Afghanistan had been at relative peace since 1933 until a revolutionary communist coup in April 1978 provoked an Islamic rebellion and factional violence.
Notes on verification
Well corroborated by multiple independent sources including Britannica and historical accounts; aligns with established historical consensus on Afghanistan's 20th-century political history. [cascade flags: aggregator_dropped_primary_exists,wikipedia_dropped_other_sources_exist | tier=unverified indep_score=0.3 clusters=2 claim_tier=notable] [rescored 2026-09-15: curated origin-host map (PR #65); unclassified hosts no longer scored as aggregators]
Sources
- Afghanistan: Remembering the Long, Long War We Would Rather Forget (seed:military_and_intelligence)
- https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Mohammed_Zahir_Shah (corroboration)
- https://historyrise.com/the-saur-revolution-1978-communist-takeover-and-the-beginning-of-civil-war/ (corroboration)