Editing Mohammad Najibullah (section)

==Final years and death==
Not long before Kabul's fall, Najibullah appealed to the [[UN]] for protection after his guards fled, which was rejected.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Ex president hanged by Taliban after fall of Kabul|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ex-president-hanged-by-taliban-after-fall-of-kabul-1.90501|date=28 September 1996|access-date=2 October 2021|work=[[Irish Times]]}}</ref> His attempt to flee to the airport was thwarted by troops of [[Abdul Rashid Dostum]] – once loyal to him, but now allied with [[Ahmad Shah Massoud]] – who controlled the airport. At the UN compound in Kabul, while waiting for the UN to negotiate his safe passage to [[India]], he occupied himself by translating [[Peter Hopkirk]]'s book [[The Great Game (Peter Hopkirk book)|''The Great Game'']] into his mother tongue [[Pashto language|Pashto]].<ref name="GG2-H-23">{{cite web |last=Latifi |first=Ali M. |title=Executed Afghan president stages 'comeback' |url=http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/06/2012618134838393817.html |date=22 June 2012 |publisher=aljazeera.com |access-date=23 August 2012}}</ref> India was placed in a difficult position by deciding to allow Najibullah [[political asylum]] and safely escorting him out of the country. Supporters claimed he had always been close to India and should not be denied asylum, but others said doing so would risk antagonizing India's relationship with the new mujahideen government formed under the [[Peshawar Accord]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/all-attempts-to-take-najibullah-safely-out-of-afghanistan-fail/1/306813.html|title=All attempts to take Najibullah safely out of Afghanistan fail|website=Indiatoday.intoday.in|date=15 June 2013 |access-date=17 December 2017}}</ref>

India also refused to let him take refuge at the Indian embassy in Afghanistan as it risked creating "subcontinental rivalries" and reprisals against Kabul's Indian community, arguing that Najibullah would be far safer at the UN compound. All attempts failed and he eventually sought refuge in the local UN headquarters,<ref>{{cite book | author = [[Rodric Braithwaite|Braithwaite, Rodric]] | title = Afgantsy: The Russians in Afghanistan, 1979–1989 | publisher = Indo-European Publishing | year = 2007 | isbn = 978-1-60444-002-7 | page = [https://books.google.com/books?id=guQQKejG3qUC&pg=PA301 301] }}</ref> where he would stay until 1996. In 1994, India sent senior diplomat M. K. Bhadrakumar to Kabul to hold talks with Ahmad Shah Massoud, the defence minister, to consolidate relations with the Afghan authorities, reopen the embassy, and allow Najibullah to fly to India, but Massoud refused.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://qz.com/1114676/najibullahs-failed-escape-how-india-and-the-un-mucked-up-completely-in-afghanistan/|title=Murder of a president: How India and the UN mucked up completely in Afghanistan|website=Gz.com|date=30 October 2017 |access-date=17 December 2017}}</ref> Bhadrakumar wrote in 2016 that he believed Massoud did not want Najibullah to leave as Massoud could strategically make use of him, and that Massoud "probably harboured hopes of a co-habitation with Najib somewhere in the womb of time because that extraordinary Afghan politician was a strategic asset to have by his side".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rediff.com/news/special/exclusive-how-india-reached-out-to-the-exclusive-how-india-reached-out-to-the-afghan-mujahideen/20160914.htm|title=Exclusive! How India reached out to the Afghan Mujahideen|website=Rediff.com|access-date=17 December 2017}}</ref> At the time, Massoud was commanding the government's forces fighting the militias of Dostum and [[Gulbuddin Hekmatyar]] during the [[Battle of Kabul (1992–1996)|Battle of Kabul]]. A few months before his death,<!---the precise day he quoted is unknown, so the usage "Few months before". it may be few days or few years----> he quoted, "Afghans keep making the same mistake," reflecting upon his translation to a visitor.<ref name="GG2-B-01">{{cite book|last=Coll|first=Steve|title=Page 333 – Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the Cia, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001|year=2004|publisher=Penguin|isbn=9781594200076|pages=695|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ToYxFL5wmBIC&pg=PA333}}</ref>

