Shahnawaz Tanai
Encyclopedia
Lieutenant General
Shahnawaz Tanai is a former communist general. He was chief of Afghanistan's army under the russians
-backed Republic of Afghanistan
. His military positions included Commander of Artillery, Chief of the Army Staff, Chief of the KHAD
Intelligence Network and then Minister of Defense during the Soviet occupation in the 1980s.
A pillar of the Communist Regime, Tanai later attempted a coup against his former friend and President Mohammad Najibullah
, seeking refuge in a hostile Pakistan
and working with fundamentalists such as Engineer Gulbadin Hekmatyar.
He was a member of the Khalq
faction of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan
, and leader of at least the majority of the Khalqi faction since its former leader Sayed Mohammad Gulabzoy
was exiled as Ambassador to Moscow
as part of the political preparation of the Soviet pullout, in September 1988.
. Tanai followed a classic military career, attending first the military academy and then university, specialising in infantry tactics. He later traveled to the Soviet Union
to study leadership.
After the 1978 coup in which President Mohammed Daoud Khan
was ousted and killed, Tanai was appointed head of Military Intelligence. He survived through the years of coups and bloodshed that followed during the Saur Revolution
. His first appointment was of Commander of the Kabul
garrison.
When Mohammad Hasan Sharq
was selected by President Najibullah as the new Prime Minister, the position of Minister of Defense remained open for some time, but was finally awarded to General Tanai. Tanai himself was recognized as a hawk and a sworn enemy of the Mujahideen
. He even urged targeting SCUD
missiles at Islamabad
. He sought a military solution, as opposed to the party's policy of national reconciliation.
In March 1990, 127 Khalq
i military officers were arrested for an attempted coup. Twenty-seven officers escaped and later showed up at a press conference with Hikmatyar in Peshawar
. Former Minister of Tribal Affairs, Bacha Gul Wafadar and Minister of Civil Aviation Hasan Sharq were among the conspirators. From his position as Defence Minister, Tanai pressured President Najibullah to release them.
commander, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
, against the then President Mohammad Najibullah
.
He stated that he didn't disagree with President Najibullah's views, but rather with his policy on the military.
Hekmatyar ordered his fighters to intensify their attacks against the Kabul regime in support of Tanai. The success of the coup was taken for granted.
The Pakistan government's involvement in this abortive affair was transparently obvious. Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto
's plea to the other six party leaders to aid Tanai and Hekmatyar was rebuked as a disgrace to the jihad
. Most of the factions viewed Gral. Tanai as an opportunistic war criminal and hardline
communist who had been responsible for the carpet-bombing of portions of the major western city of Herat
in March 1979.
The expected uprising by Afghan Army didn't take place: Tanai had no direct control of troops inside Kabul
. He ordered air strikes against government buildings (Air Force Commander Abdul Qadir Aqa was an accomplice who also later fled to Pakistan). The plot misfired and failed because of faulty communications.
President Najibulllad appeared on TV at 10 p.m. the same night to prove that he was physically there and in effective control of the state apparatus. The President gathered the support of important Parcham
i militias, including the elite Special Guard to defuse the plot.
Tanai was apparently also supported by those important Khalq
is who remained in the Politburo
, Assadullah Sarwary and Mohammad Gulabzoi, respectively their country's envoys to Aden
and Moscow
, were said to have been intimately connected with the coup and with Gral Tanai.
Sarwary, an old comrade
of Tanai, was the chief of the Afghan intelligence under Nur Mohammad Taraki. He was a Khalqi hardliner known as the assassin of the rival Parcham faction. Gulabzoi was minister of interior before being exiled on a diplomatic assignment to Moscow
.
Tanai escaped by helicopter to Pakistan where he was greeted and publicly accepted as an ally by Hekmatyar, but when the rebellion was losing strength, Tanai defected to the Taliban.
Eventually, he settled on Pakistan
, where he lived in exile until August 4. He married in 1978, and has a daughter and two sons (the family is still in Pakistan).
He recently returned to Khost province to make a political comeback. He drove from Islamabad
to the border town of Torkham
, where he crossed over to Afghanistan to be warmly received by his supporters. He was then escorted in a convoy of vehicles to Kabul
.
The 55-year-old former general did not stand as a Presidential candidate. Tanai's movement was enrolled as the 29th political party for the 2004 elections, and its expected that his influence would bringing back Afghan communists from Pakistan and elsewhere where they fled to play a political role.
He has also campaigning for a bigger role for Pashtuns
, former jihad
i leaders and religious parties, and he openly criticizes United States
policies that perpetuate the Afghan Northern Alliance domination in Kabul.
