Wesh Zalmian

Awakened Youth Movement
Founded1947 (1947)
Dissolved1951 (1951)

Wesh Zalmian (Pashto: ويښ زلميان or Awakened Youth) was a reformist youth movement started in 1947 in Kandahar Afghanistan. The movement was focused on a nationalist agenda of modernization.[1] Following a brief period of liberalisation encouraged by Prime Minister Shah Mahmud Khan, it was dissolved in a crackdown in 1951 and 1952. The crackdown has been described as a contributing factor in the radicalisation of many leaders who later established the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan.[2] Noor Mohammad Tarakai stated he was a founder of the movement, and Babrak Karmal and Hafizullah Amin also said they had been involved.

  1. ^ Misdaq, Nabi (2006). Afghanistan: Political Frailty And External Interference. Taylor & Francis, ISBN 9780415702058
  2. ^ Male, Beverly (1982). Revolutionary Afghanistan: A Reappraisal. Croom Helm, ISBN 9780709917168