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74-543: The group was founded in 1968 by Tahir Badakhshi , a Tajik who formerly had been a member of the Central Committee of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan and split with the party. The group emphasized "militant class struggle and mass mobilization of peasants" and recruited Tajiks, Uzbeks, and other minorities from Kabul and the northeastern provinces . Responsibility for the kidnapping and murder of

148-565: A Leninist -like state, while Karmal wanted to establish a "broad democratic front". On 17 April 1978, a prominent leftist named Mir Akbar Khyber was assassinated and the murder was blamed on Mohammed Daoud Khan 's Republic of Afghanistan . His death served as a rallying point for the pro-communist Afghans. Fearing a communist coup d'état, Daoud ordered the arrest of certain PDPA leaders, including Taraki and Karmal, while placing others such as Hafizullah Amin under house arrest. On 27 April 1978,

222-465: A campaign of repression against opponents of the Saur Revolution, which killed thousands, mostly at Pul-e-Charkhi prison . Estimates for the number executed at the prison, between April 1978 and December 1979, are as high as 27,000. Taraki's Government initiated a land reform on 1 January 1979 which attempted to limit the amount of land a family could own. Those whose landholdings exceeded

296-555: A clerk for the Pashtun Trading Company. Taraki's first encounter with communism was during his night courses, where he met several Communist Party of India members who impressed him with their discussions on social justice and communist values. Another important event was his encounter with Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan , a Pashtun nationalist and leader of the Red Shirt Movement in neighbouring India, who

370-534: A current issue in the politics and concepts of politics in Afghanistan. The memorials for his legacy take place each year in the country by local and regional personalities and outside of the country by diaspora intellegentia. The last large-scale event in 2017 took in Canada and Afghanistan. Nur Muhammad Taraki Nur Muhammad Taraki ( Pashto : نور محمد ترکی ‎; 14 July 1917 – 9 October 1979)

444-644: A demonstration to Taraki of his control over the government. Shortly afterward, Taraki, instead of reporting to the cabinet about the Havana Summit, indirectly tried to dismiss Amin from his position as per the plot of the Soviets. He sought to neutralise Amin's power and influence by requesting that he serve overseas as an ambassador, but Amin turned down the proposal, shouting "You are the one who should quit! Because of drink and old age you have taken leave of your senses." The following day, Taraki invited Amin to

518-540: A journalist. From the 1940s onward Taraki also wrote novels and short stories in the socialist realism style. Forming the PDPA at his residence in Kabul along with Babrak Karmal , he was elected as the party's General Secretary at its first congress. He ran as a candidate in the 1965 Afghan parliamentary election but failed to win a seat. In 1966 he published the Khalq , a party newspaper advocating for class struggle , but

592-494: A large variety of cultural and political activities in Afghanistan including organisation of different scale gatherings of authors, journalists and writers of the country and hosting meetings in which the intelligentsia of different cultural and political backgrounds came together for discussions, and he was the founder of " Revolutionary Organization of the Toilers of Afghanistan ", ( Persian : سازمان انقلابی زحمتکشان افغانستان )

666-451: A liberal (republican and democratic) system in which basic human rights of all inhabitants of the country, independent of their ethnic or economic background, would be respected. A special regard was concentrated on the obvious and objective antagonism of ethnic disparity and inequality in favour of Pashtuns and, in evident disfavor of other ethnic groups as they are Uzbeks, Hazaras and to some extent even Tajiks. Activities were directed against

740-564: A liberal leftist group with affinity to the Non-Aligned Movement that was founded in Yugoslavia in 1956, triggered by Josip Broz Tito , and promoted by the two most pivotal personalities in the global South: Jawaharlal Nehru and Gamal Abdel Nasser . The group has also had a firm touch to the liberal principles and heterogeneous ideas of liberalism and modernism, and of course in the very temporal and geographic context of

