1990 Afghan coup attempt

1990 Afghan coup d'état attempt
Part of the Afghan Civil War (1989–1992)
Date March 6, 1990 Location Afghanistan Result Afghan government - Jamiat victory Shahnawaz Tanai flees to Pakistan Coup attempt thwarted
Belligerents
Afghanistan Homeland Party Supported by: Pro-Najibullah Khalqists Jamiat-e Islami	Military faction Supported by: Pro-Tanai Khalqists Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin
Commanders and leaders
Mohammad Najibullah Ahmad Shah Massoud Mohammad Aslam Watanjar Khushal Peroz	Shahnawaz Tanai Gulbuddin Hekmatyar Assadullah Sarwari Sayed Mohammad Gulabzoy Bacha Gul Wafadar Mohammad Hasan Sharq Nazar Mohammad Mohammad Dawran (alleged)
Military support
Afghan Armed Forces Afghan Commando Forces Afghan Army 717th Civil Disciplinary Regiment Harbi Military University students 10th Infantry Division Afghan National Guard 21st Guards Regiment 22nd Guards Regiment Sarandoy 8th Gendarme Brigade KhAD 1st Directorate 5th Directorate Revolution Defence Units	Afghan Armed Forces defectors Afghan Army 4th Tank Brigade 15th Tank Brigade 52nd Signal Regiment 40th Infantry Division 8th Infantry Division 61st Heavy Artillery Regiment Afghan Commando Forces 37th Commando Brigade Afghan Air Force 99th Missile Brigade 77th Air Defence Regiment Sarandoy 22nd Motorway Sentry Brigade 5th Gendarme Division Afghan Border Force Border Force Training Centre Mujahideen factions

Part of a series on the
History of Afghanistan
Timeline
Ancient Indus Valley civilisation 2200–1800 BC Oxus civilization 2100–1800 BC Gandhara kingdom 1500–535 BC Median Empire 728–550 BC Achaemenid Empire 550–330 BC Macedonian Empire 330–312 BC Seleucid Empire 312–150 BC Maurya Empire 305–180 BC Greco-Bactrian kingdom 256–125 BC Parthian Empire 247 BC–224 AD Indo-Greek kingdom 180–90 BC Indo-Scythian kingdom 155–80? BC Kushan Empire 135 BC – 248 AD Indo-Parthian kingdom 20 BC – 50? AD Sasanian Empire 230–651 Kidarite kingdom 320–465 Rob Alchon Huns 380–560 Hephthalite Empire 410–557 Nezak Huns 484–711
Medieval Kabul Shahi 565–879 Principality of Chaghaniyan 7th–8th centuries Rashidun Caliphate 652–661 Tang China 660–669 Tibetan Empire 660–842 Umayyads 661–750 Zunbils 680–870 Lawik 750-977 Abbasids 750–821 Tahirids 821–873 Saffarids 863–900 Samanids 875–999 Ghaznavids 963–1187 Ghurids before 879–1215 Seljuks 1037–1194 Khwarezmids 1215–1231 Mongol Invasion 1219–1226 Chagatai Khanate 1226–1245 Qarlughids 1224–1266 Ilkhanate 1256–1335 Kartids 1245–1381 Timurids 1370–1507 Arghuns 1520–1591
Modern Mughals 1501–1738 Safavids 1510–1709 Kunduz Khanate  ?–1859 Hotak dynasty 1709–1738 Sadozai Sultanate 1716–1732 Afsharid Iran 1738–1747 Durrani Empire 1747–1823 Maimana Khanate 1747–1892 Herat 1793–1863 Principality of Qandahar 1818–1855 Emirate 1823–1926 Saqqawist Emirate 1929 Kingdom 1926–1973 Daoud coup 1973 Republic 1973–1978 Saur Revolution 1978 Democratic Republic 1978–1992 Tanai coup attempt 1990 Islamic State 1992–1996 Islamic Emirate 1996–2001 US invasion 2001 Islamic State (reinstated) 2001 Interim/Transitional Administration 2001–2004 Islamic Republic (politics) 2004–2021 Islamic Emirate (reinstated) since 2021
Related historical regions Arachosia Aria Ariana Bactria Gandhara Iran Kabulistan Kafiristan Khorasan Kushanshahr Paropamisadae Sistan Zabulistan
Related topics Political history Political violence Culture Economic history Name Afghan (ethnonym) List of years List of heads of state Wars List of wars Hinduism history Hindu and Buddhist heritage Jewish history Muslim conquests
Category Afghanistan portal
v t e

The 1990 Afghan coup d'etat attempt occurred on March 6, 1990, when General Shahnawaz Tanai, a hardline communist and Khalqist who served as Minister of Defence, attempted to overthrow President Mohammad Najibullah of the Republic of Afghanistan. The coup attempt failed and Tanai was forced to flee to Pakistan.^[1]

