Editing Mohammad Najibullah (section)

===National Reconciliation===
{{main|National Reconciliation (Afghanistan)}}
[[File:Najib Belgrade.png|thumb|200px|Najibullah at the [[Belgrade]] Conference in 1989]]
In September 1986, the National Compromise Commission (NCC) was established on the orders of Najibullah. The NCC's goal was to contact [[counter-revolutionaries]] "in order to complete the Saur Revolution in its new phase." Allegedly, an estimated 40,000 rebels were contacted by the government. At the end of 1986, Najibullah called for a six-months ceasefire and talks between the various opposition forces, this was part of his policy of National Reconciliation. The discussions, if fruitful, would lead to the establishment of a coalition government and be the end of the PDPA's monopoly of power. The programme failed, but the government was able to recruit disillusioned mujahideen fighters as government militias. A number of prominent Mujahideen commanders defected to the government, such as [[Ismatullah Muslim]] in [[Kandahar]], Fazal Ahmad in [[Herat]], and Juma Khan in Andarab with a large number of their followers in exchange for cash. Many more Mujahideen joined the government’s tribal militias, some of them being incorporated into the [[Afghan Army]] as divisions.<ref name="MNPP"/><ref>{{Cite book |last=Urban |first=Mark |url=https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/War_in_Afghanistan.html?id=3jVuAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y |title=War in Afghanistan |date=1990 |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=978-0-333-51478-8 |language=en}}</ref> In many ways, the National Reconciliation led to an increasing number of urban dwellers to support his rule, and the stabilisation of the [[Afghan Armed Forces]].<ref>{{cite book | author = Amtstutz, J. Bruce | title = Afghanistan: Past and Present | publisher = DIANE Publishing | year = 1994 | isbn = 0-7881-1111-6 | page = [https://books.google.com/books?id=a0Mp1AHpp0gC&pg=PA153 153] }}</ref>

In September 1986, a new constitution was written, which was adopted on 29 November 1987.<ref name="IslamicState">{{cite book | author = Otto, Jan Michiel | title = Sharia Incorporated: A Comparative Overview of the Legal Systems of Twelve Muslim Countries in Past and Present | publisher = [[Amsterdam University Press]] | year = 2010 | isbn = 978-90-8728-057-4 | page = [https://books.google.com/books?id=8ep7cX3ma0sC&pg=PA289 289] }}</ref> The constitution weakened the powers of the head of state by cancelling his absolute veto. The reason for this move, according to Najibullah, was the need for real-power sharing. On 13 July 1987, the official name of Afghanistan was changed from the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan to Republic of Afghanistan, and in June 1988 the Revolutionary Council, whose members were elected by the party leadership, was replaced by a National Assembly, an organ in which members were to be elected by the people. The PDPA's socialist stance was denied even more than previously, in 1989 the [[Ministry of Higher Education (Afghanistan)|Minister of Higher Education]] began to work on the "de-Sovietisation" of universities, and in 1990 it was even announced by a party member that all PDPA members were [[Muslim]]s and that the party had abandoned [[Marxism]]. Many parts of the Afghan government's economic monopoly was also broken, this had more to do with the tight situation than any ideological conviction. [[Abdul Hakim Misaq]], the [[Mayor of Kabul]], even stated that traffickers of stolen goods would not be prosecuted by law as long as their goods were given to the market. [[Yuli Mikhailovich Vorontsov|Yuli Vorontsov]], on Gorbachev's orders, was able to get an agreement with the PDPA leadership to offer the posts of Gossoviet chairman (the state planning organ), the [[Council of Ministers (Afghanistan)|Council of Ministers]] chairmanship (head of government), ministries of defence, state security, communications, [[Ministry of Finance (Afghanistan)|finance]], presidencies of banks and the [[Supreme Court (Afghanistan)|Supreme Court]]. The PDPA still demanded it held on to all deputy ministers, retained its majority in the state bureaucracy and that it retained all its provincial governors.<ref>{{cite book | author = Giustozzi, Antonio | title = War, Politics and Society in Afghanistan, 1978–1992 | publisher = [[C. Hurst & Co.|C. Hurst & Co. Publishers]] | year = 2000 | isbn = 978-1-85065-396-7 | page = [https://books.google.com/books?id=Hz5NzJtg48kC&pg=PA155 155] }}</ref> The government was not willing to concede all of these positions, and when the offer was broadcast, the ministries of defence and state security.<ref>{{cite book | author = Giustozzi, Antonio | title = War, Politics and Society in Afghanistan, 1978–1992 | publisher = [[C. Hurst & Co.|C. Hurst & Co. Publishers]] | year = 2000 | isbn = 978-1-85065-396-7 | pages = [https://books.google.com/books?id=Hz5NzJtg48kC&pg=PA156 155–156] }}</ref>

====Elections: 1987 and 1988====
Local elections were held in 1987. It began when the government introduced a law permitting the formation of other political parties, announced that it would be prepared to share power with representatives of opposition groups in the event of a coalition government, and issued a new constitution providing for a new [[bicameral]] National Assembly (Meli Shura), consisting of a Senate (Sena) and a House of Representatives ([[Wolesi Jirga]]), and a president to be indirectly elected to a 7-year term.<ref>{{cite book | title = Regional Surveys of the World: Far East and Australasia 2003 | publisher = [[Routledge]] | year = 2002 | isbn = 978-1-85743-133-9 | page = [https://books.google.com/books?id=e5Az1lGCJwQC&pg=PA65 65] }}</ref> The new political parties had to oppose [[colonialism]], [[imperialism]], [[neo-colonialism]], [[Zionism]], racial discrimination, [[apartheid]] and [[fascism]]. Najibullah stated that only the extremist part of the opposition could not join the planned coalition government. No parties had to share the PDPA's policy or ideology, but they could not oppose the bond between Afghanistan and the Soviet Union. A [[1988 Afghan parliamentary election|parliamentary election was held in 1988]]. The PDPA won 46 seats in the House of Representatives and controlled the government with support from the [[National Front (Afghanistan)|National Front]], which won 45 seats, and from various newly recognized left-wing parties, which had won a total of 24 seats. Although the election was boycotted by the Mujahideen, the government left 50 of the 234 seats in the House of Representatives, as well as a small number of seats in the Senate, vacant in the hope that the guerrillas would end their armed struggle and participate in the government. The only armed opposition party to make peace with the government was [[Hizbollah (Afghanistan)|Hizbollah]], a small [[Shi'a]] party not to be confused with the bigger party in Iran or the [[Hezbollah (Lebanon)|Lebanese organization]].<ref>{{cite book | author = Giustozzi, Antonio | title = War, Politics and Society in Afghanistan, 1978–1992 | publisher = [[C. Hurst & Co.|C. Hurst & Co. Publishers]] | year = 2000 | isbn = 978-1-85065-396-7 | page = [https://books.google.com/books?id=Hz5NzJtg48kC&pg=PA161 161] }}</ref>