814-579: A move as they felt that Amin's forces had the edge. At 8pm on 16 September, Radio Kabul announced that Taraki had informed the PDPA Politburo that he was no longer able to continue his duties, and that the Politburo subsequently elected Amin as the new General Secretary. After Taraki's arrest, Amin reportedly discussed the incident with Leonid Brezhnev in which he said, "Taraki is still around. What should I do with him?" Brezhnev replied that it

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888-440: A nation with a deep Islamic religious culture and a long history of resistance to any type of strong centralized governmental control, and consequently many of these reforms were not actually implemented nationwide. Popular resentment of Taraki's drastic policy changes triggered surging unrest throughout the country, reducing government control to only a limited area. The strength of this anti-reform backlash would ultimately lead to

962-469: A popular backlash that initiated a rebellion. Despite repeated attempts, Taraki was unable to persuade the Soviet Union to intervene in support of the restoration of civil order. Amin initiated most of these policies behind the scenes. Taraki's reign was marked by a cult of personality centered around him that Amin had cultivated. The state press and subsequent propaganda started to refer to him as

1036-579: A purge of the government and party that led to several high-ranking Parchamite members being sent into de facto exile by being assigned to serve overseas as ambassadors, and later started jailing domestic Parchamites. His regime locked up dissidents and oversaw massacres of villagers, citing the necessity of Red Terror by the Bolsheviks in Soviet Russia, that opponents of the Saur Revolution had to be eliminated. These factors, among others, led to

1110-646: A short period of unemployment, Taraki started working for the United States Overseas Mission in Kabul as an interpreter . He quit that job in 1958 and established his own translation company, the Noor Translation Bureau . Four years later, he started working for the U.S. Embassy in Kabul , but quit in 1963 to focus on the establishment of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), a communist political party . At

1184-457: A significant body of evidence, including the political memories of Taher Badakhshi and most significant writings and will consecutively publish them in order to create a new field of research on a specific version of modernisms in Afghanistan. The research, so the scholars of the institute, will be designed, "to measure the real world outcome on four levels. First level will contain relevant general statements and targeted and specific information on

1258-491: A suspected prehistory of ethno-centric chauvinist activities in the south of the country and recently returned from the United States. He arranged a circle named "Mahfele Entezar" ( Waiting circle ) movement and later the "Revolutionary Organisation of Workers of Afghanistan" or SAZA Political movement, speaking out for the basic political rights for all citizens and for improvement of economic and educational conditions of

1332-597: The 6th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Cuba, his Gang of Four had received an intelligence report that Amin was planning to arrest or kill them. This report, it turned out, was incorrect. Nonetheless, the Gang of Four were ordered to assassinate Amin, its leader Sarwari selecting his nephew Aziz Akbari to conduct the assassination. However, Akbari was not informed that he was the chosen assassin or that it

1406-470: The Afghan civil war . Traditional practices that were deemed feudal —such as usury , bride price and forced marriage —were banned, and the minimum age of marriage was raised. The government stressed education for both women and men, and launched an ambitious literacy campaign. Under the previous administration of Mohammad Daoud Khan , a literacy programme created by UNESCO had been launched with

1480-543: The American ambassador to Afghanistan , Adolph Dubs , on February 14, 1979, at the Kabul Hotel is sometimes attributed to Settam-e-Melli, but the true identity and aims of the militants who kidnapped Dubs is uncertain, and the circumstances are "still clouded." Some consider the allegation that Settam-e-Melli was responsible to be "dubious," pointing to a former Kabul policeman who has claimed that at least one kidnapper

1554-594: The Herat uprising , Taraki contacted Alexei Kosygin , chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers , and asked for "practical and technical assistance with men and armament". Kosygin was unfavorable to the proposal on the basis of the negative political repercussions such an action would have for his country, and he rejected all further attempts by Taraki to solicit Soviet military aid in Afghanistan. Following Kosygin's rejection Taraki requested aid from Leonid Brezhnev ,

