1979 Herat uprising The 1979 Herat uprising was an insurrection that took place in and around the town of Herat , Afghanistan in March 1979 . It included both a popular uprising and a mutiny of Afghan army troops against the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan ( DRA ) . The communist regime at first appealed to its Soviet allies for help , but the Soviet leadership prudently declined to intervene . After the insurgents seized and held the city for about a week , the regime was able to retake it with its own forces , and the subsequent aerial bombardment and recapture of Herat left up to 25 , 000 of its inhabitants dead . Uprising . The events in Herat took place in the wider context of unrest against the socialist reforms implemented by the DRA , of which the principal was agrarian reform . The reforms , besides contradicting tradition and the principles of Islam , in many cases worsened the situation of the rural poor they were supposed to reward . Starting in May 1978 in Nuristan , spontaneous uprisings took place throughout Afghanistan against the DRA and its policies . The agrarian reform had taken place near Herat without opposition , as there was little solidarity between the rural farmers , and the big landowners who mostly lived in the city . In this case the repression carried out by the Khalq against religious dignitaries , including Pir and Ulema , and traditional elites , is cited as a critical factor , as well as the government ' s literacy campaign , which had become controversial due in particular to the inclusion of communist propaganda in the literacy courses , as well as the practice of mixed - gender classes . In Herat Province isolated revolts had already taken place , but the uprising began in earnest on March 15 , 1979 . In the surrounding districts insurgents gathered around mosques , and following the preaching of their mullah s , marched on the city , where they were joined by many townsmen in attacking government buildings , and symbols of communism . The 17th Division of the Afghan army was detailed by the regime to put down the rebellion , but this proved a mistake , as there were few Khalqis in that particular unit and instead it mutinied and joined the uprising . A small group of soldiers , officials and Khalq activists withdrew into the city ' s Blue Mosque . The insurgents held Herat for about a week , during which the city underwent a period of anarchy . Rioters roamed the streets , chanting " Allahu Akbar " , searching for government supporters and " sarluchi " ( those with uncovered heads ) , indicating a lack of piety ; communist officials , in particular teachers , were massacred . The bazaar was looted , and several Soviet advisers to the DRA were killed , though other foreigners were spared . The exact number of Soviets killed during the events is uncertain : certain sources cite high figures of up to 200 but according to official Soviet sources , there were only two victims . Former DRA sources indicate that 3 or 4 Soviets were killed , possibly with their families . According to certain sources , the bodies of the dead advisers were paraded around the city by the rebels , but this is denied by other sources . The rebellion did not have a unified leadership : on the military side , the mutineers were led by a group of officers under Sardar Jagran and Rasul Baloch which also included Ismail Khan and Alauddin Khan , who were associated with the Jamiat - e Islami party . Ismail Khan , who later became Amir of Jamiat - e Islami forces in Herat Province and a major Mujahideen commander , did not play a leading role in the revolt , as was later claimed by his supporters . Among the civilian insurgents , the situation was more confused , though some local figures played a significant role : Gul Mohammad , a Barakzai Pashtun from Gozargah , and Kamar - i Dozd and Shir Aga Shongar , two former convicts , led large groups of insurgents . The rebellion overran all the districts around Herat , except Obeh and Pashtun Zarghun where government command posts held out , and spread a few days later to Badghis Province , and then on to other neighbouring provinces . After the initial shock of losing a major city and the defection of a whole division , the DRA reacted ruthlessly . The 4th and 15th armoured brigade s were sent from Pul - e - Charki , but due to the distance they had to travel , Hafizullah Amin ordered Major - General Sayyed Mukharam , commander of the Kandahar garrison to send an armoured force that could reach Herat faster . Mukharam ' s column of 30 tanks and 300 men arrived at Herat on March 20 , waving green flags and Qurans , which induced the insurgents to believe that rebellion had spread to the whole country . The Khalq troops were thus allowed to pass , and recapture the city . The government forces then subjected Herat to an aerial bombardment with Ilyushin Il - 