In September 1996, when the [[Taliban]] [[Battle of Kabul (1992–1996)|were about to enter]] Kabul,<ref>{{cite book | author = [[Rodric Braithwaite|Braithwaite, Rodric]] | title = Afgantsy: The Russians in Afghanistan, 1979–1989 | publisher = Indo-European Publishing | year = 2007 | isbn = 978-1-60444-002-7 | pages = [https://books.google.com/books?id=guQQKejG3qUC&pg=PA302 302–303] }}</ref> Massoud claimed to have offered Najibullah an opportunity to flee the capital. Najibullah refused. The reasons for his refusal might have been that unlike other members of the former regime, Najibullah had not been granted amnesty by the [[Islamic State of Afghanistan]]. The UN Secretary-General [[Boutros Boutros-Ghali]] had pleaded with the government of [[Burhanuddin Rabbani]] to allow Najibullah to leave the country as he felt that Najibullah was not safe as his presence was well known, Rabbani however refused to grant Najibullah amnesty. Massoud (a member of Rabbani's [[Jamiat-e Islami|Jamiat-e Islami Party]]) himself claimed that Najibullah feared that "if he fled with the Tajiks, he would be for ever damned in the eyes of his fellow Pashtuns."<ref>Rashid, A. (2002). Taliban: Islam, Oil and the New Great Game in Central Asia. Quote on p. 49. Also see footnote 15 on p. 252</ref> Others, like General Tokhi, who was with Najibullah until the day before his torture and murder, stated that Najibullah mistrusted Massoud after his militia had repeatedly fired rockets at the UN compound and had effectively barred Najibullah from leaving Kabul. "If they wanted Najibullah to flee Kabul in safety," Tokhi said, "they could have provided him the opportunity as they did with other high-ranking officials from the communist party from 1992 to 1996."<ref>Interview with General Tokhi. Relevant section from 09.40 min. – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MPzl7DnrTg</ref> Dr Najibullah was the only member of the old regime (besides [[Assadullah Sarwari|Assadullah Sawari]]) to not be granted [[amnesty]] by the [[Islamic State of Afghanistan]].  Whatever his true motivations were, when Massoud's militia went to both Najibullah and General Tokhi and asked them to flee Kabul, they rejected the offer.

Najibullah was at the UN compound when unknown soldiers came for him on the evening of 26 September 1996.<ref name="bbc-Taleban">{{cite news |last=White |first=Terence |date=15 October 2001 |title=Flashback: When the Taleban took Kabul |publisher=BBC |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1600136.stm |access-date=15 June 2015}}</ref> He was abducted from UN custody, and shot in the head. It is alleged that members of the Taliban after finding his corpse dragged his corpse behind a truck through the streets of Kabul.<ref>{{cite news |last=Parry |first=Robert |url= https://consortiumnews.com/2013/04/07/hollywoods-dangerous-afghan-illusion/|title=Hollywood's Dangerous Afghan Illusion |website=Consortiumnews.com |date=7 April 2013 |access-date=31 January 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL {{!}} UN Press |url=https://press.un.org/en/1996/19960927.nb27sep.html |access-date=20 September 2023 |website=press.un.org}}</ref> His brother, General Shahpur Ahmadzai, was given the same treatment.<ref name="brother&brotherdead"/> Najibullah and Shahpur's bodies were hanged from a traffic light pole outside the [[Arg (Kabul)|Arg presidential palace]] the next day in order to show the public that a new era had begun. The Taliban prevented [[Islamic funeral]] prayers for Najibullah and Shahpur in Kabul, but the bodies were later handed over to the [[International Committee of the Red Cross]] who in turn sent their bodies to [[Gardez]] in [[Paktia Province]], where both of them were buried after the Islamic funeral prayers for them by their fellow Ahmadzai tribesmen.<ref name="brother&brotherdead">{{cite book |author=Rashid, Ahmed |title=Taliban: Islam, Oil and the New Great Game in Central Asia |publisher=I.B. Tauris & Company |year=2002 |isbn=978-1845117887 |page=49 }}</ref> The perpetrators of the murder have been debated, some including Soviet journalists Plastun and Andrianov who knew Najibullah personally, US Special Envoy to Afghanistan [[Peter Tomsen]], the former [[National Directorate of Security]], Afghanistan's Strategic and Scientific Research Center, and many [[Pashtun nationalism|Pashtun Nationalist]] including a former senator in Pakistan, [[Afrasiab Khattak]] have claimed that Najibullah was assassinated by the ISI (alongside members of the Taliban working for them) allegedly over his Pashtun nationalist stance [[Durand Line]] as well as revenge for the botched [[Battle of Jalalabad (1989)|Battle of Jalalabad]] in 1989.<ref>{{cite news |author=Пластун В.Н., Андрианов В.В. |date=1999 |title=Наджибулла. Афганистан в тисках геополитики |url=http://www.rsva.ru/biblio/prose_af/nadjib/7.shtml?part=7 |access-date=28 April 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150717194502/http://www.rsva.ru/biblio/prose_af/nadjib/7.shtml?part=7 |archive-date=17 July 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Researchers Blame Pakistan's ISI For Death Of Ex-President Najibullah |url=https://tolonews.com/afghanistan/researchers-blame-pakistans-isi-death-ex-president-najibullah |access-date=20 September 2023 |website=TOLOnews |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=20 September 2023 |title=Taliban Killed Dr Najibullah on Orders of Pak Military Officer, Says Khattak |url=https://www.afintl.com/en/202209277594 |access-date=20 September 2023 |website=Afghanistan International |language=en}}</ref> In his book ''The Wars of Afghanistan'', Tomsen wrote, “Najib's entrapment and execution carried the hallmarks of a classic intelligence operation. The Taliban, on their own, would not have taken such elaborate precautions to avoid violating the UN's diplomatic premises (where Dr Najibullah had taken sanctuary since stepping down in 1992).”<ref name=":2">{{cite web |date=15 May 2011 |title=The Wars of Afghanistan: Messianic Terrorism, Tribal Conflicts, and the Failures of Great Powers |url=http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/non-fiction/peter-tomsen/wars-afghanistan/ |access-date=28 July 2011 |publisher=Kirkus Reviews}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{cite journal |last=Silverman |first=Jerry Mark |title=The Wars of Afghanistan: Messianic Terrorism, Tribal Conflicts, and The Failures of Great Powers |url=http://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/review/wars-afghanistan-messianic-terrorism-tribal-conflicts-and-failures-great-powers |journal=New York Journal of Books |access-date=28 July 2011}}</ref><ref name="dailytimes.com.pk">{{Cite web |date=24 September 2014 |title=Dr Mohammed Najibullah: the Afghan Prometheus |url=https://dailytimes.com.pk/103139/dr-mohammed-najibullah-the-afghan-prometheus/ |access-date=20 September 2023 |website=Daily Times |language=en-US}}</ref> In 1996, [[Mullah Borjan]], who was the commander-in-chief of the [[Taliban]] siege force on the southeast side of [[Kabul]], claimed to have been approached by the ISI and asked to kill Najibullah.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gall |first=Carlotta |title=The wrong enemy: America in Afghanistan, 2001 - 2014 |date=2015 |publisher=Mariner Books |isbn=978-0-544-04669-6 |edition=1. Mariner Books |location=Bosten, Mass.}}</ref> He made it clear that he would never allow Taliban forces to kill former President Najibullah. On 20 September, Mullah Borjan was shot and killed by his bodyguards for unknown reasons. A week later, Najibullah was killed.<ref>https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB227/17.pdf – NSA</ref>

