973–1978)|1974}} Ghulam Haidar Rasuli
{{flagicon|Republic of Afghanistan (1973–1978)|1974}} Mohammad Aslam Watanjar
| commander2 = {{flagicon image|Flag_of_Jamiat-e_Islami.svg}} Burhanuddin Rabbani
{{flagicon image|Flag_of_Jamiat-e_Islami.svg}} Ahmad Shah Massoud
{{flagicon image|Flag_of_Jamiat-e_Islami.svg}} Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
{{flagicon image|Flag_of_Pakistan.svg}} Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
{{flagicon image|Flag_of_Pakistan.svg}} Ghulam Jilani Khan
{{flagicon image|Flag_of_Pakistan.svg}} Naseerullah Khan Babar
| result = Afghan government victory
- Uprising suppressed
- Jamiat-e Islami commanders flee to PakistanOwen L. Sirrs, Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate: Covert action and internal operations, Routledge (2016), pp. 112-113
- End of the 1975 uprisings in Afghanistan
- Daoud Khan agrees to end support and expel anti-Pakistan militants in Afghanistan
| casualties1 = Unknown
| casualties2 = Unknown
| strength1 = Unknown
| strength2 = 5,000+
| units1 = {{tree list}}
- 20px Afghan Army
- Republican Guard Brigade
- 20px Afghan Commando Forces
- 444th Commando Battalion
- 20px Afghan Air Force
- 373rd Air Transport Regiment
- Panjshiri locals
{{tree list/end}}
| units2 = Afghan guerrilla troops
| partof = Afghanistan–Pakistan border conflicts
}}
The 1975 Panjshir Valley uprising was part of a larger Islamist uprising led by Jamiat-e Islami against the government of Daoud Khan, and was the first ever ISI operation that took place in Afghanistan.{{Cite news |date=1975-08-13 |title=Afghan-Pakistani Trouble Brewing Again Near the Khyber Pass (Published 1975) |work=The New York Times |language=en |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/08/13/archives/afghanpakistani-trouble-brewing-again-near-the-khyber-pass.html |access-date=2023-07-30}}{{cite book |last=Kiessling |first=Hein|title=Unity, Faith and Discipline: The Inter-Service Intelligence of Pakistan |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press|quote=The era of ISI action in Afghanistan now began. A first large scale operation in 1975 was encouragement of large scale rebellion in the Panjshir valley.}} It was in "retaliation to Republic of Afghanistan’s proxy war and support to the militants against Pakistan".{{cite book|last=Houèrou|first=Fabienne La|title=Humanitarian Crisis and International Relations 1959-2013 |year=2014 |publisher=Bentham Science Publisher|page=150|quote=The president Khan revived adversarial stance not only toward Pakistan, but to the sponsor, USSR. First Daoud Khan set off proxy war in Pakistan, but in retaliation faced growing Islamic fundamentalists movement within Afghanistan}}{{cite book |last=Newton|first=Michael|title=Famous Assassination in World History:An Encyclopedia|page=106|publisher=ABC-CLIO |date=2014|quote=By 1976, while proxy guerilla war with Pakistan, Daoud faced rising Islamic fundamentalists movement led by exiled cleric aided openly by Pakistani prime minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.}}
The Republic of Afghanistan support to anti-Pakistani militants had forced then-Prime Minister of Pakistan Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Naseerullah Khan Babar, then-Inspector General of the Frontier Corps in NWFP (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), to adopt a more aggressive approach towards Afghanistan. As a result, ISI, under the command of Major General Ghulam Jilani Khan set up a 5,000-strong Afghan guerrilla troop, which would include influential future leaders like Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Burhanuddin Rabbani and Ahmad Shah Massoud,{{Cite web |title=Martyrs Week, Massoud's Death Anniversary Commemorated |url=https://tolonews.com/afghanistan/martyrs-week-massoud%E2%80%99s-death-anniversary-commemorated |access-date=2024-03-17 |website=TOLOnews |language=en}} to target the Afghan government, the first large operation, in 1975, being the sponsoring of an armed rebellion in the Panjshir valley.Hein Kiessling, Faith, Unity, Discipline: The Inter-Service-Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan, Oxford University Press (2016), p. 34 The 1975 rebellion, though unsuccessful, shook Daoud Khan and made him realize that a friendly Pakistan was in his best interests.H. Emadi. [https://books.google.com/books?id=JZ1gAQAAQBAJ&q=These+actions+by+Bhutto+forced+Daoud+to+soften+his+rhetoric+and+consider+normalizing+relations+with+Pakistan,as+he Dynamics of Political Development in Afghanistan: The British, Russian, and American Invasions]. Springer. 18 October 2010. "These actions by Bhutto forced Daoud to soften his rhetoric and consider normalizing relations with Pakistan, as he came to realize that a friendly Pakistan was in his best interest...". He started improving relations with Pakistan and made state visits there in 1976 and 1978. During the 1978 visit, he agreed to stop supporting anti-Pakistan militants and to expel any remaining militants in Afghanistan to the dismay of the Khalqists who would overthrow Daoud that same year in the Saur Revolution.Shaista Wahab, Barry Youngerman. [https://books.google.com/books?id=y20MTE0C9kwC&q=daoud A Brief History of Afghanistan]. 2007. Infobase Publishing, 2007. p. 133
