Nur Muhammad Taraki

Nur Muhammad Taraki نور محمد ترکۍ
3rd President of Afghanistan 1st President of Democratic Republic of Afghanistan
In office April 30, 1978 – September 16, 1979
Prime Minister	Hafizullah Amin
Preceded by	Abdul Qadir Dagarwal
Succeeded by	Hafizullah Amin
12th Prime Minister of Afghanistan 1st Prime Minister of Democratic Republic of Afghanistan
In office May 1, 1978 – March 27, 1979
Preceded by	Mohammad Musa Shafiq
Succeeded by	Hafizullah Amin
Born	15 July 1917(1917-07-15)[1][2] Ghazni, Afghanistan
Died	14 September 1979(1979-09-14) (aged 66) Kabul, Afghanistan
Political party	People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan

History of Afghanistan
See also
Ariana · Khorasan
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Nur Muhammad Taraki (Pashto: نور محمد ترکۍ) (July 15, 1917^[1][2] – September 14, 1979) was an Afghan politician. His party, the PDPA, was eventually successful in overthrowing the Afghan monarchy and, after the prior president and his family were murdered in a coup, assumed authority as the next President of Afghanistan from 1978 until he was overthrown (and thereafter murdered) by Hafizullah Amin, his rival in the PDPA in 1979.

Taraki was born close to Kabul and educated at the Kabul University. He started his political career as a journalist and later he joined the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), were he served as secretary general from 1965 to his death in 1979. Taraki also sat as Chairman of the Revolutionary Council from April, 1978- September, 1979.

The presidency of Taraki, albeit short-lived, was marked by controversies from the beginning to the end, with Taraki starting his extreme communist reforms in mid 1978. Under Taraki's government massive uprisings spread across the country and much of the Afghan army would desert and swap allegiances.

Early life and career

Flag of Afghanistan under Nur Muhammad Taraki's rule

Nur Muhammad Taraki was born to a rural Pashtun family in he was born in Naawa district of Ghazni Provence on July 15, 1913. He worked as a clerk in Bombay, India where he attended night school and learned English. He was a staunch supporter of the Pashtunistan cause and the Pashto language. He later went on to study Political Economics at Kabul University where he obtained his B.S. and later went on to Columbia University in New York where he received his Masters (however, it is not yet confirmed whether he went to Columbia).^[3]. However, people close to Taraki say that he was most influenced politically while at the Pohantun of Kabul, or Kabul University. He became involved in radical Marxist politics and soon joined the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), which promoted Communist values and ideas.^[4]

On January 1, 1965, the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) was founded. It was composed of a small group of men, followers of Nur Mohammad Taraki and Babrak Karmal, both avowed Marxist-Leninists with a pro-Moscow orientation.^[5]

Most observers described the 1965 elections as remarkably fair. Taraki was elected to Parliament in 1965, and started one of the first major leftist newspapers, Khalq (Masses) in Afghanistan, which lasted little more than a month before being silenced by a government ban. In 1967 the PDPA split into two groups: Khalq (Masses) and Parcham (Banner), headed by Taraki and Karmal, respectively. The split reflected deep ethnic, class, and ideological differences. The Khalq faction was more militantly Marxist and somewhat more independent of the Soviet Union than the Parcham faction.^[6][7]

Presidency

On April 19, 1978 a prominent leftist, Mir Akbar Khyber, was assassinated and the murder was blamed on the government of Mohammed Daoud Khan. His death served as a rallying point for the Afghan communists. Fearing a communist coup d'etat, Daoud ordered the arrest of certain PDPA leaders, including Taraki and Babrak Karmal, while placing others, such as Hafizullah Amin, under house arrest.^[4][8]

On April 27, 1978 the coup was initiated, reportedly by Hafizullah Amin while still under house arrest. Mohammed Daoud Khan was killed the next day along with most of his family. The People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) rapidly gained control and on May 1, Taraki became President. The country was then renamed the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA), installing a regime that would last until April 1992.^[4][8][9]

Taraki became president, prime minister and General Secretary of the PDPA. However, the rivalry between the Khalq and Parcham factions continued. The Government was divided between President Taraki and Deputy Prime Minister Hafizullah Amin of the Khalq faction against Parcham leaders such as Babrak Karmal and Mohammad Najibullah.^[10]

In the months following the coup, he and other party leaders initiated radical Marxist policies that challenged both traditional Afghan values, in particular issues of land ownership, forced marriages, sharia laws, and well-established traditional power structures in the rural areas. He ruled over a nation with a deep Islamic religious culture and a long history of resistance to any type of strong centralized governmental control.^[11][12]