There were also allegations that Tanai had been sent by Pakistan
to influence Afghanistan's politics in the post-Taliban period. He is also accused of working for Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence.
According to western diplomatic sources, Tanai has acted as an agent for ISI by providing the Taliban a skilled cadre of military officers from the Khalq
faction of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan
to use his pilots to fly Mig-23, Sukhoi
fighters of what was left of the Afghan Air Force
, drive Soviet Tanks and the use Soviet Artillery
.
Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a Captain General....
Shahnawaz Tanai is a former communist general. He was chief of Afghanistan's army under the russians
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
-backed Republic of Afghanistan
Republic of Afghanistan
Republic of Afghanistan was the official state government of Mohammed Daoud Khan from 1973 to 1978. Daoud Khan became Afghanistan's first President in 1973 after he deposed Mohammad Zahir Shah in a non-violent coup...
. His military positions included Commander of Artillery, Chief of the Army Staff, Chief of the KHAD
KHAD
Khadamat-e Etela'at-e Dawlati translates directly to English as: "Government Information Agency". However, this phrase is more correctly translated as Government Intelligence Service...
Intelligence Network and then Minister of Defense during the Soviet occupation in the 1980s.
A pillar of the Communist Regime, Tanai later attempted a coup against his former friend and President Mohammad Najibullah
Mohammad Najibullah
Mohammad Najibullah Ahmadzai , originally merely Najibullah, was the fourth and last President of the Soviet-backed Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. He is also considered the second President of the Republic of Afghanistan.-Early years:Najibullah was born in August 1947 to the Ahmadzai...
, seeking refuge in a hostile Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
and working with fundamentalists such as Engineer Gulbadin Hekmatyar.
He was a member of the Khalq
Khalq
Khalq was a faction of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan. Its historical leaders were Presidents Nur Muhammad Taraki and Hafizullah Amin. It was also the name of the leftist newspaper produced by the same movement. It was supported by the USSR and was formed in 1965 when the PDPA was born...
faction of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan
People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan
The People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan was a communist party established on the 1 January 1965. While a minority, the party helped former president of Afghanistan, Mohammed Daoud Khan, to overthrow his cousin, Mohammed Zahir Shah, and established Daoud's Republic of Afghanistan...
, and leader of at least the majority of the Khalqi faction since its former leader Sayed Mohammad Gulabzoy
Sayed Mohammad Gulabzoy
Major General Sayed Muhammad Gulabzoi is an Afghan politician.An ethnic Pashtun from the Zadran tribe, Gulabzoy was born in Paktia Province. An Air Force mechanic by training, he studied at the Air Force college...
was exiled as Ambassador to Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
as part of the political preparation of the Soviet pullout, in September 1988.
Early years
Born in 1950 in the village of Dargai in the southern province of KhostKhost
Khost or Khowst is a city in eastern Afghanistan. It is the capital of Khost province, which is a mountainous region near Afghanistan's border with Pakistan...
. Tanai followed a classic military career, attending first the military academy and then university, specialising in infantry tactics. He later traveled to the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
to study leadership.
After the 1978 coup in which President Mohammed Daoud Khan
Mohammed Daoud Khan
Sardar Mohammed Daoud Khan or Daud Khan was Prime Minister of Afghanistan from 1953 to 1963 and later becoming the President of Afghanistan...
was ousted and killed, Tanai was appointed head of Military Intelligence. He survived through the years of coups and bloodshed that followed during the Saur Revolution
Saur Revolution
The Saur Revolution is the name given to the Communist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan takeover of political power from the government of Afghanistan on 28 April 1978. The word 'Saur', i.e...
. His first appointment was of Commander of the Kabul
Kabul
Kabul , spelt Caubul in some classic literatures, is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. It is also the capital of the Kabul Province, located in the eastern section of Afghanistan...
garrison.
When Mohammad Hasan Sharq
Mohammad Hasan Sharq
Mohammad Hasan Sharq born in 1925 was an Afghan politician during the communist regime of Afghanistan. Sharq became Prime Minister of the Soviet-backed government, the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan....
was selected by President Najibullah as the new Prime Minister, the position of Minister of Defense remained open for some time, but was finally awarded to General Tanai. Tanai himself was recognized as a hawk and a sworn enemy of the Mujahideen
Mujahideen
Mujahideen are Muslims who struggle in the path of God. The word is from the same Arabic triliteral as jihad .Mujahideen is also transliterated from Arabic as mujahedin, mujahedeen, mudžahedin, mudžahidin, mujahidīn, mujaheddīn and more.-Origin of the concept:The beginnings of Jihad are traced...
