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Maj. Gen. Mohammad Najibullah,
Afghan politician (b. 1947, Gardez, Paktia province, Afg.--d. Sept.
27, 1996, Kabul, Afg.), was the president of Afghanistan from 1986
till 1992, installed by the Soviet Union in 1986. He managed to
hang on to power for nearly three years after Soviet troops pulled
out in 1989 but was ousted in 1992 and afterward lived in refuge
in a UN compound. Najibullah began studying medicine at Kabul University
in 1964 and received his medical degree in 1975, but he never practiced
medicine. He had joined the Parcham ("Banner") faction
of the communist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA)
in 1965, and he was twice imprisoned for political activities. The
PDPA staged a successful coup in 1978, but the Khalq ("People's")
faction soon gained supremacy, and Najibullah briefly served as
ambassador to Iran and then went into exile in Eastern Europe until
the U.S.S.R. intervened (1979) and supported a Parcham-dominated
government. Najibullah was made head of the secret police and became
known for his brutality and ruthlessness. His methods proved invaluable
to the regime in view of escalating Islamic guerrilla warfare, but
as the war grew in intensity, the Soviet Union withdrew. As president,
Najibullah attempted to gain support by relaxing his strict control,
but he was widely despised and was finally forced from office by
the Islamic rebels. Factional fighting continued, and when the Taliban
militia took over the capital, Kabul, they executed Najibullah. |
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