Editing Mohammad Daoud Khan (section)

=== Diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union ===
{{Further|Afghanistan–Russia relations}}
Khan met [[Leonid Brezhnev]] on a state visit to Moscow from 12 to 15 April 1977. He had asked for a private meeting with the Soviet leader to discuss with him the increased pattern of Soviet actions in Afghanistan. In particular, he discussed the intensified Soviet attempt to unite the two factions of the Afghan communist parties, [[Parcham]] and [[Khalq]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Hamid Karzai: President of Afghanistan |last=Wolny |first=Philip |year=2007 |publisher=The Rosen Publishing Group |isbn=978-1-4042-1902-1 |page=8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ENd1WzPTqe8C&pg=PA8 }}</ref> Brezhnev described Afghanistan's non-alignment as important to the USSR and essential to the promotion of peace in Asia, and warned him about the presence of experts from NATO countries stationed in the northern parts of Afghanistan. Daoud bluntly replied:<blockquote>"we will never allow you to dictate to us how to run our country and whom to employ in Afghanistan. How and where we employ the foreign experts will remain the exclusive prerogative of the Afghan state. Afghanistan shall remain poor, if necessary, but free in its acts and decisions"<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ghaus |first=Abdul Samad |url=https://archive.org/details/dli.pahar.3616 |title=The fall of Afghanistan: an insider's account |date=1988 |publisher=Pergamon-Brassey's Intern. Defense Publ |isbn=978-0-08-034701-1 |location=Washington |pages=179}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Pazira |first=Nelofer |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AGVxdbQ-33wC&pg=PA70 |title=A Bed of Red Flowers: In Search of My Afghanistan |publisher=Simon and Schuster |year=2005 |isbn=0-7432-9000-3 |page=70}}</ref> </blockquote>{{quote box
 |quote  = "All of his life experience is evidence that Sardar Mohammad Daoud Khan would not bow to foreigners, regardless of their nationality. Particularly, in his last meeting with [Soviet leader] Leonid Brezhnev, he proved his bravery and patriotism. But KGB deceptions and the games that they played could have benefited from Daoud Khan's influence in the armed forces. So Daoud Khan, indirectly and with total unawareness, could have been manipulated by the KGB."
 |author = [[Sayed Makhdoom Raheen]] in 2003<ref name="auto">{{Cite news|url=https://www.rferl.org/a/1103837.html|title=Afghanistan: History of 1973 Coup Sheds Light on Relations With Pakistan|newspaper=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty|date=9 April 2008 |last1=Synovitz |first1=Ron }}</ref>
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After returning to Afghanistan, he made plans that his government would downscale its relationship with the Soviet Union, and instead forge closer contacts with the West as well as the oil-rich [[Saudi Arabia]] and [[Pahlavi dynasty|Iran]]. Afghanistan signed a co-operative military treaty with [[Egypt]] and by 1977, the Afghan military and police force were being trained by [[Egyptian Armed Forces]]. This angered the [[Soviet Union]] because [[Egypt]] took the same route in 1974 in distancing itself from the Soviet Union.{{citation needed|date=December 2019}}