Tanai, who has been described alternatively as a "radical nationalist" and a "hard-line communist" of the radical Khalq faction of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan,^[2] was fiercely anti-mujahideen yet launched an unlikely alliance with the Islamist (but also nationalist) rebel Gulbuddin Hekmatyar of the Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin party. Tanai was against Najibullah's peace plans and supported a military solution to the conflict. 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. A previous coup attempt by Khalqists was foiled in December 1989, to which Tanai has been linked.^[3] The coup occurred a year following the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan.^[4]

Tanai was apparently also supported by those important Khalqists who remained in the Politburo, Assadullah Sarwari and Sayed Mohammad Gulabzoy, respectively their country's envoys to Aden and Moscow. They were said to have been intimately connected with the coup and with Tanai. Sarwari, an old comrade of Tanai, was the chief of the Afghan intelligence (KHAD) under Nur Muhammad Taraki. He was a Khalqist hardliner known as the assassin of a rival Parcham faction member. Gulabzoy was minister of interior before being exiled on a diplomatic assignment to Moscow.^[5]

Tanai 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.

The Pakistani government supported the Coup in the moment hoping to weaken the Najibullah government although Tanai himself was no friend of Pakistan as he had been insistent to Najibullah to point SCUD missiles at Islamabad in retlation for supporting the rebels.^[6][7] 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 General Tanai as an opportunistic war criminal and hardline communist who was responsible for carpet-bombings in portions of the major western city of Herat in March 1979. The coup attempt was partially financed by Osama bin Laden, who bribed Afghan Armed Forces officers into deserting.^[2]

Tanai initially wanted to work with Massoud to overthrow Najibullahs regime but he turned down the offer, according to a senior Jamiat official. Massoud apparently told his contacts in the Ministry of Defense do to everything possible to destroy Tanai's rebellion. He was prepared to do anything to prevent Hekmatyar establishing a radical Islamic state, even if it meant having to cooperate with Najib.^[8][9]

Tanai ordered air strikes against government buildings. Jets flown by Afghan Air Force pilots loyal to Tanai flew in Kabul to bomb the targets, but most were repelled by the Army. Air Force Commander Abdul Qadir Aqa was an accomplice. Three rockets landed near the Presidential Palace.^[10] However the expected uprising by the Afghan Army didn't take place: Tanai had no direct control of troops inside Kabul. Tanai had sent the 15th Tank Brigade into the city to attack the Palace. Interior Minister Mohammad Aslam Watanjar played a major role in halting the coup plotters. He ordered a battalion to intercept the tanks and told his forces to capture Tanai "dead or alive". There was street fighting near the palace as well,^[11] with the WAD-led Gard-e-Khas paramilitary force additionally playing an important role involved in suppressing the coup.^[12] Commandos of the defunct (since 1988) Afghan Air Assault Brigades were also recorded attempting to defuse the situation after the coup attempt failed.^[13]

Tanai blamed Hekmatyar for the failure. He told a fellow officer. "He said he was supposed to send people in after 5:00 a.m. I looked at my watch at 5:05. At 6:00 a.m. I told my people: Everyone's name is on this [failure].^[14] Massoud had ordered sleeper cells he had built inside the regime not to come to Hezb's aid during the Coup, his elaborate trap to damage Hezb worked.^[9]

President Najibullah appeared on television 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 Parchamite militias, including the elite Special Guard to defuse the plot.

Najibullah later claimed that the Soviet Union offered help to defeat the coup, to which he thanked the offer and replied: "There's no need now. But if we face a foreign attack that will be another matter", referring to Pakistan.^[15]

In the afternoon of March 7, Tanai escaped to Bagram Air Base and fled by helicopter to Peshawar, Pakistan where he was greeted and publicly accepted as an ally by Hekmatyar.^[16] Eventually, he settled there in Pakistan. Tanai would later state the reason he fled to Pakistan was his only options were Iran, the Soviet Union or Pakistan, knowing the Soviets would probably turn him over and Iran was hostile to the Khalqists he decided Pakistan as Hekmatyar promised him protection. He lived in exile until later returning to Afghanistan. A general and two commanders loyal to Tanai were killed during the coup attempt.

Najibullah grew even more suspicious of Khalqists, and thus another purge occurred, further deepening the rift between the two factions.^[17] In all, 127 Khalqist military officers were arrested for the attempted coup, including Sarwari and Gulabzoy. Twenty-seven officers escaped and later showed up at a press conference with Hekmatyar in Peshawar. Former Minister of Tribal Affairs, Bacha Gul Wafadar and Minister of Civil Aviation Mohammad Hasan Sharq were among the conspirators.^[10] General Watanjar was awarded a four-star rank and became the new Minister of Defence following his efforts against the coup plotters.^[11]