Afghan state, political and party figure Hafizullah Amin: biography, features of activity and interesting facts

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:47

Hafizullah Amin is one of the most controversial personalities in the history of Afghanistan. Many consider him the main culprit in the chain of wars in the country that began in 1979 and continues to this day, while others, on the contrary, think that he is a victim of intrigues. So who was Hafizullah Amin? The biography of the Prime Minister of Afghanistan will be the subject of our study.

Birth and early years

Hafizullah Amin was born in August 1929 in the province of Paghman near Kabul, in the Kingdom of Afghanistan. His father was the head of one of the country's prisons. He came from a tribe of Ghilzai Pashtuns from the Kharuti clan.

After graduating from school, Hafizullah Amin entered the Pedagogical College. Having completed his studies there, he did not stop. Amin successfully graduated from Kabul University with a bachelor's degree in physics.

Then he began to teach at the capital's lyceum, where he systematically moved up the career ladder. Amin relatively quickly walked the path from a simple teacher to director.

In order to improve his qualification level, Amin continued his studies in the USA, at Columbia University. He entered there at the age of thirty.

First steps in politics

While studying at the university, Hafizullah Amin showed a fairly high level of knowledge, led the Afghan community, and for the first time became closely acquainted with Marxist ideas. A little later, he becomes a member of the Progressive Socialist Club. Although, according to some Soviet experts, it was at that time that he was recruited by the CIA.

In 1965, after receiving a master's degree and returning to Afghanistan, Hafizullah Amin begins to actively engage in social activities. He teaches at the university in Kabul. Although he gained a reputation as a Pashtun nationalist, in 1966 Amin became a member of a Marxist organization under the leadership of Nur Mohammad Taraki, the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan, founded the year before.

In 1967, the party actually split into two factions - Khalq, led by Taraki, and Parcham, led by Babrak Karmal. The "Khalq" faction relied mainly on ethnic Pashtuns, residents of villages, while the main electorate of "Parcham" was the multinational urban population. In addition, Khalq supporters were more radical in their views. It was in this faction that Amin found himself. However, already in 1968, at a meeting of the Khalq faction, his status was lowered to the status of a candidate for joining the PDPA. Officially, this step was justified by Amin's overly nationalistic views.

But already in 1969, Amin, along with a number of other members of the PDPA, acceptedparticipation in parliamentary elections. Moreover, he was the only representative from both factions who was still elected to the lower house of parliament.

Revolutionary events

In July 1973, events took place that launched the mechanism of fundamental changes in the country, which eventually resulted in a protracted civil war. It was then that the overthrow of King Mohammed Zahir Shah, who was visiting Italy, who had ruled since 1933, was overthrown by his cousin and former Prime Minister of Afghanistan, Mohammed Daoud, who organized a military coup. Daoud abolished the monarchy and effectively established a personal dictatorship, although he formally assumed the presidency. The leadership of the PDPA supported the coup. Lacking broad support among the masses of the population, Daoud was forced to seek support from this party. He especially became close to the Parcham wing.

But soon relations between Daoud and the PDPA went wrong, as the president banned all political parties except his own, the National Revolution Party. In the meantime, in 1977, with the mediation of the USSR, the two wings of the PDPA again united into a single party, although the factional division was not completely eliminated. Taraki was chosen as the general secretary, and Amin entered the Central Committee of the party. At the same time, a decision was made to prepare for the overthrow of President Daoud.

In April 1978, the Saur Revolution took place, as a result of which Mohammed Daoud was deposed and soon executed, and the leadership of the country, with the support of the militarytaken over by the PDPA. Officially, the country became known as the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. The head of state becomes Taraki, who occupies the highest posts - the Chairman of the Revolutionary Council and the Prime Minister of the country. Another member of the Parcham faction, Babrak Karmal, becomes the Deputy Chairman of the Revolutionary Council. Amin receives the positions of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs. In March 1979, Taraki, remaining head of state, as Chairman of the Revolutionary Council, resigns as prime minister and transfers them to Hafizullah Amin.

Rise to power

But as soon as the revolutionaries came to power, conflicts began to arise between their various groups. Repressions began both against opposition forces and against those groups within the party that did not share the general line. In particular, members of the Parcham faction suffered the most. But even within the Khalq faction itself, not everything was smooth sailing. First of all, a personal feud broke out between Taraki and Amin, which was fueled by the personal ambitions of the latter. In the end, after a shootout between the bodyguards of these politicians in September 1979, Amin, who had been the Minister of Defense since July of that year, ordered the military to take control of the main government facilities.

At an extraordinary plenum of the party, Taraki was accused of attempting to assassinate Amin, usurp power and establish a cult of personality. After his conviction, the former leader of Afghanistan was strangled on the orders of Amin. Frompeople at first concealed the essence of what was happening, announcing that Taraki died due to illness.

After the elimination of Taraki, from September 16, 1979, Amin became the General Secretary of the PDPA and Chairman of the Revolutionary Council, while at the same time, as before, remaining Prime Minister and Minister of Defense.

Death

When he came to power, Amin not only did not weaken the repressions, but even strengthened them, surpassing the previous leaders of the country. By doing this, he set against himself not only members of the Parcham faction, but also many members of the Khalq wing. Feeling that he was losing control, it was Amin who first put forward the idea of attracting the military contingent of the Soviet Union to stabilize the situation in the country.

But the government of the USSR decided not to support Amin, as it considered him unreliable, but the leader of the Parcham faction, Babrak Karmal, who was a KGB agent. As a result of an operation carried out by the secret services of the USSR, on December 27, 1979, Hafizullah Amin was physically destroyed in his own palace

Family

Hafizullah Amin had a wife, son and daughters. What happened to the family of the leader of Afghanistan after Hafizullah Amin was killed? The children were also with their father during the storming of the palace. The son was killed and one of the daughters was wounded. Nothing is known about the fate of Amin's family members who survived the assault.

Interesting facts

Immediately after the death of the leader of Afghanistan, it was widely believed that Hafizullah Amin was a traitor recruited byCIA. In fact, not a single direct evidence of Amin's connection with the American intelligence services was found.

Despite the widespread belief that Karmal proposed to send Soviet troops into Afghanistan, in fact, Amin himself came up with such an initiative.

Personality assessment

We studied the description of the life that Hafizullah Amin lived. The biography of the President of Afghanistan demonstrates that he was a rather ambiguous person. In his character, patriotism was combined with careerism, the desire to establish social justice in the country was combined with repressive methods of conducting politics, which turned the public and political partners against Amin.

At the same time, Amin's allegations of collaboration with the CIA or other foreign intelligence agencies are not currently proven.