28 bombers flying from Shindand Air Base , during which the city was heavily damaged , and thousands of Heratis were killed , though the exact death toll is uncertain : the lowest estimate runs at 3 , 000 to 4 , 000 dead , while the higher - case estimate reaches 25 , 000 dead . In 1992 , a mass grave was uncovered , containing 2 , 000 bodies of those killed by the DRA repression . Consequences . The events in Herat caused the Soviet leadership to realize that their Afghan allies were in crisis . Repeated demands from Nur Muhammad Taraki , president of the DRA , for Soviet military assistance in quelling the revolt , prompted a series of secret Politburo meetings . One such meeting took place on March 17 , during which Foreign Minister Gromyko acknowledged that the DRA faced " thousands " of insurgents , but , in accordance with the Brezhnev Doctrine , asserted the " fundamental proposition " that " under no circumstances may we lose Afghanistan " . Another Politburo member , Alexei Kosygin , expressed distrust of the DRA leadership , stating that " Amin and Taraki alike are concealing the true state of affairs to us " . In a telephone conversation with Kosygin the following day , Taraki complained that he could no longer rely on the Afghan armed forces , even those trained in the Soviet Union , and his pleas for help became even more frantic : he requested that Soviet soldiers from the Central Asia n Soviet republics ( who belong of the same ethnic groups as the population of Afghanistan ) could be smuggled into Afghanistan in Afghan garb . However these requests were to no avail , and the Politburo initially moved towards a policy of non - intervention , which was later validated by Brezhnev . When Taraki visited Moscow on March 20 , Kosygin explained to him the U . S . S . R . ' s policy regarding Afghanistan : However , the Soviets did increase their military assistance in the following months by sending large quantities of equipment , including T - 62 tanks , MiG - 21 fighters and Mi - 24 attack helicopters , along with extra advisers to service them . Despite this , the situation of the Afghan armed forces continued to deteriorate , with mutinies occurring in Jalalabad , Asmar , Ghazni , Nahrin , and in August 1979 , in the Bala Hissar fortress in Kabul . Though these were all put down , the weakness of the military contributed significantly to the spread of the insurgency . On December 24 , 1979 , under Leonid Brezhnev , the Soviet Union deployed the 40th Army , commencing the start of the Soviet War in Afghanistan . Interpretations . The DRA attempted to present the uprising as having been organised by Iran . Relations between Khomeini ' s Iran and the socialist DRA were tense , and the Khalq leadership suspected collusion between the Iranian Ayatollah s and the Shiite communities of Herat , which made up half of the city ' s population . In a propaganda move , the regime took advantage of the return of 4 , 000 Afghan labourers from Iran , to claim that Herat had been infiltrated by Iranians dressed as Afghans . As a manifestation of the social and political forces at work in Afghanistan , the Herat uprising was the subject of academic research , which has offered contradictory explanations for it . Giorgio Vercellin presented the uprising as an anti - Pashtun movement , driven by the resentment of Persian - speaking communities against Pashtun settlers . This version is rejected both by Olivier Roy and by Gilles Dorronsoro , the latter pointing out that certain figures of the uprising such as Gul Muhammad , were ethnic Pashtuns , and that the revolt took hold equally in Pashtun - inhabited areas . According to Olivier Roy , the Herat rebellion was an example of an organized rebellion , as opposed to the spontaneous anti - government revolts which occurred elsewhere in the country . Roy considers that the events in Herat bear the hallmark of strategy developed by Burhanuddin Rabbani , the leader of the Islamist party Jamiat - e Islami , consisting of a military coup by supporters infiltrated in the army , supported by a popular uprising . To support this thesis , Roy points to the actions of Jamiat agents in the military ( Ismail Khan and Alauddin Khan ) , and to links between Jamiat and the mawlawi who preached to the insurgents . Dorronsoro contested this interpretation , based on the relatively minor role played by Jamiat agents . While Jamiat office in Mashhad had opened communications with officers of the 17th Division several weeks before the events , the actual leaders of the mutiny were not aligned with that party ( according to Dorronsoro , one of the two main ringleaders was a Maoist ) . In addition , the lack of coordination between the military and civilian insurgents , and the generally chaotic and unpredictable nature of the uprising indicate , in his view , that it was spontaneous rather than premeditated .