1979 Herat uprising

1979 Herat uprising
Part of the War in Afghanistan
Afghan diorama depicting the insurgency in Herat Military Museum.
Date 15–20 March, 1979 Location Herat Province, Democratic Republic of Afghanistan Result Uprising put down Soviet Union steps up military assistance to Afghan government
Belligerents
Democratic Republic of Afghanistan Afghan Army	Army mutineers Rebels
Commanders and leaders
Nur Muhammad Taraki Hafizullah Amin Maj. Gen. Sayyed Mukharam	Non-organised leadership Military leadership Sardar Jagran Rasul Baloch Ismail Khan Alauddin Khan Civilian leadership Gul Mohammad Kamar-i Dozd Shir Aga Shongar
Units involved
4th Armoured Brigade 15th Armoured Brigade	17th Division
Strength
300+
Casualties and losses
3,000–25,000 dead

Democratic Republic of Afghanistan

Non-organised leadership Military leadership

Civilian leadership

The 1979 Herat uprising was an insurrection that took place in and around the town of Herat, Afghanistan in March 1979. It included both a popular uprising and a mutiny of Afghan army troops against the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA). The communist regime at first appealed to its Soviet allies for help, but the Soviet leadership declined to intervene. After the insurgents seized and held the city for about a week, the regime was able to retake it with its own forces, and the subsequent aerial bombardment and recapture of Herat left up to 25,000 of its inhabitants dead.

The events in Herat took place in the wider context of unrest against the socialist reforms implemented by the DRA, of which the principal was agrarian reform. The reforms, besides contradicting tradition and the principles of Islam, in many cases worsened the situation of the rural poor they were supposed to reward. Starting in May 1978 in Nuristan, spontaneous uprisings took place throughout Afghanistan against the DRA and its policies.

The agrarian reform had taken place near Herat without opposition, as there was little solidarity between the rural farmers, and the big landowners who mostly lived in the city. In this case the repression carried out by the Khalq against religious dignitaries, including Pir and Ulema, and traditional elites, is cited as a critical factor, as well as the government's literacy campaign, which had become controversial due in particular to the inclusion of communist propaganda in the literacy courses, as well as the practice of mixed-gender classes.

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