Historica Wiki
Advertisement


Nur Muhammad Taraki (Pashto: نور محمد ترکی‎; 14 July 1917 – 9 October 1979) was an Afghan revolutionary communist politician, journalist and writer. He was a founding member of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) who served as its General Secretary from 1965 to 1979 and Chairman of the Revolutionary Council from 1978 to 1979.

Biography[]

Nur Muhammad Taraki was born to the Ghilzai Pashtun tribe in Nawa District of Ghazni Province. He was the oldest of three children and attended a village school in Nawa before leaving at the age of 15 in 1932 working for a Kandahari merchant family as apart of the Pashtun Trading Company Taraki's first encounter with communism was during his night courses, where he met several Communist Party of India members who impressed him with their discussions on social justice and communist values. Another important event was his encounter with Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, a Pashtun nationalist and leader of the Red Shirt Movement in neighbouring India, who was an admirer of the works of Vladimir Lenin

After failing to kill Hafizullah Amin, Taraki was captured and murdered on Amin's orders by Senior Lieutenant Muhammad Ekbal on October 9th, 1979 resulting in the eventual Soviet intervention in Afghanistan.

Senior Lieutenant Muhammad Ekbal

The Officer responsible for Taraki's Murder

Advertisement