The Democratic Republic of Afghanistan

Abstract

The PDPA coup d’etat took place on a Thursday afternoon, April 27, 1978, when the office workers were off half of the day (in the Muslim calendar, Friday is the end of the week). During the weekend most government civil and military officers do not work, and the line of communication between the government ministries is very slow. The timing of the coup at the start of the weekend holiday had a great impact, as President Dauod was unable to receive adequate support from his well-equipped armed forces.