Mohammad Najibullah

Dr. Mohammad Najibullah نجيب الله
7th President of Afghanistan
In office September 30, 1987 – April 16, 1992
Prime Minister	Sultan Ali Keshtmand Mohammad Hasan Sharq Sultan Ali Keshtmand Fazal Haq Khaliqyar
Preceded by	Haji Mohammad Chamkani
Succeeded by	Abdul Rahim Hatef (Acting)
Personal details
Born	August 6, 1947 Kabul, Afghanistan
Died	September 28, 1996(1996-09-28) (aged 49) Kabul, Afghanistan
Political party	People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan
Religion	Sunni Islam

History of Afghanistan
Timeline
Pre-Islamic period  Bronze age and Proto-Elamite culture in Nimruz area (2300–1800 BC) Bronze age and Indus valley civilization in Mundigak (Kandahar area) (2200–1800 BC) Bronze age and Oxus civilization in northern Afghanistan (2100–1800 BC) Late Bronze age and Iron age and coming of Aryans (1700–700 BC) Median Empire (728–550 BC) Achaemenids (550–330 BC) Seleucids (330–150 BC) Mauryans (305–180 BC) Greco-Bactrians (256–125 BC) Indo-Greeks (180–130 BC) Indo-Scythians (Sakas) (155–80? BC) Indo-Parthians (20 BC–50? AD) Kushans (135 BC–248 AD) Sassanids (230–565) Indo-Sassanids (248–410) Kidarites (320–465) Hephthalites (410–557) Kabul Shahi (565–879)
Islamic conquest  Rashidun Caliphate (642–641) Umayyads (661–750) Abbasids (750–821) Tahirids (821–873) Saffarids (863–900)) Samanids (875–999) Ghaznavids (963–1187) Seljukids (1037–1194) Khwarezmids (1077–1231) Ghorids (1149–1212) Ilkhanate (1258–1353) Kartids (1245–1381) Timurids (1370–1506) Arghun (1479-1522) Mughals (1501–1738) Safavids (1510–1709) Hotaki dynasty (1709–1738) Afsharids (1738–1747)
Modern history  Durrani Empire (1747–1826) Emirate of Afghanistan (1826–1919) Kingdom of Afghanistan (1919–1973) Republic of Afghanistan (1973–1978) Democratic Republic (1978–1992) Islamic State (1992–1996) Islamic Emirate (1996–2001) Islamic Republic (2001–) Afghan Civil War 1979–1989 1989–1992 1992–1996 1996–2001 2001–present
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Mohammad Najibullah Ahmadzai (Pashto: نجيب الله), originally merely Najibullah, (August 6, 1947 – September 28, 1996) was the fourth and last President of the Soviet-backed Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. He is also considered the second President of the Republic of Afghanistan.

Early years

Najibullah was born in August 1947 to the Ahmadzai sub-tribe of the Ghilzai Pashtun tribe. Though born in Kabul, his ancestral village was located between the towns of Said Karam and Gardēz in Paktia Province, this place is known as Mehlan. He was educated at Habibia High School ,St.Joseph's School Baramulla Kashmir and Kabul University, where he graduated with a doctor degree in medicine in 1975.

Political career

In 1965 Najibullah joined the Parcham faction of the Communist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) and in 1977 joined the Central Committee.

In 1978 the PDPA took power in Afghanistan, with Najibullah a member of the ruling Revolutionary Council. However, the Khalq faction of the PDPA gained supremacy over his own Parcham faction, and after a brief stint as ambassador in Iran, he was dismissed from government and went into exile in Europe.

He returned to Kabul after the Soviet intervention in 1979. In 1980, he was appointed the head of KHAD, the secret police. Under Najibullah's control, it is claimed that KHAD arrested, tortured and executed tens of thousands of Afghans. It has been reported that Najibullah sometimes executed prisoners himself.^[1] In 1981 he was promoted to full membership in the Politburo. Meanwhile, a change had taken place in Kabul. On May 4, 1986, under pressure from the Soviet Union, Babrak Karmal resigned as secretary general of the PDPA and was replaced by Dr. Najibullah. Karmal retained the presidency for a while, but power had shifted to Najibullah.

