In September 1996, when the Taliban were about to enter Kabul, Massoud offered Najibullah an opportunity to flee the capital. Najibullah refused. The reasons as to why he refused remain unclear. Massoud himself has claimed that Najibullah feared that "if he fled with the Tajiks, he would be for ever damned in the eyes of his fellow Pashtuns." Others, like general Tokhi, who was with Najibullah until the day before his torture and murder, have stated that Najibullah mistrusted Massoud after his militia had repeatedly fired rockets at the UN compound and had effectively barred Najibullah from leaving Kabul. "If they wanted Najibullah to flee Kabul in safety," Tokhi said, "they could have provided him the opportunity as they did with other high ranking officials from the communist party from 1992 to 1996." Whatever his true motivations were, when Massoud's militia came to both Najibullah and General Tokhi and asked them to come with them to flee Kabul, they rejected the offer.
Najibullah was at the UN compound when the Taliban soldiers came for him on the evening of 26 September 1996. The Taliban abducted him from UN custody and tortured him to death, and then dragged his dead (and, according to Robert Parry, castrated) body behind a truck through the streets of Kabul. His brother, Shahpur Ahmadzai, was given the same treatment.
An excerpt from, "My father was brutally killed by the Taliban. The US ignored his pleas for help" by Muska Najibullah, The Guardian, September 27, 2021:
In 1992, my father appealed to the US to help Afghanistan become a bulwark against the spread of Islamic fundamentalism. He said: “If fundamentalism comes to Afghanistan, war will continue for many more years. Afghanistan will turn into a centre of world smuggling for narcotic drugs. Afghanistan will be turned into a centre for terrorism.” His warnings were ignored. With the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan in February 1989, virtually all western nations abandoned their embassies and ostracised my father’s regime. Calling him a communist puppet, a murderer, a traitor, he found himself isolated, fighting a very lonely war. And then, a decade later, his premonitions came true. Triggered by the 9/11 attacks, the US invaded my country to fight Islamic terrorism and began what would be its longest war. I wonder, had the world listened to him, would it all have turned out differently?
An excerpt from, "EXCLUSIVE: Afghanistan's Heela Najibullah sees Pakistan's involvement in the killing of her father" by Sidhant Sibal, DNA India, August 18, 2020:
Who do you suspect is responsible for the killing of your father? Reports suggest that Pakistan might be behind it.
Not one or two reports, but a number of reports indicate that it was the establishment in Pakistan. Even the Americans have written about this. In the last one year, I have heard interviews of Taliban members on Afghan TV channels like Tolo saying that it wasn't them who killed Najibullah. The question still remains as to who killed him and why he was killed. This is extremely crucial in order for us to understand why the leaders of Afghanistan who want a strong and independent country, a self-sufficient Afghanistan, are constantly being targetted. This is something that we need to look at, the region needs to look at, the UN needs to look at, especially if we talking about peace and especially if we talking about truth and we are talking about justice.
Personally, do you think Pakistan is responsible? We're strictly talking about your personal thoughts on the matter here.
When you belong to a political family, there are so many conspiracy stories and issues, but I must say that the role of Pakistan in the Afghan War, since the Cold War, has been very destructive. If they have their hands in the killing of my father, the fact needs to be established. For example, Peter Thomson in his book has mentioned this. If it is mentioned by an American envoy, it needs to be internationally determined how he came to know this. It must be raised in global forums that the president of a country is murdered in broad daylight and no investigation has taken place till now. There is complete silence.
Title: Afghanistan ex-president Dr Najeebullah speech about Pakistan. Source: Mirzad Mirzad. Date Posted: October 7, 2020.
