Revolutionary Council (Afghanistan) purge of the government. In June 1981 the Revolutionary Council with the Central Committee was again expanded, with now including fifteen more members. At this meeting Nur was appointed President of the Council and Sultan Ali Keshtmand became the new Prime Minister of Afghanistan. In November 1986, Karmal resigned his post as President of the Council and left the new post open to former KHAD leader Mohammad Najibullah. Before Najibullah rose to power Sultan Ali Keshtmand was acting president of Afghanistan and the council. Under Najibullah's sought a ceasefire between Mujahideen and government forces, he called this process National Reconciliation.
Babrak Karmal too communist, and believed that its leadership should have hidden its Marxist orientation instead of promoting it. According to the official version of events, the majority of the PDPA Central Committee rejected Karmal's criticism. The vote was a close one, and it is reported that Taraki expanded the Central Committee to win the vote; this plan resulted in eight of the new members becoming politically unaligned with and one switching to the Parchamite side. Karmal and half the PDPA Central Committee left the PDPA to establish a Parchamite-led PDPA. Officially the split was caused by ideological differences, but the party