Ashraf Ghani was not the first Afghan president to do so Loss of power in Afghanistan to the Taliban. Mohammed Najibullah was President of Afghanistan when the Taliban first conquered the country.
While Ashraf Ghani escaped from Afghanistan with a lot of cash according to Russian reports and said he wanted to avoid “bloodshed” in Kabul, Najibullah was not so lucky. He died in a pool of blood.
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Who was Najibullah?
Mohammed Najibullah was a doctor who entered politics as a communist – inspired by the success of Soviet Russia. Back then that The Afghan leadership was practically controlled by the communist regime the USSR.
With Moscow’s blessing, Najibullah became President of Afghanistan. It was also when Soviet Russia went through the internal upheavals that led to the breakup of the USSR into over a dozen independent countries in 1990-91.
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With the weakening of the Soviet Union and growing pressure from the mujahideen in Afghanistan, Najibullah dropped the “secular” character of the government and returned to the country’s pre-communist name – the Republic of Afghanistan.
Afghanistan was formerly called the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. Najibullah also declared Islam to be the state religion of Afghanistan. But it did not satisfy the Islamist mujahideen. Their offensive continued.
How did the Taliban conquer Afghanistan?
After the fall of the USSR (Soviet Russia), Afghanistan was in complete chaos. Corruption plagued the government and rendered public office, including the military, practically useless.
A faction of mujahideen that had waged a jihad against the Soviets reformed form the Taliban with the intention of governing Afghanistan.
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While US interest in Afghanistan waned after the fall of Soviet Russia, Pakistan backed the Taliban, who found that defeating government forces was not that difficult. They promised to restore order in Afghanistan and gained public support before they could begin their rule.
What happened to Najibullah?
In 1992 the Taliban took over Kabul. Najibullah resigned and called on India to save him from falling into the hands of the Taliban. India actually responded, but was stopped on the way to boarding. The Afghan president was prevented from escaping by security forces.
Najibullah’s family fled to India months ago. Stranded in his capital, Najibullah sought refuge on United Nations grounds and stayed there until 1996. All this while the Taliban were waging a battle with an ethnic Tajik leader, Ahmad Shah Massoud, called the Northern Alliance.
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If the Taliban conquers Kabul many Afghan leaders fled the Northern Alliance. Massoud allegedly offered Najibullah an escape plan, but refused to believe that the Taliban would not kill him because he was a Pashtun – the community that forms the core of the Taliban.
It should not be. The Taliban invaded the UN premises on September 27, 1996. Najibullah was dragged out, tortured, shot and hung at a traffic light in front of the presidential palace in Kabul.
Ashraf Ghani: A Contrasting Story
Ashraf Ghani has been President of Afghanistan since 2014 Chief of Afghan Affairs when the US began negotiating a withdrawal agreement with the Taliban. He officially had a military of over 3 lakh personnel under his command. But his government was as riddled with corruption as Najibullah’s was in the 1990s.
The Taliban’s march this time was faster and bigger. Hours after the Taliban knocked on the gates of Kabul, Ashraf Ghani reportedly fled the country.
This was reported by a Russian news agency Ashraf Ghani left Kabul on Sunday with four cars and a helicopter full of cash.
While Najibullah came to a feared end despite pressure from the Islamic mujahideen by the Taliban, Ashraf Ghani saved his life and possibly provided for his personal prosperity.
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