Mohammad Najibullah (1947-1996) ruled the Republic of Afghanistan from May 4, 1986, until April 15, 1992, spanning a period during which control of the country by the former Soviet Union waned and one of the cold war's final proxy conflicts became, once again, a civil war. As the country dissolved into fighting between rebel factions, Najibullah survived four more years under the protection of the United Nations before he was captured and killed.

Origins

Najibullah (meaning "Honored of God") was born in August 1947 to a moderately prosperous family belonging to the Pushtun Ahmadzai sub-tribe of the Ghilzai. Though his ancestral village was located between the towns of Said Karam and Gardez, capital of Pakhtya Province, Najibullah was born in Afghanistan's capital city, Kabul.

Najibullah's father, Akhtar Mohammad Khan, who died in 1983, served during the 1960s as the Afghani trade commissioner and consul in Peshawar, Pakistan, where he established friendly ties with prominent...