National Revolutionary Party (

Pashto Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani (). Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official langua ...

: حزب انقلاب ملی ''Hezb Enqilab Mile'') was a political party in the Republic of Afghanistan. The party was founded in 1974 by President

Mohammed Daoud Khan Mohammed Daoud Khan ( ps, ), also romanized as Daud Khan or Dawood Khan (18 July 1909 – 28 April 1978), was an Afghan politician and general who served as prime minister of Afghanistan from 1953 to 1963 and, as leader of the 1973 Afghan cou ...

, who had seized control of Afghanistan from his first cousin, King

Mohammed 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 Afghanistan ...

, in the bloodless 1973 coup d'état. The party was formed in an attempt by Daoud to garner support and grassroots backing for his republican regime. Daoud also intended the party to undermine support in Afghanistan for 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 ...

, who had actually helped him come to power in 1973. To this end, the party sought to be an umbrella organization for all of the factions of the progressive movement in Afghanistan. In order to help the party in its attempt to garner support, all other political parties were banned. The party was run by a central committee which comprised Major General

Ghulam Haidar Rasuli Major General Ghulam Haidar Rasuli (1919 – 28 April 1978) was born in Rostaq, Takhar Province, Afghanistan and a supporter of Mohammed Daoud Khan, who came out of retirement after the 1973 coup which removed King Zahir Shah and put Daoud in po ...

, Defense Minister Sayyid Abd Ullah, Finance Minister Abd Ul Majid, and Professor Abd Ul Quyyum. The party did not survive the

Saur Revolution The Saur Revolution or Sowr Revolution ( ps, د ثور انقلاب; prs, إنقلاب ثور), also known as the April Revolution or the April Coup, was staged on 27–28 April 1978 (, ) by the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) ...

in April 1978, which saw the overthrow and death of Daoud and his family, and the rise to power of the communist

References

Banned political parties Defunct political parties in Afghanistan Nationalist parties in Afghanistan Parties of one-party systems Pashtun nationalism Republican parties Secularism in Afghanistan Political parties in Afghanistan {{Afghanistan-party-stub