San José State University
Department of Economics

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 Thayer Watkins
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The Collapse of the Najibullah Regime
in Afghanistan 1989-1992

Najibullah
When the Soviet Union withdrew its eighty thousand or so troops from Afghanistan in 1989 it was expected that the Marxist government of Najibullah would soon collapse, but Najibullah was a tenacious survivor, as witnessed by his acquisition of power. Instead of an immediate downfall the regime lasted three years.

Finally the mujahedeen forces surrounded Kabul. With their Western supplied weapons the siege was relentless. One of the more effective commanders of the Najibullah government army, Abdul Rashid Dostum, abandoned the government cause and joined with Massood's forces in the siege of Kabul. In April of 1992 the United Nations representatives negotiated an agreement with Najibullah that he would relinquish control of the government but there was no entity to accept that control. The majahedeen divided up control among the various factions. The prime ministership went to Gulbuddin Hekmatyar but he declined from entering Kabul where his chief political rival, Ahmed Shah Massood was in control of the city. Najibullah sought asylum in a U.N. compound in Kabul.

Najibullah remained in the U.N. compound until September until the Taliban forces gained control of the city. Massood's troops fled as did the security guards of Najibullah. When the Taliban troops gained control they captured Najibullah and brother in the U.N. compound and took them out and killed them. They then hung the bodies up for public display.

Najibullah
and his brother

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