Mohammad Najibullah

Mohammad Najibullah Ahmadzai (6 August 1947 – 27 September 1996) was an Afghan politician and military officer. Trained as a physician, he rose in the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), headed the KHAD intelligence service, became the party's general secretary in 1986 and president of Afghanistan from 1987 until his resignation in April 1992. He sheltered in the United Nations compound in Kabul for over four years, until the Taliban killed him when they captured the capital in September 1996. ¹

He was born on 6 August 1947 at Gardez in Paktia Province; his ancestral village of Najibqilla lies between Gardez and Said Karam, and he belonged to the Ahmadzai clan of the Ghilji Pashtuns. The Arabic article's infobox gives his birthplace as Kabul instead; the conflict is recorded in the data file. He was educated at Habibia High School in Kabul and at St. Joseph's school in Baramulla, and studied medicine at Kabul University from 1964, completing his MBBS in 1975 without practising. He joined the Parcham faction of the PDPA in 1965 and served as Babrak Karmal's close associate and bodyguard during Karmal's years in parliament. ^{1 2}

After the Saur Revolution he was briefly ambassador to Iran, then exiled in Europe under Hafizullah Amin. He returned with the Soviet intervention, and in 1980 was appointed head of KHAD, the state intelligence service, with the rank of major general. Under him KHAD's personnel grew from about 120 to between 25,000 and 30,000, and the service became known for its ruthlessness: thousands were arrested, tortured and executed. He entered the Politburo in 1981 and the party Secretariat in 1985. ¹

With Soviet support he succeeded Karmal as PDPA general secretary in May 1986 and became president in November 1987. His National Reconciliation policy distanced the regime from socialism in favour of Afghan nationalism, ended the one-party state, and made Islam an official religion; the 1990 constitution removed all references to communism and made Islam the state religion. The changes won him little support. After the Soviet withdrawal, the dissolution of the USSR in December 1991 and the defection of General Abdul Rashid Dostum, his government collapsed and he resigned in April 1992. ¹

His attempt to flee to India failed, and he lived in the United Nations headquarters in Kabul from 1992 until the Taliban captured the city. On 27 September 1996 they tortured and killed him; the Arabic article gives 28 September, and the one-day conflict is recorded in the data file. He was buried at Gardez after Islamic funeral prayers. ^{1 2}

No text read for this record names a school for Najibullah personally. Wikidata's structured religion claim is Sunni Islam — one structured family; the Arabic article's religion field is blank, and the Arabic and Urdu categories file him under Muslim or Islamic socialists, which are filings, not attestations. The Islam in the English article is state policy: National Reconciliation, the 1990 constitution, and a 1990 party announcement that all party members were Muslims — regime positioning, not a personal attestation. His faith is therefore recorded as unknown, with the structured value preserved in the data file. ^{1 2 3 4}

He was married to Fatana Najib and had three children. ¹

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