Misplaced Pages

Abdul Qadir
عبد القادر دگروال
Qadir on the day after the Saur Revolution, April 29, 1978
Ambassador of Afghanistan to Poland
In office 3 November 1986 – 13 April 1988
President	Babrak Karmal Mohammad Najibullah
Preceded by	Mohammad Farouq Karmand
Succeeded by	Nur Ahmad Nura
Minister of Defence
In office 1982 – December 1984
President	Babrak Karmal Mohammad Najibullah
Premier	Sultan Ali Keshtmand (Chairman of Council of Ministers)
Preceded by	Mohammed Rafie
Succeeded by	Nazar Mohammed
In office 30 April 1978 – August 1978
President	Hafizullah Amin
Premier	Sultan Ali Keshtmand
Preceded by	Ghulam Haidar Rasuli
Succeeded by	Aslam Vatanjar
Chairman of the Revolutionary Council of the Armed Forces
In office 28 April 1978 – 30 April 1978
Preceded by	Mohammed Daoud Khan (as President)
Succeeded by	Nur Muhammad Taraki
Personal details
Born	Abdul Qadir 1944 Herat, Kingdom of Afghanistan
Died	22 April 2014 (aged 69–70) Kabul, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
Political party	People's Democratic Party
Residence(s)	Afghanistan (1944–86)  Soviet Union (1986–89) Bulgaria (1989–2014)
Military service
Allegiance	Afghanistan
Branch/service	Afghan Air Force
Years of service	1962–1989
Rank	Colonel General
Unit	355th Fighter-Bomber Aviation Regiment
Commands	Afghan Air Force
Battles/wars	1973 Afghan coup d'état Saur Revolution Soviet-Afghan War

Part of a series on the
History of Afghanistan
The palace of the emir in 1839
Timeline
Ancient Indus Valley civilisation 2200–1800 BC Oxus civilization 2100–1800 BC Gandhara kingdom 1500–535 BC Median Empire 728–550 BC Achaemenid Empire 550–330 BC Macedonian Empire 330–312 BC Seleucid Empire 312–150 BC Maurya Empire 305–180 BC Greco-Bactrian kingdom 256–125 BC Parthian Empire 247 BC–224 AD Indo-Greek kingdom 180–90 BC Indo-Scythian kingdom 155–80? BC Kushan Empire 135 BC – 248 AD Indo-Parthian kingdom 20 BC – 50? AD Sasanian Empire 230–651 Kidarite kingdom 320–465 Rob Alchon Huns 380–560 Hephthalite Empire 410–557 Nezak Huns 484–711
Medieval Kabul Shahi 565–879 Principality of Chaghaniyan 7th–8th centuries Rashidun Caliphate 652–661 Tang China 660–669 Tibetan Empire 660–842 Umayyads 661–750 Zunbils 680–870 Lawik 750-977 Abbasids 750–821 Tahirids 821–873 Saffarids 863–900 Samanids 875–999 Ghaznavids 963–1187 Ghurids before 879–1215 Seljuks 1037–1194 Khwarezmids 1215–1231 Mongol Invasion 1219–1226 Chagatai Khanate 1226–1245 Qarlughids 1224–1266 Ilkhanate 1256–1335 Kartids 1245–1381 Timurids 1370–1507 Arghuns 1520–1591
Modern Mughals 1501–1738 Safavids 1510–1709 Kunduz Khanate  ?–1859 Hotak dynasty 1709–1738 Sadozai Sultanate 1716–1732 Afsharid Iran 1738–1747 Durrani Empire 1747–1823 Maimana Khanate 1747–1892 Herat 1793–1863 Principality of Qandahar 1818–1855 Emirate 1823–1926 Saqqawist Emirate 1929 Kingdom 1926–1973 Daoud coup 1973 Republic 1973–1978 Saur Revolution 1978 Democratic Republic 1978–1992 Tanai coup attempt 1990 Islamic State 1992–1996 Islamic Emirate 1996–2001 US invasion 2001 Islamic State (reinstated) 2001 Interim/Transitional Administration 2001–2004 Islamic Republic (politics) 2004–2021 Islamic Emirate (reinstated) since 2021
Related historical regions Arachosia Aria Ariana Bactria Gandhara Iran Kabulistan Kafiristan Khorasan Kushanshahr Paropamisadae Sistan Zabulistan
Related topics Political history Political violence Culture Economic history Name Afghan (ethnonym) List of years List of heads of state Wars List of wars Hinduism history Hindu and Buddhist heritage Jewish history Muslim conquests
Category Afghanistan portal
v t e