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1628-660: The Saur Revolution was initiated, reportedly by Amin while still under house arrest. Khan was killed the next day along with most of his family. The PDPA rapidly gained control and on 1 May Taraki became Chairman of the Revolutionary Council , a role which subsumed the responsibilities of both president and Chairman of the Council of Ministers (literally prime minister in Western parlance). The country

1702-631: The Soviet ambassador in Afghanistan , who was eager to use them against Amin. After the Herat uprising on 17 March 1979, the PDPA Politburo and the Revolutionary Council established the Homeland Higher Defence Council , to which Taraki was elected its chairman while Amin became its deputy. At around the same time, Taraki left his post as Council of Ministers chairman and Amin was elected his successor. Amin's new position offered him little real influence, however; as Chairman of

1776-516: The University of Kabul and studied economics and law. He completed his studies on economics at 1961 and started to work. He had worked in the research department of the University till 1967. Afterward he began to work in ministries: He went to the department (ministry) of education, where he was working till his detention by the regime at 1978. During all these years of political activities he

1850-784: The general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and Soviet head of state , who warned him 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. In 1979, Taraki attended a conference of the Non-Aligned Movement in Havana , Cuba. On his way back he stopped in Moscow on 20 March and met with Brezhnev, foreign minister Andrei Gromyko and other Soviet officials. It

1924-527: The "Great Leader" and "Great Teacher", and his portrait became a common sight throughout the country. His relationship with Amin turned sour during his rule, ultimately resulting in Taraki's overthrow on 14 September 1979 and subsequent murder on 8 October, on Amin's orders, with Kabul press reporting that he died of illness. His death was a factor that led to the Soviet intervention in December 1979. Taraki

1998-569: The Arg (the Presidential palace) for lunch with him and the Gang of Four. Amin turned down the offer, stating he would prefer their resignation rather than lunching with them. Soviet Ambassador Puzanov managed to persuade Amin to make the visit to the palace along with Sayed Daoud Tarun , the Chief of Police, and Nawab Ali (an intelligence officer). Inside the palace on 14 September, bodyguards within

2072-491: The Arg with a contingent of Army officers and placed Taraki under arrest. The Gang of Four, however, had "disappeared", taking refuge at the Soviet embassy. The Soviets tried to dissuade Amin from expelling Taraki and his associates from their positions, but Amin refused. On 15 September, a Soviet battalion at Bagram Air Base and the embassy were put in position in an attempt to rescue Taraki, but they were never ordered to make

2146-538: The Council of Ministers, Amin had the power to elect every member of the cabinet, but all of them had to be approved by the head of state, Taraki. In reality, through this maneuver Taraki had effectively reduced Amin's power base by forcing him to relinquish his hold on the Afghan Army in order to take on the supposedly heavy responsibilities of his new but ultimately powerless post. During Taraki's foreign visit to

2220-496: The Pashtun ethnic-dominance and elitism in relevant fields of politics, finance, military, police; asking for equal rights of all other ethnicities in Afghanistan. The political organization he led was labeled as Setami Milli (National Oppression) by the royal family and, at the same time, by the "leftist" functionaries, mainly by Pashtun activists of the "People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan". He came because of his opposition to

2294-703: The Presidium of the Revolutionary Council while Amin became Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers. Internal problems soon arose and several prominent Khalqists accused the Parcham faction of conspiring against the Taraki government. A Khalqi purge of the Parcham then began with the faction's most prominent members being sent out of the country: Karmal became Afghan Ambassador to Czechoslovakia and Mohammad Najibullah became Afghan Ambassador to Iran. Internal struggle

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2368-732: The Soviet Union, where his work was viewed as embodying scientific socialist themes. He was hailed by the Soviet Government as "Afghanistan's Maxim Gorky ". On his visit to the Soviet Union Taraki was greeted by Boris Ponomarev , the Head of the International Department of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , and other Communist Party of the Soviet Union members. Under Sardar Mohammad Daoud Khan 's prime ministership, suppression of radicals

