Mohammad Najibullah Biography

Mohammad Najibullah was the President of Afghanistan from 1987 to 1992. He was ousted from the power when the mujahideen took over Kabul. Though he was the de-facto ruler of Afghanistan for five years, his government was not recognized by the majority of the international community. Najibullah was a medical graduate but he never really worked as a doctor. He joined the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan at the age of 18 and quickly became an important member of the party and worked as a bodyguard of one of the leading members of the party. Najibullah later on went on to head the Afghan intelligence agency KHAD for some years with Soviet support and his work for the agency was regarded as effective although he was known to order indiscriminate torture of opponents. However, his biggest coup was that of establishing himself as the leader of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan and he used that as the stepping stone to becoming the de-facto ruler of the country. Najibullah’s rule in Afghanistan was widely despised as he clamped down of freedom of speech and turned the Marxist People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan into a Muslim party. His regime was dependent on the support of the Soviet Union. The dissolution of Soviet Union and the internal collapse of his government, led to his ouster from power.