Babrak KarmalArticle Free Pass Babrak Karmal, (born January 6,
1929, near Kabul, Afghanistan—died December 3, 1996, Moscow,
Russia), Afghan politician who, backed by the Soviet Union, was
president of Afghanistan from 1979 to 1986. The son of a well-
connected army general, Karmal became involved in Marxist
political activities while a student at Kabul University in the
1950s and was imprisoned for five years as a result. Upon his
release, he served in the army and returned to the university
for a law degree. In 1965 he was a founding member of the
People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) and from 1965 to
1973 served in the National Assembly. When the PDPA split (1967)
into the People’s (“Khalq”) and the Banner (“Parcham”) factions,
Karmal became the leader of the more moderate, pro-Soviet
Banner. The Banner supported the government of Mohammad Daud
Khan following Daud’s 1973 coup overthrowing the monarchy, but
relations between Daud and the political left soon soured. The
two PDPA factions reunited in