Later in March 1990 Defense Minister and Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces Shahnawaz Tanai tried to seize power in a military coup.
Tanai was apparently also supported by those important Khalqis who remained in the Politburo, Assadullah Sarwary and Mohammad Gulabzoi, respectively their country's envoys to Aden and Moscow, were said to have been intimately connected with the coup and with Gral Tanai.