The Communist (Maoist) Party of Afghanistan ( fa, حزب كمونيست (مائوئيست) افغانستان, ''Hezb-e Komunist (Ma'uist) Afghanistan''), previously known as the Communist Party of Afghanistan, is an underground

communist party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of '' The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engel ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...

oriented around

Marxism–Leninism–Maoism Marxism–Leninism–Maoism (MLM) is a political philosophy that synthesizes and builds upon Marxism–Leninism and Maoism. Its proponents refer to Marxism–Leninism–Maoism as Maoism and Maoism as Mao Zedong Thought (MZT) or Marxism–Lenin ...

(MLM). The party was founded in 2004 through the merger of five MLM parties. It was a member of the

Revolutionary Internationalist Movement The Revolutionary Internationalist Movement (RIM) was an international communist organization founded in France in March 1984 by 17 various Maoist organisations around the world. It sought to "struggle for the formation of a Communist Internationa ...

(RIM). During the U.S.-led occupation of Afghanistan from 2001 to 2021, the party's stated goal was to start a

people's war People's war (Chinese: 人民战争), also called protracted people's war, is a Maoist military strategy. First developed by the Chinese communist revolutionary leader Mao Zedong (1893–1976), the basic concept behind people's war is to main ...

in order to expel foreign forces from Afghanistan, with the ultimate goal of establishing a New Democratic society and socialism in the country. After the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces from Afghanistan and the establishment of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan by the

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...

in mid-2021, the party changed its primary goal to overthrowing the Taliban's government.

History

The first communist organization in Afghanistan,

Progressive Youth Organization Progressive Youth Organization ( fa, سازمانی جوانانی مترقی, ''Sazman-e Javanan-e Mutarraqi'') was an anti-revisionist Marxist–Leninist organization in Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanis ...

(PYO) was formed in 1965. There were daily demonstrations, and street fighting between students, workers, and social justice activists and police and armed forces of

King Zahir Shah Mohammed Zahir Shah ( Pashto/ Dari: , 15 October 1914 – 23 July 2007) was the last king of Afghanistan, reigning from 8 November 1933 until he was deposed on 17 July 1973. Serving for 40 years, Zahir was the longest-serving ruler of Afghanista ...

. These struggles led to the formation of the PYO. A few circles of intellectuals and political activists came together to form the first communist organization to work for the goal of revolution in Afghanistan.

Akram Yari Akram Yari ( prs, اکرم یاری) was a Maoist political organizer in Afghanistan. He was the leader and founder of the Progressive Youth Organization (PYO), a Marxist–Leninist organization which was formed on October 6, 1965. Early year ...

, a Maoist, was the leader of one these circles, who played a prominent role in the formation of PYO. PYO remained an underground organization. The PYO leaders published a magazine called ''Sholaye Jawid''. ''Sholaye Jawid'' claimed to be a new-democratic journal, which was widely and openly circulated. After publishing 11 issues, Sholaye Jawid was seized by government and its publication banned. The government of the time used law enforcement and Islamic fundamentalists against ''Sholaye Jawid'' supporters. These government tactics led to physical confrontation between those who supported the Maoists and those who were against the Maoists, that resulted to the death of a prominent Maoist student leader

Saydal Sokhandan Saydal Sokhandan was an Afghan poet, a Maoist activist, and a student leader. He was studying at the Kabul University in the early-1970s. He organized students from Progressive Youth Organization in the university. PYO is considered the first rev ...

, who was assassinated by

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar Gulbuddin Hekmatyar ( ps, ګلب الدين حكمتيار; born 1 August 1949) is an Afghan politician, former mujahideen leader and drug trafficker. He is the founder and current leader of the Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin political party, so calle ...

on the

Kabul University Kabul University (KU; prs, دانشگاه کابل, translit= Dāneshgāh-e-Kābul; ps, د کابل پوهنتون, translit=Da Kābul Pohantūn) is one of the major and oldest institutions of higher education in Afghanistan. It is in the 3rd ...

campus. Gulbadin Hekmatyar later became the leader of the Islamic Party of Afghanistan, who has been a key ally of the United States in the past. When the

People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan The People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), ''Hezb-e dimūkrātĩk-e khalq-e Afghānistān'' was a Marxist–Leninist political party in Afghanistan established on 1 January 1965. Four members of the party won seats in the 1965 Afgh ...

(PDPA) came to power in a military coup in 1978, the PDPA regime declared their number one enemy to be the PYO-led Maoist movement. All people belonging to the Maoist movement were arrested and killed indiscriminately. Thousands of Maoists and their allies were killed. The leaderless remnants of the Maoist movement formed several organizations to fight the PDPA regime and resist the

Soviet invasion of Afghanistan The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

. During this period, some communist groups became more closely aligned with Islamic

mujahideen ''Mujahideen'', or ''Mujahidin'' ( ar, مُجَاهِدِين, mujāhidīn), is the plural form of ''mujahid'' ( ar, مجاهد, mujāhid, strugglers or strivers or justice, right conduct, Godly rule, etc. doers of jihād), an Arabic term t ...

groups of a type they had previously opposed. The hardline Maoist organisations detached themselves from those who cooperated with the mujahideen, and in the late 1980s these groups formed the

Revolutionary Communist Cell of Afghanistan A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective, to refer to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor. ...

(RCCA). The RCCA along with others formed the

Revolutionary Communist Organization of Afghanistan A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective, to refer to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor. ...

(RCOA), which in 1991 proclaimed the establishment of the Communist Party of Afghanistan (CPA). The CPA renewed publication of ''Sholaye Jawid'', stating their intent to follow in the footsteps of the PYO and its founder

. Following the

2001 invasion of Afghanistan In late 2001, the United States and its close allies invaded Afghanistan and toppled the Taliban government. The invasion's aims were to dismantle al-Qaeda, which had executed the September 11 attacks, and to deny it a safe base of operati ...

, the CPA called on the Maoist organizations to unite in a single, united Maoist party. For that purpose the CPA with four other Maoist organizations formed the

Unity Committee of Marxist-Leninist-Maoist Movement of Afghanistan Unity may refer to: Buildings * Unity Building, Oregon, Illinois, US; a historic building * Unity Building (Chicago), Illinois, US; a skyscraper * Unity Buildings, Liverpool, UK; two buildings in England * Unity Chapel, Wyoming, Wisconsin, US; a ...

. The Unity Committee after three years of ideological and political struggle went for the Unity Congress of the Communist (MLM) Movement. The Unity Congress was concluded on 1 May 2004 and the Communist (Maoist) Party of Afghanistan was formed.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Communist (Maoist) Party Of Afghanistan 2004 establishments in Afghanistan Communist militant groups Communist parties in Afghanistan Banned communist parties Maoist parties Clandestine groups Political parties established in 2004 Rebel groups in Afghanistan Paramilitary organisations based in Afghanistan Revolutionary Internationalist Movement Maoist organisations in Afghanistan