The following information was given to the DIRB by an Afghanistan specialist at Boston University, contacted by telephone on 5 May 1997.

The Afghan Mellat experienced an internal split about the year 1980. At that time, some members went into exile in Pakistan and some stayed in Afghanistan. Also at that time, some members began to refer to the party as the Social Democratic Party. Muhammad Amin Wakman was among those who went to Pakistan. After his departure, there were rhetorical attacks on Wakman in the official Afghan media, including the accusation that he was a CIA agent. Some representatives of the Afghan Mellat denied that he had ever been a member of the party.

According to Barnett R. Rubin, Muhammad Amin Wakman was the leader of the Afghan Mellat ("Millat") during the period known as "New Democracy," 1964 to 1973 (Rubin 1995, 72, 82).

According to Political Parties of Asia and the Pacific, the "Afghan Social Democrat Party" (see above) was founded in 1966 by Ghulam Muhammad Farhad, who became its first chairman. In 1973 Fakir Muhammad Bakhtiar became secretary-general, and Bakhtiar was replaced in that post in 1979 by Muhammad Amin Wakman (1985, 14). Rosanne Klass, in an appendix to a book she edited which was published in 1987, wrote that Muhammad Amin Wakman "is now chairman and most visible figure" of the Afghan Mellat party (452).

From 15 to 17 September 1992, Amin Wakman participated in the XIX Congress of the Socialist International in Berlin as head of the delegation from Afghanistan (Socialist International, 8 May 1997). On 23 September 1992, Austrian radio featured an interview with Amin Wakman, who was presented as a representative of the Social Democratic Party of Afghanistan (Vienna Oesterreich Eins Radio, 23 Sept. 1992).

The DIRB has been told by an Afghanistan specialist at Ohio State University, contacted by telephone on 7 May 1997, that Muhammad Amin Wakman is now working for the Voice of America in Washington, DC. A United States Information Agency (USIA) internal telephone directory, accessed through the Internet, lists a telephone number for an "M. Amin Wakman." [Accessed on 9 May 1997].

Please see Response to Information Request AFG24838.E of 9 August 1996 and attachments, which state that the Afghan Social Democratic Party was headed in 1995 by "Anwar Ahady" or "Anwarul Ahady," a professor in a US university.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please see below a list of additional sources consulted in preparing this Information Response.

Klass, Rosanne. 1987. "Pre-1978 Afghan Political Organizations and their Present Status." Afghanistan: The Great Game Revisited. Edited by Klass. New York: Freedom House.

Political Parties of Asia and the Pacific: Afghanistan-Korea (ROK). 1985. Edited by Haruhiro Fukui. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press.

Professor of anthropology specializing in Afghanistan, Boston University. 5 May 1997. Telephone interview.

Professor of political science specializing in Afghanistan, Ohio State University, Cleveland. 7 May 1997. Telephone interview.

Rubin, Barnett R. 1995. The Fragmentation of Afghanistan: State Formation and Collapse in the International System. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Socialist International, London. 8 May 1997. Letter faxed to the DIRB.

United States Information Agency (USIA). 9 May 1997. [Internet] .

Vienna Oesterreich Eins Radio [in German]. 23 September 1992. "Afghan Social Democratic Representative Comments." (FBIS-WEU-92-187 25 Sept. 1992, p. 7)

Socialist International, London. 8 May 1997. Letter faxed to the DIRB.

Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS).

Global NewsBank.

Indexed Media Review.

Keesing's Record of World Events.

One oral source consulted did not provide information.