Editing Ahmad Shah Massoud (section)

===Resistance against the PDPA (1978)===
{{Main|Saur Revolution}}
The government of [[Mohammed Daoud Khan]] tried to scale back the communist [[People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan]]'s influence, dismissing PDPA members from their government posts, appointing conservatives to replace them, and finally dissolved the PDPA, with the arrests of senior party members.<ref name="Neamatollah Nojumi2">{{cite book |last=Neamatollah Nojumi |title=The Rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan: Mass Mobilization, Civil War, and the Future of the Region |publisher=Palgrave, New York |edition=2002 1st}}</ref><ref name="Neamatollah Nojumi (2)2">{{Cite book |last=Neamatollah Nojumi |title=The Rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan: Mass Mobilization, Civil War, and the Future of the Region |publisher=Palgrave, New York |edition=2002 1st |page=39}}</ref> On April 27, 1978, the [[People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan|PDPA]] and military units loyal to it killed [[Mohammed Daoud Khan|Daoud Khan]], his immediate family, and bodyguards in a violent coup, and seized control of the capital [[Kabul]] declaring the new [[Democratic Republic of Afghanistan]] ([[Democratic Republic of Afghanistan|DRA]]).<ref name="Neamatollah Nojumi (3)2">{{Cite book |last=Neamatollah Nojumi |title=The Rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan: Mass Mobilization, Civil War, and the Future of the Region |publisher=Palgrave, New York |edition=2002 1st |page=41}}</ref> The new communist government, led by a revolutionary council, did not enjoy the support of the masses.<ref name="Neamatollah Nojumi (4)2">{{Cite book |last=Neamatollah Nojumi |title=The Rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan: Mass Mobilization, Civil War, and the Future of the Region |publisher=Palgrave, New York |edition=2002 1st |page=42}}</ref> It implemented a doctrine hostile to political dissent, whether inside or outside the party.<ref name="Neamatollah Nojumi (4)2" /> The [[People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan|PDPA]] started reforms along [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxist–Leninist]] and Soviet lines. The reforms and the PDPA's affinity to the Soviet Union were met with strong resistance by the population, especially as the government attempted to enforce its Marxist policies by arresting or executing those who resisted. Between 50,000 and 100,000 people were estimated to have been arrested and killed by communist troops in the countryside alone.<ref name="Oliver Roy2">{{Cite book |last=Oliver Roy |title=Islam and Resistance in Afghanistan |publisher=Cambridge University Press |edition=1990 |page=95}}</ref> Due to the repression, large parts of the country, especially the rural areas, organized into open revolt against the PDPA government.<ref name="Oliver Roy (2)2">{{Cite book |last=Oliver Roy |title=Islam and Resistance in Afghanistan |publisher=Cambridge University Press |edition=1990}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=October 2012}} By spring 1979, unrest had reached 24 out of 28 Afghan provinces, including major urban areas. Over half of the Afghan army either deserted or joined the insurrection.{{Citation needed|date=June 2022}}

With religious elders declaring a [[jihad]] against the government, in May 1979 Massoud prepared in [[Peshawar]] to oppose the new communist government in [[Panjshir Province|Panjshir]]. Along with twenty-four of his friends, Massoud took a bus to [[Bajaur District|Bajaur]] and, with arms-smuggling [[Pashtuns|Pashtun]] tribesmen, marched on foot into the [[Panjshir Valley]]. Massoud's group seized control over a number of government outposts in the [[Panjshir Valley|Valley]], entered the [[Shomali Plain]] to capture [[Gulbahar, Afghanistan|Gulbahar]], and cut off the [[Salang Tunnel|Salang Highway]], the main supply route between [[Kabul]] and the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] border raising alarm in both [[Kabul]] and [[Moscow]] which brought upon Massoud and his group a government counterattack.<ref name=":02" /><ref name="Akbarzadeh & Yasmeen3"/>

Believing that an uprising against the Soviet-backed communists would be supported by the people, Massoud, on July 6, 1979, started an insurrection in the Panjshir, which initially failed. Massoud decided to avoid conventional confrontation with the larger government forces and to wage a [[Guerrilla warfare|guerrilla war]].<ref name=":02" /><ref>{{cite book |last=Isby |first=David |url=https://archive.org/details/warindistantcoun0000isby/page/107 |title=War in a distant country, Afghanistan: invasion and resistance |publisher=Arms and Armour Press |year=1989 |isbn=0-85368-769-2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/warindistantcoun0000isby/page/107 107]}}</ref> He subsequently took full control of Panjshir, pushing out Afghan communist troops.<ref name=":02" /> Oliver Roy writes that in the following period, Massoud's "personal prestige and the efficiency of his military organization persuaded many local commanders to come and learn from him."<ref name="Oliver Roy (3)2">{{Cite book |last=Oliver Roy |title=Islam and Resistance in Afghanistan |publisher=Cambridge University Press |edition=1990 |page=132}}</ref>