Nazar Muhammad (1935–1998) was a

Colonel General Colonel general is a military rank used in some armies. It is particularly associated with Germany, where historically General officer#Old European system, general officer ranks were one grade lower than in the Commonwealth and the United States, ...

in the

Afghan Armed Forces The Afghan Armed Forces, officially the Armed Forces of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (, ) and also referred to as the Islamic Emirate Armed Forces, is the military of Afghanistan, commanded by the Taliban government from 1997 to 2001 and a ...

, the Commander-in-Chief of the

Afghan Air Force The General Command of the Air Force (, Dari: ) also referred to as the Islamic Emirate Air Force and the Afghan Air Force, is the air force branch of the Afghan Armed Forces. The Royal Afghan Air Force was established in 1921 under the reign o ...

, the former Minister of Defense as well as the Chief of General Staff before 1988, being replaced by

Shahnawaz Tanai Lieutenant General Shahnawaz Tanai (Russian: Шахнаваз Танай, 1950 – 7 March 2022) was an Afghan military officer and politician who served as the Chief of General Staff of the Afghan Army during the Soviet-Afghan War until his ...

. He was born in 1935 in Shindand District,

Herat Herāt (; Dari/Pashto: هرات) is an oasis city and the third-largest city in Afghanistan. In 2020, it had an estimated population of 574,276, and serves as the capital of Herat Province, situated south of the Paropamisus Mountains (''Se ...

in the

Kingdom of Afghanistan The Kingdom of Afghanistan (; ) was a monarchy in Southern Central Asia that was established in 1926 as a successor state to the Emirate of Afghanistan. It was proclaimed by its first king, Amanullah Khan, seven years after he acceded to the ...

and died in 1998,

Quetta Quetta is the capital and largest city of the Pakistani province of Balochistan. It is the ninth largest city in Pakistan, with an estimated population of over 1.6 million in 2024. It is situated in the south-west of the country, lying in a ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. He was the former ambassador to

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

Early life

Nazar was born into a Pashtun family residing in Herat, Shindand District. He graduated from Kabul Military School in aviation and immediately joined the Afghan Air Force soon after. In 1974, during the tenure of

Mohammad Daoud Khan Mohammad Daoud Khan (Dari/) also romanized as Daud Khan or Dawood Khan; 18July 190928April 1978) was an Afghan head of state, military officer and politician who served as prime minister of Afghanistan from 1953 to 1963 and, as leader of the 1973 ...

, he joined the

Khalq Khalq (Dari/, ) was a faction of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA). Its historical ''de facto'' leaders were Nur Muhammad Taraki (1967–1979), Hafizullah Amin (1979) It was also the name of the leftist newspaper produced by ...

faction of the

People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan The People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), known as the Homeland Party ( Dari: , ) from June 1990, was a Marxist–Leninist political party in Afghanistan established on 1 January 1965. Four members of the party won seats in the 1965 ...

despite the repression they’d face from members of the National Revolutionary Party.

Military career

Only five years after Nazar joined the PDPA, he'd be involved in overthrowing

and establishing the

Democratic Republic of Afghanistan The Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, later known as the Republic of Afghanistan, was the Afghan state between History of Afghanistan (1978–1992), 1978 and 1992. It was bordered by Pakistan to the east and south, by Iran to the west, by the ...

along with the

and some members of

Parcham Parcham (Pashto/ Dari: پرچم, ) was the more moderate socialist faction of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) led by Afghan communist politician Babrak Karmal. It was later turned into the Watan (Homeland) Party with a mor ...

in a violent military coup referred to as the

Saur Revolution The Saur Revolution (; ), also known as the April Revolution or the April Coup, was a violent coup d'état and uprising staged on 27–28 April 1978 (, ) by the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), which overthrew President of Afghan ...

