Faiz Ahmad
{{Short description|Afghan communist leader (1946–1986)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2022}}
{{Refimprove|date=April 2016}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Faiz Ahmad
| native_name = فيض احمد
| native_name_lang = fa
| image = FaizAhmad.jpg
| alt =
| caption =
| order =
| office = Leader of the Afghanistan Liberation Organization
| term_start = 1973
| term_end = 12 November 1986
| succeeding =
| predecessor = Party established
| successor =
| order2 =
| office2 = Leader of the Progressive Youth Organization
| term_start2 = 1965
| term_end2 = 1973
| predecessor2 =
| successor2 =
| birth_date = 1946
| birth_place = Kandahar, Kingdom of Afghanistan
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1986|11|12|1946||df=y}}
| death_place = Peshawar, Pakistan
| restingplace =
| restingplacecoordinates =
| birthname =
| citizenship =
| party = ALO (1973–1986)
| otherparty = Shola-e Javid
Marxist-Leninist Organization of Afghanistan
| spouse = Meena Keshwar Kamal
| partner =
| relations =
| children = 3
| residence =
| alma_mater =
| occupation =
| profession =
| cabinet =
| committees =
| portfolio =
| signature =
| signature_alt =
| website =
| footnotes =
| battles = 1979 uprisings in Afghanistan
| allegiance =Afghanistan Liberation Organization
}}
Faiz Ahmad ({{langx|fa|فیض احمد}}; 1946 – 12 November 1986) was an Afghan politician who led the Afghanistan Liberation Organization (ALO), a Marxist–Leninist organization established in Kabul.
Early life
Ahmad was born in Kandahar in 1946 to a Persian-speaking ethnic Tajik family. He attended primary and secondary schools in Kandahar before moving to Kabul to enter Naderia High School, where he became involved in the leftist movement after reading some of the works of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin.
Akram Yari, a leader of the Maoist movement in Afghanistan, was Ahmad's teacher in Naderia High School and he deeply influenced Ahmad’s political beliefs.{{Cite web|url=http://a-l-o.maoism.ru/ahmad-e.htm|title=Biography of Comrade Dr Faiz Ahmad (1946–1986)|website=a-l-o.maoism.ru}} Yari was leader of Progressive Youth Organization (PYO), a Maoist organization which was formed on 6 October 1965. Later, Ahmad parted ways with PYO and formed the Revolutionary Group of People of Afghanistan.
After graduating from high school, Ahmad entered the Medical Faculty of Kabul University. During these years he would establish the Revolutionary Group of People of Afghanistan which was later named Afghanistan Liberation Organization (ALO).
Anti government activity
On April 27, 1978, military officers loyal to the PDPA launched a "revolution" on the orders of Hafizullah Amin in what would become known as the Saur Revolution. Despite bringing the communist Khalqists into power many smaller socialist groups rejected the Khalqists rule for various reasons including the Pashtun hegemony of the new government,{{cite web |last1=Byrne |first1=Malcolm |last2=Zubok |first2=Vladislav |title=The Intervention in Afghanistan and the Fall of Detente, A Chronology |url=https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/carterbrezhnev/docs_intervention_in_afghanistan_and_the_fall_of_detente/fall_of_detente_chron.pdf |website=nsarchive2.gwu.edu}} mistreatment of ethnic minorities,{{Cite web |title=Flashback to 1979: A massacre of unarmed civilians in an uprising « RAWA News |url=http://www.rawa.org/temp/runews/2013/10/13/flashback-to-1979-a-massacre-of-unarmed-civilians-in-an-uprising.html |access-date=2023-06-29 |website=www.rawa.org}} and their Soviet Influence. On August 5, 1979, a united front of anti-Khalqist Marxists and moderate Islamists attempted an uprising in southern Kabul. The uprising lasted 5 hours and was brutally crushed by the Khalqist government's MiG aircraft, artillery and tanks.Revolution Unending: Afghanistan, 1979 to the Present by Gilles Dorronsoro, 2005.War in Afghanistan by K J Baker, 2011.
Soviet-Afghan War
During the onset of the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, Faiz Ahmad, instrumental in the reorganization of the Afghanistan Liberation Organization, set the slogan "All resources at the service of liberation fronts!" as the interim objective of all "revolutionary struggle". During this time and under Faiz's leadership, the ALO decided to join the Islamist political forces in forming united fronts against the Soviet Union and the PDPA-Parcham government.
He wrote Mash'al-i Rehayi (The Beacon of Emancipation), an ALO political-theoretical publication, where he analyzed the situation and established political and strategic lines for ALO activities.
Assassination
Ahmad was assassinated along with six other ALO members by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hezb-i-Islami on 12 November 1986 in Peshawar, Pakistan.
Personal life
Ahmad married Meena Keshwar Kamal in 1976.Brodsky, Anne E. With all our strength : the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan. New York City: Routledge, 2003. p. 54 Kamal was assassinated in Quetta, Pakistan on 4 February 1987.{{cite book |last1=Ramakrishnan |first1=Nitya |title=In Custody: Law, Impunity and Prisoner Abuse in South Asia |date=May 2013 |publisher=SAGE India |isbn=9788132117513 |page=118}} Reports vary as to who the assassins were, but are believed to have been agents of the Afghan Intelligence Service KHAD, the Afghan secret police.{{cite web |author=Jon Boone |date=30 April 2010 |title=Afghan feminists fighting from under the burqa |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/apr/30/afghanistan-women-feminists-burqa |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120920163044/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/30/afghanistan-women-feminists-burqa |archive-date=20 September 2012 |accessdate=30 December 2024 |work=the Guardian}}{{Cite web |title=Biography of Martyred Meena, RAWA's founding leader |url=http://www.rawa.org/meena.html |access-date=2024-12-30 |website=www.rawa.org}} In May 2002, two men were hanged in Pakistan after being convicted of Kamal's murder.{{cite news |date=7 May 2002 |title=BBC News - SOUTH ASIA - Afghan activist's killers hanged |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/1973184.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070313152147/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/1973184.stm |archive-date=13 March 2007 |accessdate=15 May 2016 |publisher=}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://a-l-o.maoism.ru/ Web site of Afghanistan Liberation Organization]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20020104134501/http://www.geocities.com/comradeahmad/ Website of Biography (Author:Ferdous)]
{{Maoism}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ahmad, Faiz}}
Category:Afghan revolutionaries
Category:Maoism in Afghanistan