Rubuta ci gaba don wannan sakin layi - Afghanistan ta kasance ba ta da alaƙa a farkon matakan Yakin Cacar Baki, amma juyin mulkin 1973 ya kawo gwamnatin da ke goyon bayan Yammacin duniya. Shekaru biyar bayan haka, 'yan gurguzu karkashin jagorancin Nur Muhammad Taraki suka kwace mulki
Ka yi haƙuri. Sabuwar mulkin - wanda aka raba tsakanin Taraki ta tsattsauran ra'ayi Khalq bangare da kuma more matsakaici Parcham - sanya hannu kan wata yarjejeniya ta abota da Tarayyar Soviet a watan Disamba 1978. Yunkurin Taraki na inganta ilimin duniya da sake rarraba ƙasa ya kasance tare da kashe-kashen jama'a da zalunci na siyasa wanda ba a taɓa gani ba a tarihin Afghanistan, wanda ya haifar da tawaye daga 'yan tawayen mujahideen. Bayan wani babban tashin hankali a watan Afrilun 1979, abokin hamayyar Khalq Hafizullah Amin ya hambarar da Taraki a watan Satumba. Shugabannin Soviet sun ji tsoron cewa gwamnatin Islama a Afghanistan za ta yi barazana ga ikon Soviet Central Asia, kuma, yayin da hargitsi ya ci gaba, sun tura sojoji 30,000 zuwa iyakar Soviet-Afghan. Carter da Brzezinski duka sun ga Afghanistan a matsayin "tarkon" wanda zai iya kashe albarkatun Soviet a cikin yakin basasa, kuma Amurka ta fara aikawa da taimako ga 'yan tawayen mujahideen a farkon 1979. A watan Disamba, gwamnatin Amin ta rasa iko da yawancin kasar, wanda ya sa Tarayyar Soviet ta mamaye Afghanistan, ta kashe Amin, kuma ta sanya shugaban Parcham Babrak Karmal a matsayin shugaban kasa.