2442-492: The UNESCO programme was declared "rubbish" by Taraki, who instead chose to introduce a political orientation by utilizing PDPA leaflets and left-wing pamphlets as basic reading material. On 19 August 1978, Afghan Independence Day , Taraki started the broadcasts of Afghanistan National Television , the first TV channel in the country. We believe it would be a fatal mistake to commit ground troops. [...] If our troops went in,

2516-440: The amazement why Western academia has been neglecting the real world dynamics of the intellectual history of the liberal, ideas of liberalism, the heterogeneous leftist movements in Afghanistan. Recently there has been founded a "Taher Badakhshi Institute" exactly to cover up a significant epistemic gap in research on of the liberal, ideas of liberalism, the heterogeneous leftist movements in Afghanistan. The institute has gathered

2590-516: The building opened fire on the visitors. Tarun was killed but Amin only sustained injuries and escaped to his car, driving to the Ministry of Defence. Shortly afterwards, Amin placed the Army on high alert, ordered the detainment of Taraki, and telephoned Puzanov about the incident. That evening at 6:30, tanks from the 4th Armoured Corps entered the city and stood at government positions. Amin returned to

2664-482: The control of the Afghan Army . Their relations came to a head later that year when Taraki accused Amin of nepotism after Amin had appointed several family members to high-ranking positions. On 3 August 1978, a KGB delegation visited Afghanistan, and on first impression of general Oleg Kalugin , Taraki "did not have the physical strength or the backing to continue to lead the country for long", adding that Amin

2738-638: The country, it had affinities to the leftist liberation and anti-colonial movements in Asia, Latin America and Africa. Taher Badakhshi was born in Fayzabad, Badakhshan to a native Uzbek family, originally from Ishkashim , his mother was from Uzbek ethnic of Argo District . He completed his primary studies in the province Badakhshan , and then moved to Kabul for continuing his higher education, he completed high school at Habibia School at 1957. He entered

2812-400: The first major left-wing newspaper in Afghanistan. The paper was banned within one month of its first printing. In 1967, less than two years after its founding, the PDPA split into several factions. The largest of these included Khalq ( Masses ) led by Taraki, and Parcham ( Banner ) led by Karmal. The main differences between the factions were ideological, with Taraki supporting the creation of

2886-524: The first months after the April 1978 revolution, Hafizullah Amin and Taraki had a very close relationship. Taraki reportedly remarked, "Amin and I are like nail and flesh, not separable". Amin set about constructing a personality cult centered on Taraki. In party and government meetings Amin always referred to Taraki as "The Great Leader", "The Star of the East" or "The Great Thinker" among other titles, while Amin

2960-455: The founding congress of the PDPA, held in his own home in Kabul's Karte Char district, Taraki won a competitive election against Babrak Karmal to the post of general secretary on 1 January 1965. Karmal became second secretary. Taraki ran as a candidate for the PDPA during the September 1965 parliamentary election but did not win a seat. Shortly after the election, he launched Khalq ,

3034-621: The government closed it down shortly afterward. In 1978 he, Hafizullah Amin and Babrak Karmal initiated the Saur Revolution and established the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan . Taraki's leadership was short-lived and marked by controversies. The government was divided between two PDPA factions: the Khalqists (led by Taraki), the majority, and the Parchamites , the minority. Taraki along with his "protégé" Amin started

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3108-489: The government in 1983, and was made Minister of Justice . The Setamis continued to play a prominent role among the non-Pashtun northeastern Afghan militias, playing a part in Ahmad Shah Massoud 's defeat at Shahr-i Bozorg in 1990. Tahir Badakhshi Taher Badakhshi (October 30, 1933 – October 30, 1979) ( Persian : طاهر بدخشی ) was a cultural and political personality in Afghanistan. He had performed

3182-437: The later Karmal administration, although the proportion of land area impacted by the reform is unclear. In the months following the coup, Taraki and other party leaders initiated other radical Marxist policies that challenged both traditional Afghan values and well-established traditional power structures in rural areas. Taraki introduced women to political life and legislated an end to forced marriage. However, he ruled over

