The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

“Decree Number Five seems to declare the final resolution of the fate of themembers of the former royal family, who now live in Italy. Twenty-three members of thisfamily, including King Zahir Shah, former Queen Umaira, Crown Prince Ahmad Shah, andmany other family members, including the King’s son-in-law, former Commander of theKabul Garrison Abdul Wali, are declared traitors and stripped of their Afghan citizenship.Was there any need to issue this decree, or is it to disguise fear and lies? Not one memberof the royal family had intended to return to Afghanistan and to fight the Khalqi regime.They are faring well in Europe, but if any one of them wished to fight against the Khalqis,they would have started it without giving Taraki’s decree any consideration. As, forexample, it happened in the spring of 1929, when Nadir Khan and his brothers ShahMahmoud Khan and Marshal Shah Abdul Wali Ghazi gathered an army from Pashtun tribesand marched on Kabul to overthrow the bandit regime of Bacha Saqao.”Dvoryankov decided not to argue. This is why Starostin suggested that they look atDecree Number Six, which had been published in July, in detail. According to that decree,Afghan peasants were freed from repaying their debts to landlords and Jewishmoneylenders * . Peasants and laborers who didn’t own land were fully freed from repayingdebts and loans, regardless of their terms. Peasants who owned little land or no land andwho owed money to private individuals until 1974 received similar privileges.Decree Number Six was accompanied by a stipulation that established committeestasked with resolving peasant problems on the regional, provincial, and local levels. Theregional committees were to play an important role in the realization of that task. Thechairman of the committee would be appointed by the new authorities. He would be joined* According to Islam, Muslims are not allowed to engage in money-lending. This is why moneylenders inAfghanistan were exclusively Jewish.279