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Nur Muhammad Taraki Quotes

Nur Muhammad Taraki was an Afghan communist statesman during the Cold War who served as President of Afghanistan from 1978 to 1979. Taraki was born in Nawa, Ghazni Province and graduated from Kabul University, after which he started his political career as a journalist. He later became one of the founding members of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan and was elected as the party's general secretary at its first congress. He ran as a candidate in the 1965 Afghan parliamentary election but failed to win a seat. In 1966 he published the first issue of Khalq, a party newspaper, but the government closed it down shortly afterward. Taraki led the Khalq wing of the PDPA. In 1978 he, Hafizullah Amin and Babrak Karmal initiated the Saur Revolution and established the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.

Taraki's presidency was short-lived and marked by controversies. The government was divided between two PDPA factions: the Khalqists , the majority, and the Parchamites, the minority. He started a purge of the government and party that led to several high-ranking Parchamite members being sent into de facto exile by being assigned to serve overseas as ambassadors. Taraki launched a land reform on 1 January 1979 that proved highly unpopular. His regime also brutally locked up dissidents and oversaw massacres of villagers. These factors, among others, led to a popular backlash that initiated a rebellion. Despite repeated attempts, Taraki was unable to persuade the Soviet Union to intervene in support of the restoration of civil order.

Taraki's reign was marked by a dictator-like cult of personality centered around him that Amin had cultivated. The state press and subsequent propaganda started to refer to him as the "Great Leader" and "Great Teacher". His relationship with Amin turned sour during his rule, ultimately resulting in Taraki's overthrow on 14 September 1979 and subsequent murder on 8 October, on Amin's orders. His death was a factor that led to the Soviet intervention in December 1979.

From the 1940s onward Taraki also wrote novels and short stories in the socialist realism style.



Wikipedia  

✵ 15. July 1917 – 8. October 1979
Nur Muhammad Taraki photo
Nur Muhammad Taraki: 10 quotes1 like

Famous Nur Muhammad Taraki Quotes

“I am proud that for the first time in the history of Afghanistan, I am raising the flag of such a people, who are producing all material and immaterial equipment necessary for the life in this country and who make all efforts for prosperity and serendipity of the society. This glorious and magnificent red flag is the symbol of the greatness and pride of these people.”

Nur Muhammad Taraki

Speech during the presentation of the new national symbols, October 19, 1978 https://pad.ma/BSI/info.

“We want to create a society in which our workers and farmers can afford to appear in handsome attire and enjoy a good life and health; we want this kind of society.”

Nur Muhammad Taraki

Speech August 1, 1978 http://www.larouchepub.com/eiw/public/1978/eirv05n35-19780912/eirv05n35-19780912_061-who_are_afghanistans_new_leaders.pdf.

“Now we are proud that the government has moved from the class of the exploiters to the class of the people who were being exploited. And in the great name of the same class, I raise this nation's flag which is a strong symbol of this transfer.”

Nur Muhammad Taraki

Speech during the presentation of the new national symbols, October 19, 1978 https://pad.ma/BSI/info.

“Let me conclude by urging you strongly, comrades, to couple your studies and knowledge with action; find good, clean and pious comrades. You should not only be an example of political, social and moral piety in the army but throughout the country so that everyone will say that the Khalqis are truly honorable and trust worthy people to be proud of. Our comrades set such an example even before the revolution… Before the revolution, whoever wanted to punish one of our comrades would accuse him of being a Khalqi, for he had good morals and would not take bribes. It was on the basis of this piety, that is political and social piety, that we took over power.”

Nur Muhammad Taraki

Speech August 1, 1978 http://www.larouchepub.com/eiw/public/1978/eirv05n35-19780912/eirv05n35-19780912_061-who_are_afghanistans_new_leaders.pdf.

“Everything will be all right. I know this room. Soldiers used to be quartered here. Now it's our turn.”

Nur Muhammad Taraki

Said to his wife in the Presidential Palace, shortly before his assassination, as quoted in Rodric Braithwaite (2010) Afgantsy: The Russians in Afghanistan 1979-89, page 67.

“The course of reform is in progress thanks to Decree No. 6 of the Revolutionary Council-one of the monumental achievements in the eyes of the regime. Under this decree, farmers with little or no land have been freed of the debts they had incurred to landlords and moneylenders. You have sharpened the class struggle in Afghanistan. The class struggle which we awaited for many long years is now gaining in intensity. Previously, nothing material existed for our people to awaken their political awareness and to make them rise against the feudal lords.”

Nur Muhammad Taraki

Speech August 1, 1978 http://www.larouchepub.com/eiw/public/1978/eirv05n35-19780912/eirv05n35-19780912_061-who_are_afghanistans_new_leaders.pdf.

Nur Muhammad Taraki Quotes

“I congratulate my fellow countrymen, gallant soldiers, my Pashtun and Baloch brothers and the workers of Asia, Africa, Europe and the US on the first birthday of the Saur Revolution. The Saur Revolution is not limited to the workers and soldiers of Afghanistan. It is the revolution of the workers and oppressed masses of [the] whole world. This revolution, which was carried out by armed soldiers under the leadership of the Khalq Party, is a great success and a victory for workers all over the world. The great October Revolution of 1917 shook the whole world. That revolution is a source of guidance and inspiration for our revolution, which once again has begun to shake the planet.”

Nur Muhammad Taraki

Speech in Kabul on first anniversary of Saur Revolution http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/opinion/27-Apr-2014/anniversary-of-a-revolution-obliterated-from-history.

“I noticed long ago that Amin has the tendency to concentrate power in his own hands but I did not attach any particular significance to this. However, recently this tendency has become dangerous.”

Nur Muhammad Taraki

As quoted in Rodric Braithwaite (2010) Afgantsy: The Russians in Afghanistan 1979-89, page 65.

“When our party took over political power, the exploiting classes and reactionary forces went into action. The only rusty and antiquated tool that they use against us is preaching in the name of faith and religion against the progressive movement of our homeland… They ought to be uprooted as a cancerous tumor is from the body of a patient in a surgical operation.”

Nur Muhammad Taraki

Speech August 1, 1978 http://www.larouchepub.com/eiw/public/1978/eirv05n35-19780912/eirv05n35-19780912_061-who_are_afghanistans_new_leaders.pdf.

“You are the one who should quit! Because of drink and old age you have taken leave of your senses.”

Nur Muhammad Taraki

Hafizullah Amin, as quoted in Nabi Misdaq (2006) Afghanistan: Political Frailty and External Interference, page 125.
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