Rubuta ci gaba ga wannan sakin layi - Kwaminisanci a karkashin jagorancin Nur Muhammad Taraki sun kwace mulki a Afghanistan
a ranar 27 ga Afrilu, 1978. Sabuwar mulkin - wanda aka raba tsakanin Taraki ta tsattsauran ra'ayi Khalq bangare da kuma mafi moderate Parcham - sanya hannu kan wata yarjejeniya ta abota da Tarayyar Soviet a watan Disamba na wannan shekarar. Kokarin Taraki na inganta ilimin duniya da sake rarraba ƙasa ya kasance tare da kashe-kashen jama'a (gami da shugabannin addinai masu ra'ayin mazan jiya da yawa) 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. Amin an dauke shi a matsayin "m psychopath" da kasashen waje masu sa ido; har ma da Soviets sun damu da zaluncin 'yan gurguzu na Afghanistan, kuma suna zargin Amin da kasancewa wakili ne na Hukumar Leken Asiri ta Amurka (CIA), kodayake ba haka lamarin yake ba. 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.