Editing Hafizullah Amin (section)

==Early Career and Political Involvement==
Upon returning to Afghanistan, Amin embarked on a career in education, leveraging his credentials to influence young minds. He taught at Kabul University and served as vice-principal and later principal of the prestigious Avesina High School, as well as director of the Ibn Sina Kabul Lycee and the higher teachers’ college. During this period, he cultivated a reputation as a Pashtun nationalist, advocating for social reform and modernization.

Amin’s political engagement deepened in the early 1960s. He joined the Wikh-e Zalmayan (“Awakened Youth”), a reform-minded brotherhood, before becoming a member of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) in 1963, an organization co-founded by Nur Muhammad Taraki and Babrak Karmal. The PDPA split into two factions in 1967: the Khalq (“Masses”), led by Taraki and Amin, and the Parcham (“Banner”), led by Karmal. Amin aligned with the Khalq faction, which emphasized policies and appealed to the working class and rural Pashtuns.

Amin’s political rise was marked by his organizational skills and charisma. In 1965, he ran for parliament but lost; however, in 1969, he became the only Khalqist elected to the lower house, using the platform to criticize the monarchy and advocate for class struggle against feudalism and imperialism. His fiery rhetoric and Pashtun nationalist stance earned him both supporters and detractors, with some within the PDPA accusing him of “fascist traits” for his uncompromising approach.