3256-577: The leftist regime of Muhammad Taraki. In 1978 he was arrested by the secret service of the Muhammad Taraki government. He was kept in solitary confinement at Pole-charkhi prison and had to undergo massive torture by the secret service of the regime and, finally was murdered in prison by Hafizullah Amin in 1979. The scale of killings and torture for thousands of citizens was neglected by the global media at that time and ignored widely by regional governments and by Soviet Union and USA. The killings by

3330-418: The liberal, ideas of liberalism, the heterogeneous leftist movements there and, on the contextualization of the relevant events since 1945 till end of the century. This obvious research gap of academic institutions in the Western hemisphere seems to be the real world insight of the protagonist and experts, especially when it comes to the pivotal and formative years between 1955 and 1975. On has to express

3404-461: The limit saw their property requisitioned by the government without compensation. The Afghan leadership believed the reform would be met with popular approval amongst the rural population while weakening the power of the bourgeoisie . The reform was declared complete in mid-1979 and the government proclaimed that 665,000 hectares (approximately 1,632,500 acres) had been redistributed. The government also declared that only 40,000 families, or 4 percent of

3478-554: The men at night. The news shocked Brezhnev, who had vowed to protect Taraki. It was also one of the factors of the Soviet intervention two months later. The Afghan media reported two days later that the ailing Taraki had died of a "serious illness", omitting any mention of his murder. On the day that Taraki was assassinated, 28 men and women from Taraki's extended family (including his wife and brother) were jailed at Pul-e-Charkhi prison . After Karmal came into power, Taraki's jailed relatives, including his widow, were released. In

3552-519: The notion of modernism. A version of modernism in a national geographic framework that is called Afghanistan and on a historic spotlight that encompasses South & West as well Central Asia (according to the UNESCO). Second level will contain a body of ideas, ideologies and policies in AFG between 1945 and 2017 that had been related to the liberal and liberalism with all their implications and variations. Not

3626-426: The notion of the left/leftist movements that are, of course, the peak of any liberal understanding and liberalism aiming and desiring principle justice, political emancipation and freedom as such and in Afghanistan. Fourth level will be explicitly concentrated on ideas, communications and actions of Taher Badakhshi. Why Taher Badakhshi, because there is today, under the current circumstances in Afghanistan, and because of

3700-408: The objective of eliminating illiteracy within 20 years. The government of Taraki attempted to reduce this time frame from 20 to four years, an unrealistic goal in light of the shortage of teachers and limited government capacity to oversee such an initiative. The duration of the project was later lengthened to seven years by the Soviets in the aftermath of the Soviet intervention . The cultural focus of

3774-472: The original price. However, the Soviets were not pleased about the developments in Afghanistan and Brezhnev impressed upon Taraki the need for party unity. Despite reaching this agreement with Taraki, the Soviets continued to be reluctant to intervene further in Afghanistan and repeatedly refused Soviet military intervention within Afghan borders during Taraki's rule as well as later during Amin's short rule. In

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3848-524: The peculiar conditions there, an urgent need to do so, to recapitulate and to revise his ideas, communications and actions from the 1960s until his violent disappearance in 1979." The main political background was built by third world freedom movements like in Vietnam, Palestine, or African anti-colonial fights and it was orientated on Non-Aligned Movement . The political activities between 1965 and 1978 were mainly focussed on basic reformative goals toward

3922-403: The people. There has been little systematic and systemic research on core ideas and thoughts of Taher Badakhshi in recent years. The lack of serious academic studies on his legacy is remarkable. This epistemic void might be caused by different factors. Rarely you will find any university in the Western hemisphere performing systematic research on modernism in Afghanistan with the specific focus on

