Nur Muhammad Taraki
| Nur Muhammad Taraki نور محمد ترکۍ |
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| Chairman of the Presidium of the Revolutionary Council | |
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In office 30 April 1978 – 14 September 1979 |
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| Preceded by | Abdul Qadir |
| Succeeded by | Hafizullah Amin |
| Chairman of the Council of Ministers | |
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In office 1 May 1978 – 27 March 1979 |
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| Preceded by | Mohammad Musa Shafiq |
| Succeeded by | Hafizullah Amin |
| General Secretary of the Central Committee of the People's Democratic Party | |
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In office 1 January 1965 – 14 September 1979 |
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| Preceded by | Post established |
| Succeeded by | Hafizullah Amin |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
15 July 1917 Nawa, Ghazni Province, Afghanistan |
| Died | 14 September 1979 (aged 62) Kabul, Afghanistan |
| Political party | People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan(Khalq) |
| Profession | Politician, journalist, writer |
| Religion | Sunni Islam |
Nur Muhammad Taraki (15 July 1917 – 14 September 1979) was an Afghan politician and statesman during the Cold War. Taraki was born near Kabul and educated at 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 (PDPA) 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 secure himself a seat. In 1966 he published the first issue of Khalq, a party newspaper, but it was closed down shortly afterwards by the Afghan Government. The assassination of Mir Akbar Khyber led Taraki, along with Hafizullah Amin (the organiser of the revolution) and Babrak Karmal, to initiate the Saur Revolution and establish the communist Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.
The presidency of Taraki, albeit short-lived, was always marked by controversies. Taraki launched a land reform on 1 January 1979 which proved to be highly unpopular and, along with his government's other reforms, led to a popular backlash which initiated the Afghan civil war. Despite repeated attempts throughout his reign, Taraki proved unable to persuade the Soviet Union to intervene in support of the restoration of civil order.
At the beginning of his rule, the government was divided between two PDPA factions: the Khalqists (which Taraki was the leader of), the majority, and the Parchamites, the minority. In 1978, shortly after his rule began, Taraki started a purge of the government and party which led to several high-ranking Parchamite members being sent into de facto exile by being assigned to serve overseas as ambassadors. His reign was marked by a cult of personality centered on himself that had been cultivated by Amin. His relationship with Amin turned sour during his rule, ultimately resulting in Taraki's overthrow on 14 September 1979 and subsequent murder on 8 or 9 October, upon Amin's orders.
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