 The Afghan leadership believed the reform would meet with popular approval among the rural population while weakening the power of the bourgeoisie.The reform was declared complete in mid-1979 and the government proclaimed that 665,000 hectares (approximately 1,632,500 acres) had been redistributed.The government also declared that only 40,000 families, or 4 percent of the population, had been negatively affected by the land reform.