3996-414: The population, had been negatively affected by the land reform. Contrary to government expectations, the reform was neither popular nor productive. Agricultural harvests plummeted and the reform itself led to rising discontent amongst Afghans. When Taraki realized the degree of popular dissatisfaction with the reform he quickly abandoned the policy. However, the land reform was gradually implemented under

4070-409: The primary sources of the contemporary poetics and fiction of Persian literature in Afghanistan. He was actively involved and proactive in literary and intellectual circles of Kabul. He was a co-ordinator of the first congress of People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan , the first main leftist democratic party in Afghanistan. He left the party in 1967 after the membership of Hafizullah Amin who had

4144-470: The regime of Amin was the focus of war crimes investigation led by Dutch police and prosecutors, the result was a death list that was published by the Dutch prosecutor's office on 17 September 2013, finally you could read names. His spouse Mrs Jamila Badakhshi and their children Walid Arsalan, Rudaba Nilab, Jawid Mazyar and Harun Rozbeh moved in 1985 to Germany and still live there. During these times he

4218-403: The situation in your country would not improve. On the contrary, it would get worse. Our troops would have to struggle not only with an external aggressor, but with a significant part of your own people. And the people would never forgive such things" Taraki signed a Twenty-Year Treaty of Friendship with the Soviet Union on 5 December 1978 which greatly expanded Soviet aid to his regime. Following

4292-476: The superficial term of a "liberal" group or organization is meant here, but ideas based on the notion of principle justice, political emancipation and freedom as such and in AFG. Ideologies backing liberal connotations and struggles and, ultimately, those policies leading to a certain degree of statehood/nationhood, justice and freedom. A certain degree means any fine and discrete difference had been made by these ideas, ideologies and policies. Third level will contain

4366-540: The system into political detention many times in his life, for days, weeks or multiple months: during the times of King Zahir Shah , during the first republic of Muhammad Daoud. In the meantime, he worked in the Ministry of Education, where he kept working during the regime of Nur Muhammad Taraki after the leftist coup d état in April 1978 too. His cultural work and productivity in terms of writing multiple newspapers, journals and magazines on poetry, prose, philosophy and theology had been documented well, but mostly got lost in

4440-573: The years of the war that came after 1980. The theoretical work done by Taher Badakhshi in the meantime extended from poetry and prose to solid concepts of political thinking and action that are yet in urgent need to be studied. Experts in area studies from the Global North (or the Western hemisphere) are at the beginning of research. His political and theoretical legacy in the years to come experienced heterogeneous transformation, often by good will or by theoretical misunderstandings, it remains still

4514-414: Was a "far more impressive figure". Taraki could count on the support of four prominent army officers in his struggle against Amin: Aslam Watanjar , Sayed Mohammad Gulabzoy , Sherjan Mazdoryar and Assadullah Sarwari . These men had joined the PDPA not because of ideological reasons, but instead due to their lofty political ambitions. They also had developed a close relationship with Alexander Puzanov ,

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4588-404: Was a secret mission, and he confided the information to contacts in the Soviet embassy. The embassy responded by warning Amin of the assassination attempt, thereby saving him from certain death. On 11 September 1979, Chairman Taraki was greeted by Amin at the airport on his return to Kabul from Moscow. The flight was scheduled to land at 2:30, but Amin forced the delay of the landing by an hour as

4662-645: Was an Afghan communist politician, journalist and writer. He was a founding member of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) who served as its General Secretary from 1965 to 1979 and Chairman of the Revolutionary Council from 1978 to 1979. Taraki was born in Nawa , Ghazni Province , and he got his primary and secondary education from district Pishin in Balochistan and graduated from Kabul University , after which he started his political career as

4736-669: Was an admirer of the works of Vladimir Lenin . In 1937, Taraki started working for Abdul Majid Zabuli , the Minister of Economics , who introduced him to several Russians. Later Taraki became Deputy Head of the Bakhtar News Agency and became known throughout the country as an author and poet. His best known book, the De Bang Mosaferi , highlights the socio-economic difficulties facing Afghan workers and peasants. His works were translated into Russian language in

