27/09/2026
On the 30th death anniversary of Dr. Mohammad Najibullah, the Pukhtoon Students Council, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, remembers a leader whose political journey became deeply associated with the ideas of Afghan national sovereignty, unity, independence and social progress.
Dr. Najibullah emerged from the socialist tradition of Afghanistan, but during his presidency he increasingly placed Afghan national interests and reconciliation at the centre of his political programme. His 1987 Constitution explicitly emphasized independence, national sovereignty, territorial integrity, national unity, social justice and equality.
His National Reconciliation policy sought to end the devastating civil war through an Afghan political settlement. His government introduced a new constitutional order, moved away from the earlier one-party structure, incorporated Islamic references, and called for the participation of different political and social forces in the country's political process.
For Afghan nationalists, his political legacy is particularly remembered through the principle that Afghanistan's future must ultimately be determined by Afghans themselves-through sovereignty, national unity and political settlement rather than perpetual armed conflict and external interference.
On 27 September 1996, when the Taliban captured Kabul, Dr. Najibullah was seized from the United Nations compound and executed. The UN Security Council subsequently condemned his killing and reaffirmed the sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and national unity of Afghanistan.
His death marked not merely the end of a former president, but one of the tragic turning points in Afghanistan's modern history.
We remember Dr. Najibullah as a son of Afghanistan whose political vision, whether accepted or contested, was ultimately centred on a sovereign, united and independent Afghanistan.
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