Burhanuddin Rabbani
Burhanuddin Rabbani | |
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برهانالدین ربانی | |
3rd President of Afghanistan | |
In office 28 June 1992 – 22 December 2001 Disputed by Mullah Omar (as Supreme Leader) from 27 September 1996 – 13 November 2001 | |
Prime Minister |
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Vice President |
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Preceded by | Mohammad Najibullah |
Succeeded by | Hamid Karzai |
Personal details | |
Born | Badakhshan, Afghanistan | 20 September 1940
Died | 20 September 2011 (aged 71) Kabul, Afghanistan |
Children | 4, including Salahuddin |
Education | Kabul University (BA) Al-Azhar University (MA, PhD) |
Occupation | Politician, teacher, Mujahideen leader |
Awards |
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Burhānuddīn Rabbānī (Persian: برهانالدین ربانی; 20 September 1940 – 20 September 2011) was an Afghan politician and teacher who served as President of Afghanistan from 1992 to 1996, and again from November to December 2001 (in exile from 1996 to 2001).
Born in the Badakhshan Province, Rabbani studied at Kabul University and worked there as a professor of Islamic theology. He formed the Jamiat-e Islami (Islamic Society) at the university which attracted then-students Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Ahmad Shah Massoud, both of whom would eventually become the two leading commanders of the Afghan mujahideen in the Soviet–Afghan War from 1979. Rabbani was chosen to be the President of Afghanistan after the end of the former communist regime in 1992. Rabbani and his Islamic State of Afghanistan government was later forced into exile by the Taliban, and he then served as the political head of the Northern Alliance, an alliance of various political groups who fought against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. During his time in the office, there were a lot of internal clashes between different fighting groups.
After the
On 20 September 2011, Rabbani was assassinated by a
Early life and education
Rabbani, son of Muhammed Yousuf, was born in 20 September 1940 in the northern province of
Soon after his graduation in 1963, he was hired as a professor at Kabul University.
Political career
Rabbani returned to Afghanistan in 1968, where the High Council of Jamiat-e Islami gave him the duty of organizing the University students. Due to his knowledge, reputation, and active support for the cause of Islam, in 1972, a 15-member council selected him as head of Jamiat-e Islami of Afghanistan; the founder of Jamiat-e Islami of Afghanistan, Gholam Mohammad Niazi was also present. Jamiat-e Islami was primarily composed of Tajiks.[7]
In the spring of 1974, the police came to Kabul University to arrest Rabbani for his pro-Islamic stance, but with the help of his students the police were unable to capture him, and he managed to escape to the countryside. In Pakistan, Rabbani gathered important people and established the party. Sayed Noorullah Emad, who was then a young Muslim in the University of Kabul, became the General Secretary of the party and, later, its deputy chief. Rabbani alongside Ahmad Shah Massoud and others planned to take action either against the Daoud government or people who they deemed communist in 1975, but failed.