President of the Republic (November 1986 - April 1992)

In November 1986, Najibullah was elected president and a new constitution was adopted. Some of the innovations incorporated into the constitution were a multi-party political system, freedom of expression, and an Islamic legal system presided over by an independent judiciary.

However, all of these measures were largely outweighed by the broad powers of the president, who commanded a military and police apparatus under the control of the Homeland Party (Hizb-i Watan, as the PDPA became known in 1988). In September he set up the National Compromise Commission to contact counter-revolutionaries "in order to complete the Saur Revolution in its new phase". Allegedly some 40,000 rebels were contacted.

In this way, Najibullah had stabilized his political position enough to begin matching Moscow's moves toward withdrawal. On July 20, 1987, the withdrawal of Soviet troops from the country was announced.

It was also during his Administration that the peak of the fighting came in 1985-86. The Soviet forces launched their largest and most effective assaults on the Mujahideen supply lines adjacent to Pakistan. Major campaigns had also forced the mujahedeen back to defensive positions near Herat and Kandahar.

Najibullah made an expanded reconciliation offer to the resistance in July 1987, including twenty seats in State (formerly Revolutionary) Council, twelve ministries and a possible prime ministership and Afghanistan's status as an Islamic non-aligned state. Military, police, and security powers were not mentioned, and the offer still fell far short of what even the moderate mujahedeen parties would accept.

Najibullah then reorganized his government to face the mujahedeen alone. A new constitution took effect in November, 1987. The name of the country was reverted to the Republic of Afghanistan, the State Council was replaced by a National Assembly for which multiple parties could freely compete. Mohammad Hasan Sharq, a non-party politician, was named Prime Minister.

On June 7, 1988, President Najibullah addressed the UN General Assembly in request of support for a peace solution of the crisis in Afghanistan.

Soviet withdrawal and Civil War

With Afghanistan's mujihadeen rejecting offers of reconciliation, Najibullah declared an emergency immediately after the Soviet departure. Prime Minister Sharq and the other non-party ministers were removed from the cabinet. The Soviet Union simultaneously provided a flood of military and economic supplies. Sufficient food and fuel were made available for the next two difficult winters.

Much of the military equipment belonging to Soviet units evacuating Eastern Europe was shipped to Afghanistan. Assured adequate supplies, the Afghan National Army Air Corps, which had developed tactics minimizing the threat from American-supplied Stinger missiles, now deterred mass attacks against the cities. Medium-range missiles, particularly the Scud, were successfully launched from Kabul in the defense of Jalalabad, 145 kilometres away.

Victory at Jalalabad dramatically revived the morale of the Kabul government. Its army proved able to fight effectively alongside the already hardened troops of the Soviet-trained special security forces. Defections decreased dramatically when it became apparent that the resistance was in disarray, with no capability for a quick victory.

Soviet support reached a value of $3 billion a year in 1990. Kabul had achieved a stalemate which exposed the mujahedeen weaknesses, political and military. Najibullah's government survived for another 2 years. Divisions within his own ranks – including the defection of General Abdul Rashid Dostum – helped weaken the government's resolve. Eventually, determined American support for the mujahedeen would prove decisive.

In March 1990 his government successfully withstood a Khalqi coup d'état, headed by Defense Minister Shahnawaz Tanai. According to Halimzai, a few months before the coup Mohammad Zahir Ofoq, the head of a small communist party, met with Shahnawaz Tanai to make a strategy for the coup. Halimzai says "When we were discussing how to take over the control, I told them that the coup will be unsuccessful unless we have control of departments like Media, Defence, Ministry of Foreign Affairs in our hand. I told them that I am not willing to bring about such change. I said that you both should be aware of the all circumstances. We can't take over Kabul, and once we fail no power will stop Ashrar (Mujahedeen) to enter Kabul. Eventually they agreed and said that they will first create grounds for a coup afterwards will act. But they were actually planning the coup and just before the coup Mr. Ofoq went to India and after failing Mr. Tanai fled to Islamabad. And I was right, Dr. Najib's regime became weaker and in March 1992, Ashrar were wandering in the streets of Kabul, who were now Mujahedeen." Gulbuddin Hekmatyar was one of the main supporters of the coup.

