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The leader of the revolution, the hope of Moscow, the boy of the province who was dragged to the gallows… – Bitter end of the leader |

Yadigar Sadigli

September 27, 1996: After taking over Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, Taliban members brutally kill the country’s last communist leader, Mohammad Najibullah.

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When the Soviet leadership decides to send troops to Afghanistan, it will be short-term, lasting 1-2 years action as he accepted. But the people who took that decision (Brezhnev, Andropov, Chernenko, Suslov, Ustinov) died one by one, and the war did not end. Against the background of sharp depreciation of oil, which is the main donor of the Soviet budget, in the mid-1980s, war expenses became a heavy burden on the Soviet economy.

Mikhail Gorbachev, who was elected the new head of the Soviet Union in March 1985, in addition to using weapons in Afghanistan political steps should also be taken. According to him, one of such steps could be the replacement of the country’s unpopular leader, a drunkard and a braggart, Babrak Karmal, with a more sympathetic one. Gorbachev’s choice judge He settled on Muhammad Najibullah, the youngest among the leaders of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

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Mohammad Najibullah was born in 1947 in the small town of Gardez, located in the east of Afghanistan. Although the majority of the city’s population was Tajik, Najibullah’s family was Pashtun. After graduating from high school in 1964, he entered the medical faculty of Kabul University, and a year later joined the communist-oriented PDP. Among the students, he stood out for his success in weightlifting and wrestling.

From the beginning, the People’s Democratic Party was divided into two factions: People and Flag. Najibullah, better known as “Dr. Najib” in the party, was a member of Parcham. In 1977, he was elected a member of the Central Committee of the party.

which happened in April 1978 military After the coup (Saur revolution), the People’s Democratic Party takes power. Najibullah too higher becomes a member of the Revolutionary Council. But the head of state (Chairman of the Revolutionary Council), who are members of the People’s faction, Nur Mohammad Taraki and Prime Minister Hafizullah Amin soon removed the flag-bearers from power. An ambassador is sent to Iran with Najibullah.

After the invasion of Afghanistan by the USSR and the overthrow of Hafizullah Amin, the flag-bearers returned to their country. Babrak Karmal became the chairman of the Revolutionary Council and the General Secretary of the People’s Democratic Party, while Najibullah became the director of the State Information Service (SIS), a security agency. KHAD, which until then consisted of 120 employees, grew many times during Najibullah’s time, turning into a huge institution with 25-30 thousand employees. The budget is financed directly from Moscow 1000% increased. At the same time, the number of arrests, torture and extrajudicial executions is increasing.

In November 1985, Dr. Najib was appointed the secretary of the People’s Democratic Party Central Committee. Most likely, Gorbachev already wanted to make him the leader of Afghanistan at that time, and the secretariat of the Central Committee was seen as a springboard on the way to a higher position.

On May 4, 1986, at the PDP plenum, Babrak Karmal resigned from the position of General Secretary due to his health, and Muhammad Najibullah was elected in his place. At that time, Karmal was still the chairman of the Revolutionary Council and remained the formal head of state.

In the next 6 months, there was a war of influence between Najibullah and Karmal. At the end of November, Karmal resigned from his last post under the pressure of Soviet representatives and was taken to Moscow. His post was held by Haji Mohammad Chamkani for a while, and Najibullah from September 30, 1987. Two months later, the position of chairman of the İŞ cancellation done and the president his position was restored. Najibullah became the second president of Afghanistan after Mohammad Dawood Khan, who held the same position in 1973-1978.

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Still with Najibullah the president before that, at the extraordinary plenum of the Central Committee of the People’s Democratic Party held on December 30-31, 1986 national announced the policy of reconciliation. Cease fire to the armed opposition, establish a joint government offer has been done. Political amnesty was granted to the prisoners.

In the summer of 1987, one-party rule was ended, and other parties were allowed to operate. Revolutionary council cancellation and bicameral instead parliamentNational Council was created. In 1987, elections were held for local government bodies, and in 1988, for the parliament. These elections could not be called fair and democratic, but it was a step forward compared to the previous era, which completely denied the concept of elections.

Officials have abandoned atheistic rhetoric. The Constitution adopted in 1987 states Islam as the state religion. who flew into space in 1988 afghan Abdul Ahad Momand took the Koran with him and recited surahs in space. These images were broadcast on Afghan television. The state allocated money for the construction and repair of mosques, Hajj and visits to Karbala. In the 1990 Constitution, it was even written that Afghanistan is an Islamic state. Symbols of communism gradually disappeared.