4810-663: Was born on 14 July 1917 to a Khilji Pashtun Tarakai peasant family in the Nawa District of Ghazni Province , part of what was then the Emirate of Afghanistan . He was the oldest of three children and attended a village school in Nawa, before leaving in 1932 what had become the Kingdom of Afghanistan , at the age of 15, to work in the port city of Bombay , India. There he met a Kandahari merchant family who employed him as

4884-687: Was common. However, because of his language skills, Taraki was sent to the Afghan Embassy in the United States in 1952. Within several months, Taraki began denouncing the Royal Afghan Government under King Zahir , and accused it of being autocratic and dictatorial . His denunciation of the Royal Afghan Government earned him much publicity in the United States. It also attracted unfavourable attention from authorities back home, who relieved him of his post and ordered him repatriated but stopped short of placing him under arrest. After

4958-548: Was given such titles as "The True Disciple and Student". Amin would later come to realize he had created a monster when the Kim Il Sung -style personality cult he had created inspired Taraki to become overly confident and believe in his own brilliance. Taraki began discounting Amin's suggestions, fostering in Amin a deep sense of resentment. As their relationship turned increasingly sour, a power struggle developed between them for

5032-399: Was his choice. Amin, who now believed he had the full support of the Soviets, ordered the death of Taraki. Taraki's death occurred on 8 October 1979, when he was (according to most accounts) suffocated with pillows by three men under Amin's orders. Taraki did not resist nor did he say anything as he was instructed by the men to lie down on a bed to be suffocated. His body was secretly buried by

5106-541: Was imprisoned many times: 1964 by the King Zahir Shah's regime "because" of organizing and leading a massive manifestation of student, scholars and regular folks in Kabul. In 1969 he was arrested "because" of subversive political activities by the same system. In 1975 by the President Daud's regime, a highly conservative ruler supposed by the leftist, "because" of political resistance, and finally in 1978 by

5180-655: Was not only to be found between the Khalqist and Parchamites; tense rivalry between Taraki and Amin had begun in the Khalq faction with both vying for control. Karmal was recalled from Czechoslovakia but rather than returning to Afghanistan he went into hiding with Anahita Ratebzad , his friend and former Afghan ambassador to Yugoslavia, as he feared execution if he returned. Muhammad Najibullah followed them. Taraki consequently stripped them of all official titles and political authority. The new government, under Taraki, launched

5254-651: Was part of the Parcham faction of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan. During the Taraki - Amin period, the Setamis withdrew to the Afghan countryside, though as an urban movement this removed them from their powerbase. During the 1979-1986 rule of communist president Babrak Karmal , the Setamis became closer with the government, partially as Karmal had been a personal friend of Badakhshi (who had been killed in 1979). A Setami leader, Bashir Baghlani , went over to

5328-511: Was rumoured that Karmal was present at the meeting in an attempt to reconcile Taraki's Khalq faction and the Parcham against Amin and his followers. At the meeting, Taraki was successful in negotiating some Soviet support, including the redeployment of two Soviet armed divisions at the Soviet–Afghan border, the sending of 500 military and civilian advisers and specialists, and the immediate delivery of Soviet armed equipment sold at 25 percent below

5402-449: Was then renamed the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA), installing a regime that would last until April 1992. Taraki was appointed Chairman of the Revolutionary Council (head of state) and Chairman of the Council of Ministers (head of government) while retaining his post as PDPA general secretary (supreme leader). He initially formed a government which consisted of both Khalqists and Parchamites ; Karmal became Deputy Chairman of

5476-445: Was very close to a Kabul-based literature scene under the influence of Sufi poets Ghulam Dehqan and Khalilullah Khalili . He began contacting a broad circle of urban intellectuals with activities in the field of culture and politics. He was connected in long lasting friendship to the avant-garde intellectuals like the university professor, poet, linguist Wasef Bakhtari and the novelist and historian Azam Rahnaward Zariab , who were

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