Hafizullah Amin is one of the most controversial personalities in the history of Afghanistan. Many consider him to be the main culprit of 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 intrigue. So who was Hafizullah Amin? The biography of the Prime Minister of Afghanistan will be the subject of our study.
Birth and young years
Hafizullah Amin was born in August 1929 in the province of Pagman near Kabul, in the kingdom of Afghanistan. His father was the head of one of the country's prisons. He came from the Pashtun-Ghilzai tribe of the Haruti clan.
After graduating from high school, Hafizullah Amin enrolled in a teacher training college. Having completed training there, he did not stop. Amin successfully graduated from Kabul University and received a bachelor's degree in physics.
Then he began to teach in the capital’s lyceum, where he systematically moved up the career ladder. Amin walked relatively quickly from a simple teacher to a 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
Studying at the university, Hafizullah Amin showed a rather high level of knowledge, led the Afghan community, and also became acquainted for the first time with Marxist ideas. Later, he became 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, having received a master's degree and returned to Afghanistan, Hafizullah Amin begins to actively engage in social activities. He teaches at a university in Kabul. Although it gained a reputation as a Pashtun nationalist, in 1966 Amin became a member of a Marxist organization led by leader Nur Mohammad Taraki, the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan, founded the year before.
In 1967, the party was actually divided into two factions - the Halk, whose leader was Taraki, and Parcham, led by Babrak Karmal. The Halk faction relied mainly on ethnic Pashtuns, villagers, while the main Parcham electorate was the multinational urban population. In addition, Hulk supporters were more radical in their views. It was in this fraction that Amin ended up. However, already in 1968, at a meeting of the Halk faction, his status was reduced to the status of a candidate for entry into the PDPA. Officially, this step was justified by the overly nationalistic views of Amin.
But already in 1969, Amin, along with several other members of the PDPA, took part in the parliamentary elections. Moreover, he was the only representative from both factions who was nevertheless elected to the lower house of parliament.
Revolutionary events
In July 1973, events occurred that launched the mechanism of radical transformations in the country, which eventually turned into a protracted civil war. It was then that the overthrow of King Mohammed Zahir Shah, who was on a visit to Italy, who ruled since 1933, his cousin and former Prime Minister of Afghanistan Mohammed Daoud, organized a military coup, was overthrown. Daud abolished the monarchy and in fact established a personal dictatorship, although he formally assumed the presidency. The PDPA leadership supported the coup. Not having broad support among the masses of the population, Daud was forced to seek support from this party. He especially became close to the Parcham wing.
But soon the relationship between Daoud and the PDPA went wrong, as the president banned all political parties except his own - the National Revolution Party. Meanwhile, in 1977, with the mediation of the USSR, the two wings of the PDPA were united again into a single party, although the fractional separation was not completely eliminated. Taraki was elected Secretary General, and Amin joined the Party Central Committee. Then it was decided to prepare for the overthrow of President Daoud.
In April 1978, the Saur revolution took place, as a result of which Muhammad Daud was ousted and soon executed, and the PDPA party seized the leadership of the country with the support of the military. Officially, the country became known as the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. The head of state is Taraki, who occupies the highest posts - the Chairman of the Revolutionary Council and the Prime Minister. Another member of the Parcham faction, Babrak Karmal, becomes deputy chairman of the revolutionary council. Amin receives the posts of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs. In March 1979, Taraki, remaining the head of state, as Chairman of the Revolutionary Council, resigned as prime minister and transferred them to Hafizullah Amin.
Rise to power
But immediately, 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 inside the Hulk faction itself, not everything was smooth. 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, being 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 trying to kill Amin, usurp power and establish a personality cult. After his conviction, the former leader of Afghanistan was strangled by order of Amin. At first, the essence of what was happening was hidden from the people, announcing that Taraki died due to illness.
After the elimination of Taraki, from September 16, 1979, Amin became the Secretary General of the PDPA and the Chairman of the Revolutionary Council, while at the same time, as before, remaining the Prime Minister and Minister of Defense.
Death
Having come to power, Amin not only did not weaken the repressions, but even intensified them, surpassing previous leaders of the country. By this he set against himself not only members of the Parcham faction, but also many members of the Hulk wing. Feeling that he was losing control, it was Amin who was the first to 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 an agent of the KGB. As a result of an operation carried out by special services of the USSR, on December 27, 1979, Hafizullah Amin was physically destroyed in his own palace
A family
Hafizullah Amin had a wife, son and daughters. What happened to the family of the leader of Afghanistan after Hafizullah Amin was killed? Children were also with their father during the storming of the palace. The son was killed, and one of the daughters was injured. Nothing is known about the fate of the surviving members of the Amin family.
Interesting Facts
Immediately after the death of the leader of Afghanistan, it was widely believed that Hafizullah Amin was a traitor recruited by the CIA. In fact, no direct evidence has been found of Amin’s connection with the US intelligence agencies.
Despite the widespread belief that Karmal proposed the introduction of Soviet troops into Afghanistan, in fact, Amin himself came up with this initiative.