These and other steps increased Najibullah’s popularity to some extent. More than 30,000 Mujahideen joined the government. More than a hundred thousand afghan returned to his country. But the civil war did not end there. However, the main supporter of the Mujahideen USA he could have acted more rationally and at least postponed his policy of overthrowing the government that had renounced communism at any cost. In that case, the subsequent events probably would not have been so tragic.

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On February 15, 1989, Soviet troops were withdrawn from Afghanistan. After that, many were sure that Najibullah’s government would be overthrown within a few weeks. But it didn’t happen like that. The Afghan army was successfully fighting against the Mujahideen. It should also be said that even though the Soviet troops were withdrawn from Afghanistan, Moscow continued to provide assistance to Kabul. According to some estimates, in 1990, the USSR sent 3 billion dollars equivalently military had helped.

In March 1990, Defense Minister Shahnawaz Tanay revolted against Najibullah. But the forces loyal to the president were able to suppress the rebellion. However, this event weakened Najibullah’s power. Tanay fled to Pakistan and joined the Mujahideen.

Najibullah’s in Moscow the main lobbyists were Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze and KGB Chairman Vladimir Kryuchkov. But Shevardnadze resigned in December 1990, and Kryuchkov was arrested in August 1991 for his involvement in the CPSU. As a result, Soviet aid decreased and the situation of Najibullah’s regime worsened.

In the autumn of 1991, Shevardnadze was appointed the Minister of Foreign Affairs (now called the Ministry of Foreign Affairs). Contacting him, Najibullah accuses Moscow of treason: “I the president I didn’t want to be, you talked me out of it, you insisted, you said you would help. And now you leave me and Afghanistan to the hope of fate”.

With the collapse of the USSR, Moscow’s aid to Kabul was completely cut off, and Najibullah was in a desperate situation. He vented his anger by blaming the Russians for all the troubles befalling the country and declaring February 15 as Liberation Day, when the Soviet troops left the country.

The army of the Republic of Afghanistan had a serious shortage of weapons and ammunition, there was not even fuel for the movement of armored vehicles and the flight of airplanes. However, aviation was the regime’s main advantage over the Mujahideen.

On March 18, 1992, Najibullah announced his readiness to hand over power to the interim transitional government. This move scared the forces that had been loyal to him until now, and the regime began to crumble like a cardboard house. Military and officers they started moving towards the opposition en masse.

Among them, Foreign Minister Abdul LawyerGeneral Staff chief Mohammad Asif Delawar, Deputy Defense Minister Mohammad Nabi Azimi, Kabul Garrison chief Abdul Unit Babajan, division commander Abdul Rashid Dostum was also there. These forces united with Ahmad Shah Masud and captured Kabul in late April.

Najibullah was able to send his family to India, while he wanted to leave the country general It was blocked by Dostum’s forces. Dr. Najib and his brother Shapur Ahmadzai UNThey took refuge in Kabul’s mission and lived there for four years.

In 1994, the Taliban movement was created under the auspices of the Pakistani special services. Pashtuns, the country’s largest ethnic group, played a key role in this movement. In September 1996, the Taliban, which had gathered a lot of supporters, approached Kabul.

Realizing that he could not defend the capital, Ahmed Shah Masud left the city and retreated to his traditional fortress – the Panjshir valley. To come with him to Najibullah on the way offer he did, but the doctor refused. The reason for this step is not entirely clear. The main possibility is that Najibullah, who is a Pashtun by origin, did not hesitate to seek refuge in the Tajik Masud. Ethnic issues in Afghanistan political played no less important role. Perhaps Najibullah thought that the Taliban would treat him better.

But it didn’t happen. Pashtun in its place, for the Taliban, Najibullah was primarily the man who led the KHAD for 5 years and made the enemies of the regime a couch. The first task of the Taliban who entered Kabul on the night of September 27 UN His mission was to attack and capture Najibullah and his brother.

The former president and his brother were subjected to terrible torture. Their genitals were cut off. They tied their legs to the bumper of the car, drove several kilometers and hanged them in front of the presidential palace. This was the end of the life of the last communist leader of Afghanistan.

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Doctor Najib, who gave an interview to “New York Times” newspaper in the last days of his rule, said: “If fundamentalism wins in Afghanistan, the war will continue for many years. The country will become the center of drug trade and terrorism.” It is possible to approach Najibullah in different ways, but it cannot be denied that he is a wise man.



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