After three months, President Taraki sent the Parcham leaders to India, Iran and Turkey as ambassadors. Babrak Karmal became the Ambassador to Czechoslovakia and his mistress, Anahita Ratebzad, as the Ambassador to Yugoslavia, while Mohammad Najibullah became Ambassador to Iran. Taraki then began to purge Parcham members from his government with many being arrested and executed.^[10]

Karmal was recalled but went into hiding with Anahita Ratebzad in the Soviet Union fearing execution if he returned; Muhammad Najibullah followed them. Taraki then stripped them of all official positions. Amin became prime minister on March 28, 1979 with Taraki remaining President. On December 5, 1978, he sponsored a friendship treaty with the Soviet Union (later used as a pretext for the Soviet invasion). Major uprisings occurred regularly against his government.^[10]

During its first 18 months of rule, the PDPA brutally imposed a Marxist-style reform program, which ran counter to deeply rooted Afghan traditions. Decrees forcing changes in marriage customs and pushing through an ill-conceived land reform were particularly misunderstood by virtually all Afghans. In addition, thousands of members of the traditional elite, the religious establishment, and the intelligentsia were imprisoned, tortured, or murdered.^[10]

Taraki was also responsible for introducing women to political life. A prominent example was Anahita Ratebzad, who was a major Marxist leader and a member of the Revolutionary Council. Ratebzad wrote the famous New Kabul Times editorial (May 28, 1978) which declared: “Privileges which women, by right, must have are equal education, job security, health services, and free time to rear a healthy generation for building the future of the country .... Educating and enlightening women is now the subject of close government attention.”^[10]

Taraki as president of Afghanistan attended a conference of the Non-Aligned nations in Havana, Cuba. On his way back he stopped in Moscow to meet with Leonid Brezhnev. Taraki reached Moscow on March 20, 1979 with a formal request for Soviet ground troops. However, according to the Marxist-Leninists of Afghanistan Taraki has only ideological attachment with the former USSR.^[10]

Alexei Kosygin, then Premier of the USSR, told him:

Some reports that the quote was given to Karmal and not president Taraki. Despite this statement Taraki negotiated some armed support: helicopter gunships with Russian pilots and maintenance crews, 500 military advisors, 700 paratroopers disguised as technicians to defend Kabul airport, also significant food aid (300,000 tons of wheat).^[10]

Brezhnev further warned Taraki that full Soviet intervention “would only play into the hands of our enemies – both yours and ours.” Brezhnev also advised Taraki to ease up on the drastic social reforms and to seek broader support for his regime. Finally, he advised Taraki to remove Prime Minister Amin, and warned him that Amin was probably preparing an assassination attempt on Taraki.

The intense rivalry between Taraki and Amin within the Khalq faction heated up. By September 1979, Taraki's followers had made several attempts on Amin's life. Taraki's death was first noted in the New Kabul Times on October 10, which reported that the former leader only recently hailed as the “great teacher ... great genius ... great leader” had died quietly “of serious illness, which he had been suffering from for some time.”^[10] Amin replaced Taraki as president.

Less than three months later, after the Amin government had been overthrown, the newly installed followers of Babrak Karmal gave another, very different account of Taraki's death. According to this account, Amin ordered the commander of the palace guard to have Taraki executed. Taraki reportedly was suffocated with a pillow over his head.^[10]

Amin's emergence from the power struggle within the small divided communist party in Afghanistan alarmed the Soviets and would usher in the series of events which lead to the Soviet invasion.

References

External links

• History of the brief period of Communist-controlled Government in Afghanistan
• Biography of President Taraki at Afghanland.com
• Telephone Conversation Between Kosygin and Taraki

Heads of state of Afghanistan since 1709 Hotaki Empire Mirwais Hotak · Abdul Aziz Hotak · Mahmud Hotaki · Ashraf Hotaki · Hussain Hotaki Afghan Empire Ahmad Shah Durrani · Timur Shah Durrani · Zaman Shah Durrani · Mahmud Shah Durrani · Shuja Shah Durrani Ali Shah Durrani Kingdom of Afghanistan Dost Mohammad Khan · Sher Ali Khan · Mohammad Afzal Khan · Muhammad Azam Khan · Mohammad Yaqub Khan · Abdur Rahman Khan · Habibullah Khan · Nasrullah Khan · Amanullah Khan · Inayatullah Khan · Habibullah Kalakani · Mohammed Nadir Shah · Mohammed Zahir Shah Republic of Afghanistan Mohammed Daoud Khan Democratic Republic of Afghanistan Nur Muhammad Taraki · Hafizullah Amin · Babrak Karmal · Haji Mohammad Chamkani · Mohammad Najibullah Republic of Afghanistan Mohammad Najibullah · Abdul Rahim Hatef Islamic State of Afghanistan Sibghatullah Mojaddedi · Burhanuddin Rabbani Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan Mohammed Omar Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai Monarchs of Afghanistan · Presidents of Afghanistan