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Mohammad Daoud, the King’s cousin and a former Prime Minister.

The coup succeeded thanks to help from the People’s Democratic Party (or PDP).

The U.S. immediately pressured Daoud’s government.

They offering $2 billion in aid if Afghanistan would become a U.S. client state, like Pakistan, Turkey and Iran.

Daoud soon started arresting PDP activists, purging them from the civil service and executing leftists.

So, in 1978, the PDP led a coup overthrowing Daoud and pledging to drag Afghanistan out of feudalism.