[4] Tanai was apparently also supported by those important Khalqists who remained in the Politburo, Assadullah Sarwari and Sayed Mohammad Gulabzoy, respectively their country's envoys to Aden and Moscow.

[6][7] Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's plea to the other six party leaders to aid Tanai and Hekmatyar was rebuked as a disgrace to the jihad.

Most of the factions viewed General Tanai as an opportunistic war criminal and hardline communist who was responsible for carpet-bombings in portions of the major western city of Herat in March 1979.

The coup attempt was partially financed by Osama bin Laden, who bribed Afghan Armed Forces officers into deserting.

Jets flown by Afghan Air Force pilots loyal to Tanai flew in Kabul to bomb the targets, but most were repelled by the Army.

There was street fighting near the palace as well,[9] with the WAD-led Gard-e-Khas paramilitary force additionally playing an important role involved in suppressing the coup.

The President gathered the support of important Parchamite militias, including the elite Special Guard to defuse the plot.

[12] In the afternoon of March 7, Tanai escaped to Bagram Air Base and fled by helicopter to Peshawar, Pakistan where he was greeted and publicly accepted as an ally by Hekmatyar.