The Rise And Fall Of Afghanistan's Last Communist President

21 years ago, Mohammad Najibullah Ahmadzai was executed. Najibullah, as he is called by many Afghans, was Afghanistan's last communist president. 

During the 1980s, when the Soviet Union occupied Afghanistan, Najibullah made his career in the shadow of the Kabul-based communist regime, which came to power after a bloody coup. 

He was a charismatic man, and just a few years before the fall of the Iron Curtain, in 1986, he became the president of Afghanistan. In these years, the war between the Afghan rebels – the Mujahideen groups – and the communist government in Kabul was still ongoing. 

While one side was supported by the USSR, India and other foreign powers, the other one was backed by the U.S., its Western allies and Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. 

However, when the war was over, Najibullah remained in power until 1992 and tried to negotiate between the different factions. 

But while Najibullah still has many supporters today, many Afghans did not trust his intentions then. One of the reasons for that was his time as the head of KHAD – the communist regime's intelligence service. 

The KHAD was infamous for torturing and killing tens of thousands of innocent people. In fact, it can be compared to the mass murder apparatus of Syrian dictator Bashar al Assad in Syria. As head of the intelligence service, Najib himself tortured and killed. 

During that time, Najibullah was called "kashok" ("spoon") by some, in reference to his alleged fondness for gouging out eyes with the aid of the utensil.

Najibullah's life was ended in a cruel way. 

On September 27, 1996, Najib was picked up by fighters of the newly appeared Taliban. The Taliban castrated Najibullah and dragged his bloodied body behind their truck through the streets of Kabul. It was then hung from a pole, where it remained for more than a day.