Najibullah had been working on a compromise settlement to end the civil war with Ahmad Shah Massoud, brokered by the United Nations. However, talks broke down and the government fell, and by 1992 Najibullah agreed to step down in favor of a transitional government. He also announced that a bicameral parliament would be established "within a few months," on the basis of "free and democratic elections."

Downfall

The regime collapsed, as Kabul was short of fuel and food at the end of winter in 1992. Najibullah, on March 18, announced his willingness to resign in order to make way for a neutral interim government. On April 16, having lost internal control, was forced to resign by his own ruling party, following the capture of the strategically important Bagram air base and the nearby town of Charikar, by the Jamiat-e Islami guerrilla group.

Najibullah tried to meet Benon Sevan - director and senior political advisor to the UN Secretary-General's representative on the Afghan conflict at Kabul International Airport, but he was blocked by Abdul Rashid Dostum. On April 17, he sought sanctuary in the UN compound in Kabul. The newly created interim government of the Islamic State of Afghanistan left him unharmed.

Death

When the Taliban were about to enter Kabul Ahmad Shah Massoud offered Najibullah twice to flee Kabul. Najibullah refused believing the Taliban would spare his life. General Tokhi, who was with Dr. Najibullah until the day before his torture and murder, wrote that when three people came to both Dr. Najibullah and General Tokhi and asked them to come with them to flee Kabul, they rejected the offer after losing their trust in Ahmad Shah Massoud who knowingly fired rockets at the UN compound where Najibullah and Tokhi had taken refuge^{[citation needed]}. This proved to be a fatal mistake. Najibullah was at the UN compound when the Taliban soldiers came for him on September 27, 1996. He was castrated^[2] and his fingers were broken^{[citation needed]}, before the Taliban dragged him to death behind a truck in the streets. His blood-soaked body was hanged from a traffic light.^[3] His brother Shahpur Ahmadzai was also with him throughout this whole ordeal at the UN compound, and was shot to death.^{[citation needed]}

International reaction

There was widespread international condemnation,^[4] particularly from the Muslim world.^[5]

India, a close ally of Najibullah, strongly condemned the public execution of Najibullah and began to extensively support Ahmed Shah Massoud's Northern Alliance in an attempt to contain the rise of the Taliban.^[6]

References

1. ^ Christopher M Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin (2005). The World Was Going Our Way: The KGB and the Battle for the Third World. Basic Books. pp. p.409. ISBN 0465003117. 
2. ^ "President of hell: Hamid Karzai's battle to govern post-war, post-Taliban Afghanistan". The Times. 
3. ^ "Flashback: When the Taliban took Kabul". BBC. 
4. ^ "Endorses the Special Rapporteur's condemnation of the abduction from United Nations premises of the former President of Afghanistan, Mr. Najibullah, and of his brother, and of their subsequent summary execution;" United Nations Resolution 51/108 article 10
5. ^ "After the execution, even Taliban acknowledged that such behavior was 'un-Islamic' " p.25 in In the Shadow of the Prophet: The Struggle for the Soul of Islam by Milton Viorst, published by Westview Press 2001; ISBN 0813339022.
6. ^ Pigott, Peter. Canada in Afghanistan: The War So Far. Toronto: Dundurn Press Ltd, 2007. ISBN 1550026747, ISBN 9781550026740. P. 54.

External links

• Biography of President Najibullah

Political offices
Preceded by Haji Mohammad Chamkani	President of Afghanistan 1987 – 1992	Succeeded by Abdul Rahim Hatef Acting
Government offices
Preceded by Asadullah Amin Head of the KAM	General Secretary of the State Information Agency 1980 – 1986	Succeeded by Ghulam Faruq Yaqubi
Preceded by Babrak Karmal	Chairman of the Revolutionary Council 1986 – 1987	Succeeded by Office abolished
Party political offices
Preceded by Babrak Karmal	General Secretary of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan 1986 – 1992	Succeeded by Office abolished

Persondata
Name	Najibullah
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1947-08-00
Place of birth	Kabul, Afghanistan
Date of death	September 28, 1996
Place of death	Kabul, Afghanistan