Background
In 1973, former Prime Minister Mohammed Daoud Khan was brought to power in a coup d'état backed by the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan, and the Republic of Afghanistan was established. These developments gave rise to an Islamist movement opposed to the increasing communist and Soviet influence over Afghanistan.{{Cite book |last=Roy Gutman |title=How We Missed the Story: Osama Bin Laden, the Taliban and the Hijacking of Afghanistan |publisher=Endowment of the United States Institute of Peace, Washington DC. |edition=1st ed., 2008 |page=34}} During that time, while studying at Kabul University, Massoud became involved with the Muslim Youth (Sazman-i Jawanan-i Musulman), the student branch of the Jamiat-e Islami (Islamic Society), whose chairman then was the professor Burhanuddin Rabbani. Kabul University was a center for political debate and activism during that time.{{Cite book |author1=Shahram Akbarzadeh |title=Islam And the West: Reflections from Australia |author2=Samina Yasmeen |publisher=University of New South Wales Press |year=2005 |pages=81–82}}
The uprising
Infuriated by the arrogance of his communist peers and Russian professors, a physical altercation between Massoud and his Russian professor led Massoud to walk out of the university, and shortly after, Kabul. Two days later, Massoud and a number of fellow militant students traveled to Pakistan where, goaded by another trainee of the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Massoud agreed to take part in a coup against Daoud with his forces rising up in the Panjshir and Hekmatyar's elsewhere. In July 1975, Massoud, with help from the Pakistani intelligence, led the first rebellion of Panjshir residents against the government of Daoud Khan.{{cite web |last1=Ansar |first1=Massoud |date=9 September 2018 |title=Furious Kabul Residents Slam Govt Over Massoud Day Mayhem |url=https://tolonews.com/afghanistan/furious-kabul-residents-slam-govt-over-massoud-day-mayhem |website=TOLOnews |language=en}} While the uprising in the Panjshir began saw initial success, even taking the military garrison in Rokha, the promised support from Kabul never came and the rebellion was suppressed by the 444th Commando Battalion sending Massoud back into Pakistan (after a day hiding in Jangalak) where he would attend a secret, paramilitary ISI training center in Cherat.{{cite book |last=Gall |first=Sandy |title=Afghan Napoleon: The Life of Ahmad Shah Massoud |date=2021 |publisher=Haus Publishing |isbn=978-1-913368-22-7 |location=London |pages=20–21, 22 |author-link=Sandy Gall}} Dissatisfied, Massoud left the center and returned to Peshawar where he committed himself to personal military studies. Massoud read Mao Tse-Tung's writings on the Long March, of Che Guevara's career, the memoirs of General de Gaulle, General Võ Nguyên Giáp, Sun Tzu's Art of War, and an unnamed handbook on counterterrorism by an American general which Massoud called "the most instructive of all".
As part of the operation, smaller Islamist detachments were sent to the nearby areas of Laghman, Nangarhar and Badakhshan; these were unsuccessful. Fighters either faced defeat after the Afghan Commando Forces were sent to the three provinces to curb the uprising or were arrested upon arrival, with neither local nor army support.{{Cite book |last1=Kakar |first1=M. Hassan |url=https://archive.org/details/afghanistansovie0000kaka/ |title=Afghanistan: The Soviet invasion and the Afghan response, 1979-1982 |date=1995 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=0520085914 |pages=89–90 |language=English}}{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=86w4DgAAQBAJ&dq=1975+laghman+uprising&pg=PT84 |title=The Wars of Afghanistan Messianic Terrorism, Tribal Conflicts, and the Failures of Great Powers |date=2013 |publisher=PublicAffairs |isbn=9781610394123 |page=40 |language=English |format=ebook}}
After this failure, a "profound and long-lasting schism" within the Islamist movement began to emerge. The Islamic Society split between supporters of the more moderate forces around Massoud and Rabbani, who led the Jamiat-i Islami, and more radical Islamist elements surrounding Hekmatyar, who founded the Hezb-i Islami. The conflict reached such a point that Hekmatyar reportedly tried to kill Massoud, then 22 years old.{{cite book |last=Marcela Grad |title=Massoud: An Intimate Portrait of the Legendary Afghan Leader |publisher=Webster University Press |year=2009 |page=310}}{{ISBN|9780982161500}}
The 1975 rebellion, though unsuccessful, made Daoud Khan realize that a friendly Pakistan was in his best interests. He started improving relations with Pakistan and made state visits there in 1976 and 1978. During the 1978 visit, he agreed to stop supporting anti-Pakistan militants and to expel any remaining militants in Afghanistan.