Parcham

Parcham (Pashto/Dari: پرچم, ) was the more moderate socialist faction of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) led by Afghan communist politician Babrak Karmal. It was later turned into the Watan (Homeland) Party of Afghanistan with a more Islamic outlook under Mohammed Najibullah. The faction was formed directly after the founding of the Party in 1965 following ideological splits in the PDPA. While the Parchamites stressed the need for swift social-economic reforms to achieve revolution, this was in direct contrast with their PDPA rivals, the Khalqists, who sought an immediate and violent overthrow of the government. Karmal believed that Afghanistan was not developed enough for a Leninist revolutionary approach and instead sought a patriotic and anti-imperialist united front to take the next steps toward revolution.

== History == In 1965, Babrak Karmal and Nur Muhammad Taraki established the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan. By 1967, the party split into different sects, the largest and most powerful of which were Parcham and Khalq. Despite spawning from the same founding party, they differed in both their ideologies and their bases. While the Khalqists were primarily rural Pashtuns, the Parchamites were supported by middle-class residents of urban city centers, predominantly ethnic Tajiks.