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Faiz Ahmad
Faiz Ahmad
فيض احمد
Leader of the Afghanistan Liberation Organization
	In office; 1973 – 12 November 1986
Preceded by	Party established
Leader of the Progressive Youth Organization
	In office; Unknown–1973
Personal details
Born	1946; Kandahar, Kingdom of Afghanistan
Died	12 November 1986 (aged 39–40); Peshawar, Pakistan
Political party	ALO (1973–1986)
Spouse	Meena Keshwar Kamal
Children	3
Military service
Allegiance	Afghanistan Liberation Organization
Battles/wars	1979 uprisings in Afghanistan Bala Hissar uprising; Soviet–Afghan War

Faiz Ahmad (Persian: 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.^[1] Yari was leader of Progressive Youth Organization (PYO), a Maoist organization which was formed on 6 October 1965. Later, Ahmad broke 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 from the Pashtun hegemony of the new government,^[2] mistreatment of ethnic minorities,^[3] and their Soviet Influence. On August 5, 1979, a united front of Anti Khalqist Marxists and moderate Islamist attempted a uprising in southern Kabul. The uprising lasted 5 hours and was brutally crushed by the Khalqist government's MiG aircraft, artillery and tanks^[4]^[5]

Soviet-Afghan War

During the onset of the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, Faiz Ahmad, instrumental to 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.^[6]

References

^ "Biography of Comrade Dr Faiz Ahmad (1946–1986)". a-l-o.maoism.ru.
^ Byrne, Malcolm; Zubok, Vladislav. "The Intervention in Afghanistan and the Fall of Detente, A Chronology" (PDF). nsarchive2.gwu.edu.
^ "Flashback to 1979: A massacre of unarmed civilians in an uprising « RAWA News". www.rawa.org. Retrieved 29 June 2023.
^ Revolution Unending: Afghanistan, 1979 to the Present by Gilles Dorronsoro, 2005.
^ War in Afghanistan by K J Baker, 2011.
^ Brodsky, Anne E. With all our strength : the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan. New York City: Routledge, 2003. p. 54