Following the bilateral treaty of friendship between…

Following the bilateral treaty of friendship between Afghanistan and the USSR, the Soviet military assistance program escalates significantly.

On January 28, 1979, the first serious military uprisings begin against the government in eastern parts of the country.

The Taraki regime's survival is increasingly dependent upon Soviet military equipment and advisers as the insurgency spreads and the Afghan army begins to collapse.

On February 14, terrorists take US Ambassador to Afghanistan Adolph Dubs hostage in Kabul.

Afghan forces rush the building in which he was being held and he is slain.

On March 27, Foreign Minister Hafizullah Amin is named Premier Minister of Afghanistan, although Taraki retains his posts as president of the Revolutionary Council and secretary general of the PDPA.

The expanding revolts in the countryside, however, continue, and the Afghan Army collapses.

The Amin regime asks for and receives additional Soviet military aid.

On April 30, Taraki declares that Pakistani President Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq is "involved" with attacks on border positions in eastern Afghanistan.

On September 15, Kabul Radio reports that Interior Minister Aslam Watanjar and Frontier Affairs Minister Sherjan Mazdouryar have been removed from their posts.

It is reported that gunfire and explosions had occurred in Kabul following the announcement of the cabinet dismissals.

The following day, Radio Kabul reports that President Taraki has asked to be relieved of his government positions because of "bad health and nervous weakness." In fact, Taraki, who objected to the purge of the Afghan Cabinet, had been killed on September 14 in a confrontation between his supporters and those of Amin.
These intramural Communist quarrels both embarrass the Soviets and threaten to further destabilize the Afghan regime in the face of growing Muslim resistance.

On October 9, Kabul Radio announces that Taraki had died.

President Amin publishes a list of 12,000 killed by the Taraki regime.
By now, relations between Afghanistan and the Soviet Union are tense in the face of Amin's refusal of Soviet advice on ways to stabilize and consolidate his government.

The Soviets build up their military strength across the border and hint to American diplomats that they might feel obliged to intervene.

Amin then attempts to broaden his internal base of support and to again interest Pakistan and the United States in Afghan security.

Over the next two months, instability plagues Amin's regime as he moves against perceived enemies in the PDPA.

By December, party morale is crumbling and the insurgency is growing.

The Soviet Union, concerned about the unsteady Communist rule in Afghanistan and faced with a deteriorating security situation, steps in with the full force of the Red Army.

On the night of December 24, 1979, large numbers of Soviet airborne forces, joining thousands of Soviet troops already on the ground, begin to land in Kabul under the pretext of a field exercise.

On December 25, the Soviet army begins its occupation of Afghanistan with some 30,000 troops.

On December 26, a US government representative states that in the past 24 hours there has been "a large-scale Soviet airlift" to Kabul, raising Soviet military involvement in Afghanistan to "a new threshold." On December 27, a coup d'état leads to the murder of Amin and many of his followers.

The Soviets, having brought into the country Babrak Karmal, the exiled former deputy prime minister and leader of the Parcham faction, install him as prime minister, president of the Revolutionary Council, and secretary general of the PDPA.