Former Prime Minister Daoud seized power in a military coup on July 17, 1973 after allegations of corruption and poor economic conditions against the king's government. Daoud put an end to the monarchy, and his time in power was marked by unpopularity as the abolition of the monarchy was not widely approved of in a conservative society. Daoud Khan billed himself as a reformer, but few of his reforms were ever implemented and his rule grew more repressive as the 1970s went on. In 1975, both Pakistan and Saudi Arabia began to support Islamic fundamentalist groups committed to overthrowing the Daoud Khan regime and establishing an Islamist theocracy in its place.