Colonel General Abdul Kadir Dagarwal (Russian: Абдул Кадыр; Dari/Pashto: عبد القادر دگروال; 1944 – April 22, 2014) was an Afghan military officer and politician. He was a participant of the 1973 Afghan coup d'état that created the Republic of Afghanistan under President Dawood Khan, and later directed the Afghan Air Force and Army Air Corps squadrons that attacked the Radio-TV station during the Saur Revolution.

He served as the acting head of state for three days when the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) took power and declared the foundation of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, before handing over power to PDPA leader Noor Mohammad Taraki. He later served two terms as Minister of Defense, the first as part of the Taraki government from April to August 1978, and the latter as part of the Babrak Karmal government from 1982 to 1986.

Qadir's second term took place during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

Early life

Abdul Qadir was born in Herat in the Herat Province of the Kingdom of Afghanistan in 1944. He was an ethnic Tajik whose family hailed from Herat Province.

He went to the Afghan Armed Forces military school and was trained as a pilot, in the Soviet Union, qualified to fly the MiG-15, MiG-21, and Su-7. During his education in the Soviet Union, he studied at Russian staff colleges. During his career in the Afghan Air Force, he joined PDPA and later aligned with the Parcham (Flag) faction.

The Republican Coup of 1973

In 1973, Colonel Qadir helped maneuver the coup d'état led by former Prime Minister Dawood Khan with support by General Abdul Karim Mustaghni, who had been Chief of General Staff of the armed forces. President Dawood Khan promised radical land reform, the legalisation of political parties and other reforms. Parcham was offered four minister posts in Daoud's government. As a Parcham member, Qadir was nominated vice chief of the Afghan Air Force, while another Parcham supporter, Major Zia Mohammadzi Zia, was appointed chief of the Afghan Army. However, by 1974 Daoud removed and downgraded many of the Parcham ministers in the government. Qadir was thus downgraded to head of Kabul's Military abattoir. Many Parcham supporters, including Colonel Qadir, shifted allegiance to Khalq.

In April 1978 Daoud and his hardline interior minister, General Abdul Qadir Khan Nuristani, launched a sharp government crackdown on the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA). It proved to be a miscalculation. Colonel Qadir and Colonel Mohammad Aslam Watanjar, another leading PDPA member in the military, narrowly escaped arrest and early on 27 April Hafizullah Amin was able to smuggle out the order to restart the coup.

The Saur Revolution

He also ordered the attack against the Arg, and against the Royal Palace of President Mohammad Daoud Khan. The tank commander on the ground was Colonel Aslam Watanjar, of the 1st Battalion of the 4th Tank Brigade. Together, the troops under their command took Kabul. The government fell, and Daoud was killed.

At 19:00 on 27 April, Chairman Qadir made an announcement over Radio Afghanistan, in the Dari language, that a Revolutionary Council of the Armed Forces had been established by him, with himself as the leader of the country. The council's initial statement of principles, issued late in the evening of 27 April was a noncommittal affirmation of Islamic, democratic, and nonaligned ideals:

For the first time in the history of Afghanistan, the radio declared, the last remnants of monarchy, tyranny, despotism ... has ended, and all powers of the state are in the hands of the people of Afghanistan.

The Revolutionary Council was formed by himself, Hafizullah Amin, and Major Mohammad Aslam Watanjar, it assumed the control of the country until a civilian government was formed. On 30 April the newly created PDPA's Revolutionary Council (with Nur Mohammad Taraki and Babrak Karmal in its leadership) issued the first of a series of fateful decrees. The decree formally abolished the military's revolutionary council. A second decree, issued on 1 May, named the members of the first cabinet that included Qadir as Minister of Defence. When interviewed by French journalists from Télévision Française 1, on 11 May 1978, Abdul Qadir appeared to be sweating profusely.