. After the coup, Nazar was appointed Commander of the Air Force but this was cut short as

Hafizullah Amin Hafizullah Amin (Dari/; 1 August 192927 December 1979) was an Afghan communist head of state, who served in that position for a little over three months, from September 1979 until his assassination. He organized the Saur Revolution of 1978 and ...

came into power after assassinating

Nur Muhammad Taraki Nur Muhammad Taraki (; 14 July 1917 – 9 October 1979) was an Afghan 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 ...

and distrusted Nazar, therefore he was transferred to a secondary position of the Deputy Minister of Transport on 25 September 1979. He was also made the ambassador to

by Amin. After the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan, where Hafizullah Amin was killed and replaced by

Babrak Karmal Babrak Kārmal (Dari/Pashto: ; born Sultan Hussein; 6 January 1929 – 1 or 3 December 1996) was an Afghan communist revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Afghanistan, serving in the post of general secretary of the People's Demo ...

, he was appointed to Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force and Air Defense (since 1980; in the same year, by the second anniversary of the

, he was promoted from lieutenant colonel to major general). According to the memoirs of his then adviser, Lieutenant General Peter Safronov, it was quite easy to work with General Nazar Mohammad.

The main problem was the understaffing of the units with flight personnel. Aviation personnel for the DRA Air Force were actively trained in the USSR and in Afghanistan itself. The DRA Air Force and Air Defense were the most combat-ready branch of the DRA Armed Forces and worked with high “voltage”.

In 1982, he studied at the Military Academy of the General Staff in Moscow and in 1983, Nazar became a member of the Central Committee of the PDPA and the Revolutionary Council. Two years later in November 1985, he'd become a candidate for membership of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the PDPA. Nazar Muhammad would only go on to receive more promotions, as in January 1984, he'd become Chief of the General Staff and on December 4, 1984, he'd finally become the Minister of Defense. This development of the general's career could be due to the dissatisfaction of Soviet military leaders with the activities of Afghan generals from the Parcham faction (in particular, the Chief of General Staff General Babajan). In this situation, a bet was placed on generals from the

faction competing with

. After Nazar Mohammed was appointed minister, another Khalqist,

, took the post of Chief of General Staff. However, it was noted that there was no improvement in the combat capability of the

Afghan Army The Islamic National Army (, ), also referred to as the Islamic Emirate Army and the Afghan Army, is the land force branch of the Afghan Armed Forces. The roots of an army in Afghanistan can be traced back to the early 18th century when the Ho ...

under the leadership of the

faction. After

Mohammad Najibullah Mohammad Najibullah Ahmadzai (6 August 1947 – 27 September 1996) was an Afghan military officer and politician who served as the second president of Afghanistan from 1987 until his resignation in April 1992, shortly after the Afghan mujahideen' ...

became the president of Afghanistan in 1986, replacing Karmal, Nazar's Parchamite colleague General Mohammed Rafie would return to the post of the

Minister of Defense A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...

who already had experience in this role from 1980 to 1982. Nazar Mohammed, on the other hand, was transferred to a much less influential position of First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers on December 5, 1986. He would also head the state commission for conscription in the

, but he did not show much activity. According to Soviet General

Makhmut Gareev Makhmut Akhmetovich Gareyev (, ; 23 June 1923 – 25 December 2019) was a Russian general and author of several books on the history of the Second World War. He served as Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Soviet Armed Forces. Until his ...

, despite the formal diligent work of General Nazar Muhammad, problems in his area of work were poorly resolved. As a result of being removed from his position of Minister of Defense and being replaced by a Parchamite and his “formal diligent work” being unrecognised, Nazar participated in the 1990 Afghan coup d'état attempt led by

. After the coup attempt was thwarted, he fled to Pakistan where he'd live for the rest of his life.

Death

In the summer of 1998, he was killed in the city of Quetta in the Pakistani province of Balochistan, shot by four unknown assassins in a cafe. Some people speculate that Nazar's killers could’ve been members of the Taliban.

Bibliography

*Afghanistan. Brief biographical reference book. - Moscow, 2004. *Korgun V. G. History of Afghanistan. XX century. - Moscow: Publishers: Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Kraft+, 2004. - ISBN 5-93675-079-5 ISBN 5-89282-227-3

References

{{Reflist 1935 births 1998 deaths Afghan military officers

Early life

Military career

Death

Bibliography

Links

References