Among ourselves we decided that Daoud personally was not a communist, but a Muslim, surrounded by communists, who should be eliminated. For that purpose we prepared a list of eighty military and civilian communists and instructed our companions to carry it out.…Surprisingly news of the failure of the uprising in Laghman and other regions reached us in Peshawar.[8]
When the
Assassination
Rabbani was killed in a suicide bombing at his home in Kabul on 20 September 2011, his 71st birthday. Two men posing as Taliban representatives approached him to offer a hug and detonated their explosives. At least one of them had hidden the explosives in his turban.[10][11] The suicide bomber claimed to be a Taliban commander, said he bore a "very important and positive message" from Taliban leaders in Pakistan, and said he wanted to "discuss peace" with Rabbani.[12] Four other members of Afghanistan's High Peace Council were also killed in the blast.[9] Rabbani was buried in the Wazir Akbar Khan cemetery.[13]
Afghan officials blamed the
In 2011, just days before he died, Rabbani was trying to persuade Islamic scholars to issue a religious edict banning suicide bombings. The former president's 28-year-old daughter said in an interview that her father died shortly after he spoke at a conference on "Islamic Awakening" in Tehran. "Right before he was assassinated, he talked about the suicide bombing issue," Fatima Rabbani told Reuters. "He called on all Islamic scholars in the conference to release a fatwa" against the tactic.[16]
Government minister Nematullah Shahrani said Rabbani is irreplaceable because "he had relations with all these tribes."[17]
United States President Barack Obama and several NATO military leaders condemned the assassination.[18] Japan also offered its condolences at the Sixty-sixth session of the United Nations General Assembly.[19] Afghan President Hamid Karzai cut short his trip for the General debate of the sixty-sixth session of the United Nations General Assembly following his assassination. Rabbani's son Salahuddin then took over chairmanship of the High Peace Council from his father.[20]
Honors and awards
- Tajikistan : Order of Ismoili Somoni – posthumously awarded on 2 September 2014[1]
- Order of José Marti– posthumously awarded on 15 August 2021
See also
- Gholam Mohammad Niazi
- Badaber Uprising
- Qadria Yazdanparast
- Mullah Dadullah Front
References
- ^ a b "Tajikistan Posthumously Awards Afghans Masud, Rabbani with Country's Highest Honor". Radiofreeeurope/Radioliberty.
- ^ "Rabbani's Afghan comeback". BBC News. 14 November 2001. Retrieved 10 September 2009.
- ^ Afghan Peace Council Chief Killed in Attack on His Home. New York Times. 21 September 2011.
- ^ Karzai appoints slain leader's son Archived 20 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine 14 April 2012 McClatchy
- ^ ISBN 978-0-520-22861-0. Retrieved 30 September 2012.
- ^ a b Burke, Jason (2004). Al-Qaeda: The True Story of Radical Islam. I.B. Tauris. pp. 66–67.
- ^ Rogers, Tom (1992). The Soviet Withdrawal from Afghanistan: Analysis and Chronology. Greenwood Press. p. 27.
- ^ "Afghanistan".
- ^ a b "Former Afghanistan president Burhanuddin Rabbani killed in Kabul blast". The Telegraph. 20 September 2011. Retrieved 30 September 2012.
- ^ "Afghan president assassinated". Al Jazeera English. 20 September 2011.
- ^ "Turban bomb kills key Afghan political leader". CNN. 20 September 2011. Archived from the original on 14 June 2019. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
- ^ "Ex-Afghan Leader's Assassin Waited Days to See Him". Fox News. 21 September 2011.
- ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
- ^ Kabul, Islamabad spar over Rabbani murder probe [dead link]
- ^ "Pakistan blames Afghan refugees for Rabbani's murder". Express Tribune. 14 December 2011. Retrieved 16 December 2011.
- ^ Habboush, Mahmoud (18 October 2011). "Afghanistan's Rabbani sought suicide ban: daughter". Reuters. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
- ^ "Peace negotiator assassinated". The Week: 9. 30 September 2011.
- ^ "News Article: Obama, Karzai Vow Undeterred Effort in Afghanistan". Defense.gov. Archived from the original on 20 August 2013. Retrieved 7 May 2012.
- ^ "UN General Assembly General Debate of the 66th Session - Japan". Gadebate.un.org. 23 September 2011. Retrieved 7 May 2012.
- ^ "Afghanistan". General Assembly of the United Nations. 25 September 2012. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
External links
- Burhanuddin Rabbani, President of the Islamic State of Afghanistan webcast at the United Nations Millennium Summit, 8 September 2000
- Biography Archived 23 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine at Afghan-web.com
- Afghanistan's Powerbrokers: Burhanuddin Rabbani at BBC News, with link to November 2001 profile
- Burhanuddin Rabbani collected news and commentary at The New York Times
- Hundreds mourn Rabbani RFI English
- Who killed Burhanuddin Rabbani ... and why? RFI English
- Bibi Mahru Hill & Burhanuddin Rabbani's grave - Kabul