. He even urged targeting SCUD
Scud
Scud is a series of tactical ballistic missiles developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War, and exported widely to other countries. The term comes from the NATO reporting name SS-1 Scud which was attached to the missile by Western intelligence agencies...
missiles at Islamabad
Islamabad
Islamabad is the capital of Pakistan and the tenth largest city in the country. Located within the Islamabad Capital Territory , the population of the city has grown from 100,000 in 1951 to 1.7 million in 2011...
. He sought a military solution, as opposed to the party's policy of national reconciliation.
In March 1990, 127 Khalq
Khalq
Khalq was a faction of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan. Its historical leaders were Presidents Nur Muhammad Taraki and Hafizullah Amin. It was also the name of the leftist newspaper produced by the same movement. It was supported by the USSR and was formed in 1965 when the PDPA was born...
i military officers were arrested for an attempted coup. Twenty-seven officers escaped and later showed up at a press conference with Hikmatyar in Peshawar
Peshawar
Peshawar is the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the administrative center and central economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan....
. Former Minister of Tribal Affairs, Bacha Gul Wafadar and Minister of Civil Aviation Hasan Sharq were among the conspirators. From his position as Defence Minister, Tanai pressured President Najibullah to release them.
Coup of March, 1990
In March 1990, when the trial of the Khalqi officers was about to start, Tanai launched a coup with the help of renegade mujahideenMujahideen
Mujahideen are Muslims who struggle in the path of God. The word is from the same Arabic triliteral as jihad .Mujahideen is also transliterated from Arabic as mujahedin, mujahedeen, mudžahedin, mudžahidin, mujahidīn, mujaheddīn and more.-Origin of the concept:The beginnings of Jihad are traced...
commander, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar is an Afghan Mujahideen leader who is the founder and leader of the Hezb-e Islami political party and paramilitary group. Hekmatyar was a rebel military commander during the 1980s Soviet war in Afghanistan and was one of the key figures in the civil war that followed the...
, against the then President Mohammad Najibullah
Mohammad Najibullah
Mohammad Najibullah Ahmadzai , originally merely Najibullah, was the fourth and last President of the Soviet-backed Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. He is also considered the second President of the Republic of Afghanistan.-Early years:Najibullah was born in August 1947 to the Ahmadzai...
.
He stated that he didn't disagree with President Najibullah's views, but rather with his policy on the military.
- Najibullah was transferring all the privileges of the Army to the tribal militias and in particular to his special guard. I was against this because the Afghan Army was losing efficiency.
Hekmatyar ordered his fighters to intensify their attacks against the Kabul regime in support of Tanai. The success of the coup was taken for granted.
The Pakistan government's involvement in this abortive affair was transparently obvious. Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto was a democratic socialist who served as the 11th Prime Minister of Pakistan in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996....
's plea to the other six party leaders to aid Tanai and Hekmatyar was rebuked as a disgrace to the jihad
Jihad
Jihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...
. Most of the factions viewed Gral. Tanai as an opportunistic war criminal and hardline
Hardline
In politics, hardline refers to the doctrine, policy, and posturing of a government or political body as being absolutist and sometimes authoritarian. The hardline position is usually extremist and uncompromising....
communist who had been responsible for the carpet-bombing of portions of the major western city of Herat
Herat
Herāt is the capital of Herat province in Afghanistan. It is the third largest city of Afghanistan, with a population of about 397,456 as of 2006. It is situated in the valley of the Hari River, which flows from the mountains of central Afghanistan to the Karakum Desert in Turkmenistan...
in March 1979.
The expected uprising by Afghan Army didn't take place: Tanai had no direct control of troops inside Kabul
Kabul
Kabul , spelt Caubul in some classic literatures, is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. It is also the capital of the Kabul Province, located in the eastern section of Afghanistan...
. He ordered air strikes against government buildings (Air Force Commander Abdul Qadir Aqa was an accomplice who also later fled to Pakistan). The plot misfired and failed because of faulty communications.
President Najibulllad appeared on TV at 10 p.m. the same night to prove that he was physically there and in effective control of the state apparatus. The President gathered the support of important Parcham
Parcham
Parcham was the name of one of the factions of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan. The Parcham faction seized power in the country after toppling Hafizullah Amin....
i militias, including the elite Special Guard to defuse the plot.