Member of the Khalqist Government

He became minister of defense, for three months starting in May 1978. On 6 May Qadir asked the Soviet commanders for advice on how to deal with all the people under arrest. On 17 August, Qadir, still defence minister, was arrested for his part in a conspiracy that allegedly had been organized by the Parchams exiled abroad. Since Qadir remained popular in the military, President Taraki did not dare to kill him and instead he was sentenced to fifteen years in jail.

The policy of Taraki and Hafizullah Amin to get rid of people they considered unsuitable in order to concentrate all power in their own hands became very apparent. Prime Minister Amin later reported:

The party was unable to make Qadir a true Marxist–Leninist, prepared to withstand any negative influence. That was our mistake.

Member of the Parchamite Government

After the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 that assassinated Hafizullah Amin, Qadir was released from jail under the new regime of Babrak Karmal, the political posts he held in the PDPA before being sent to jail were restored. He served once again as Minister of Defence (1982–1985) during the Babrak Administration.

After the Soviet Invasion, Kabul was put in a state of siege. The bridges were blocked, barriers and hidden ambushes were set up on all the roads leading into the city. Qadir was made commander of the city. As part of the changes in the leadership of the country, he resigned from the Politburo in November 1985, a year later was appointed Ambassador to Warsaw, Poland by President Mohammad Najibullah. He was recalled to Afghanistan in 1988, and was subsequently elected to Parliament. After the Soviet withdrawal in 1989, it was believed he fled to Bulgaria and sought political asylum.

Later years and death

After some years of living in Bulgaria, Qadir returned to Russia, where he lived with his family. In 2011/2012 he returned to Afghanistan, where he lived in Kabul and completed his book. He died as a result of a stroke at Sardar Mohammad Daoud Khan National Military Hospital on 22 April 2014.

Views

At a mourning ceremony in Moscow to honour the memory of Ahmad Shah Massoud

"Though Massoud and I used to be enemies I am sure he deserves great respect as an outstanding military leader and, first of all, as a patriot of his country". - 2001-09-21

References

1. "Relacje polsko-afgańskie - Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Warsaw - Ambasada".
2. ^ Adamec, Ludwig W. (2012). Historical Dictionary of Afghanistan. Scarecrow Press. p. 569. ISBN 9780810878150. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
3. Johnson, Thomas H.; Adamec, Ludwig W. (2021-05-15). Historical Dictionary of Afghanistan. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-5381-4929-4.
4. Clements, Frank A.; Adamec, Ludwig W. (2003-12-02). Conflict in Afghanistan: An Encyclopedia. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN 978-1-85109-407-3.
5. ^ Frank Clements and Ludwig W. Adamec (2003-12-31). Conflict in Afghanistan: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO Ltd. p. 207. ISBN 1851094024. Retrieved 2009-03-24.
6. Révolution en Afghanistan | INA (in French). Retrieved 2024-04-05 – via www.ina.fr.
7. Vasili Mitrokhin (July 2009). "The KGB in Afghanistan". Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Retrieved 2009-03-24.
8. В Кабуле скончался участник Саурской революции генерал Абдул Кадир Хан [Participant in the Saur Revolution, General Abdul Kadir Khan, died in Kabul], 23 April 2014, retrieved 13 November 2019
9. "Pravda.RU Afghans Living In Russia Held Mourning Ceremony In Moscow". 2001-09-23. Archived from the original on 2001-09-23. Retrieved 2019-04-17.

External links

• Abdul Qadir Dagarwal's obituary (in Persian)
• » В Кабуле скончался участник Саурской революции генерал Абдул Кадир Хан (in Russian)

• 1944 births
• 2014 deaths
• 20th-century heads of state of Afghanistan
• People from Herat
• Afghan revolutionaries
• Afghan communists
• Communist government ministers of Afghanistan
• Afghan Tajik people
• Soviet people of Afghan descent
• Political office-holders of the Republic of Afghanistan (1973–1978)
• Political office-holders of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan
• People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan politicians
• Ambassadors of Afghanistan
• Afghan expatriates in Pakistan
• Afghan expatriates in the Soviet Union
• Afghan expatriates in Bulgaria
• Afghan military officers
• Defence ministers of Afghanistan