===Reactions===
News of Najibullah's murder was greeted with widespread international condemnation,<ref name="un-51/108">"[https://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/51/a51r108.htm Situation of human rights in Afghanistan]" United Nations Resolution 51/108, Article 10. 12 December 1996. Retrieved 15 June 2015 ''"Endorses the Special Rapporteur's condemnation of the abduction from United Nations premises of the former President of Afghanistan, Mr. Najibullah, and of his brother, and of their subsequent summary execution;"''</ref> particularly from the [[Muslim world]].<ref name="brother&brotherdead"/> The United Nations issued a statement which condemned the killing of Najibullah, and claimed that it would further destabilise Afghanistan. The Taliban responded by issuing death sentences on Dostum, Massoud and [[Burhanuddin Rabbani]].<ref name="brother&brotherdead"/> India, which had been supporting Najibullah, strongly condemned his killing and began to support Massoud's [[United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan|United Front/Northern Alliance]] in an attempt to contain the rise of the Taliban.<ref name="Pigott 54">Pigott, Peter. [https://archive.org/details/canadainafghanis0000pigo/page/54 <!-- quote=Mohammad Najibullah delhi. --> ''Canada in Afghanistan: The War So Far''.] Toronto: Dundurn Press Ltd, 2007. {{ISBN|978-1-55002-674-0}}. p. 54. – via Google Books</ref>

On the 20th anniversary of his death, in 2016, Afghanistan's Research Center blamed the ISI for his death, claiming that the plan to kill Najibullah was implemented by Pakistan.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tolonews.com/index.php/afghanistan/researchers-blame-pakistans-isi-death-ex-president-najibullah|title = Researchers Blame Pakistan's ISI for Death of Ex-President Najibullah}}</ref>

On 1 June 2020, following a visit to his grave in [[Gardez]] by the Afghan National Security Advisor [[Hamdullah Mohib]], Najibullah's widow [[Fatana Najib]] said that before constructing a mausoleum for him, the government should first investigate his assassination.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/pashto/afghanistan-52873294|title=فتانه نجیب: د قبر تر جوړېدو مخکې دې د نجیب د مرګ پلټنه وشي|newspaper=BBC News پښتو|language=ps|date=1 June 2020}}</ref> In 2021, during an interview with a [[Taliban]] commander on Afghan television, he denied that the Taliban were involved and blamed Najibullah’s assassination on the [[Inter-Services Intelligence|ISI]].