Tanai was apparently also supported by those important Khalq
Khalq
Khalq was a faction of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan. Its historical leaders were Presidents Nur Muhammad Taraki and Hafizullah Amin. It was also the name of the leftist newspaper produced by the same movement. It was supported by the USSR and was formed in 1965 when the PDPA was born...
is who remained in the Politburo
Politburo
Politburo , literally "Political Bureau [of the Central Committee]," is the executive committee for a number of communist political parties.-Marxist-Leninist states:...
, Assadullah Sarwary and Mohammad Gulabzoi, respectively their country's envoys to Aden
Aden
Aden is a seaport city in Yemen, located by the eastern approach to the Red Sea , some 170 kilometres east of Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000. Aden's ancient, natural harbour lies in the crater of an extinct volcano which now forms a peninsula, joined to the mainland by a...
and Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, were said to have been intimately connected with the coup and with Gral Tanai.
Sarwary, an old comrade
Comrade
Comrade means "friend", "colleague", or "ally". The word comes from French camarade. The term is frequently used by left-wing organizations around the globe. "Comrade" has often become a stock phrase and form of address. This word has its regional equivalents available in many...
of Tanai, was the chief of the Afghan intelligence under Nur Mohammad Taraki. He was a Khalqi hardliner known as the assassin of the rival Parcham faction. Gulabzoi was minister of interior before being exiled on a diplomatic assignment to Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
.
Tanai escaped by helicopter to Pakistan where he was greeted and publicly accepted as an ally by Hekmatyar, but when the rebellion was losing strength, Tanai defected to the Taliban.
Eventually, he settled on Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, where he lived in exile until August 4. He married in 1978, and has a daughter and two sons (the family is still in Pakistan).
Post-Taliban
He is currently the leader of the Afghanistan Peace Movement (De Afghanistan De Solay Ghorzang Gond) party. The party is believed to be fielding a significant number of candidates around the country.He recently returned to Khost province to make a political comeback. He drove from Islamabad
Islamabad
Islamabad is the capital of Pakistan and the tenth largest city in the country. Located within the Islamabad Capital Territory , the population of the city has grown from 100,000 in 1951 to 1.7 million in 2011...
to the border town of Torkham
Torkham
Torkham is a border crossing town in the Nangarhar province of Afghanistan and the Khyber Agency of Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas, right on the Durand Line border....
, where he crossed over to Afghanistan to be warmly received by his supporters. He was then escorted in a convoy of vehicles to Kabul
Kabul
Kabul , spelt Caubul in some classic literatures, is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. It is also the capital of the Kabul Province, located in the eastern section of Afghanistan...
.
The 55-year-old former general did not stand as a Presidential candidate. Tanai's movement was enrolled as the 29th political party for the 2004 elections, and its expected that his influence would bringing back Afghan communists from Pakistan and elsewhere where they fled to play a political role.
He has also campaigning for a bigger role for Pashtuns
Pashtun people
Pashtuns or Pathans , also known as ethnic Afghans , are an Eastern Iranic ethnic group with populations primarily between the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan and the Indus River in Pakistan...
, former jihad
Jihad
Jihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...
i leaders and religious parties, and he openly criticizes United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
policies that perpetuate the Afghan Northern Alliance domination in Kabul.
There were also allegations that Tanai had been sent by Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
to influence Afghanistan's politics in the post-Taliban period. He is also accused of working for Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence.
According to western diplomatic sources, Tanai has acted as an agent for ISI by providing the Taliban a skilled cadre of military officers from the Khalq
Khalq
Khalq was a faction of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan. Its historical leaders were Presidents Nur Muhammad Taraki and Hafizullah Amin. It was also the name of the leftist newspaper produced by the same movement. It was supported by the USSR and was formed in 1965 when the PDPA was born...
faction of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan
People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan
The People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan was a communist party established on the 1 January 1965. While a minority, the party helped former president of Afghanistan, Mohammed Daoud Khan, to overthrow his cousin, Mohammed Zahir Shah, and established Daoud's Republic of Afghanistan...
to use his pilots to fly Mig-23, Sukhoi
Sukhoi
Sukhoi Company is a major Russian aircraft manufacturer, headquartered in Begovoy District, Northern Administrative Okrug, Moscow, famous for its fighters...
fighters of what was left of the Afghan Air Force
Afghan Air Force
The Afghan Air Force , formerly the Afghan National Army Air Corps and Afghan National Army Air Force , is one of seven "corps" of the military of Afghanistan, responsible for air defense and air warfare. It was officially established in 1924 and for most of its history has functioned as a small...
, drive Soviet Tanks and the use Soviet Artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
.