Newspaper Article

Islamic Radicals Capture Afghan Capital; Triumphant Taliban Militiamen Enter Kabul, Hang Ex-President

Gannon, Kathy

1996

Overview

Islamic guerrilla fighters seized control of Afghanistan's capital this morning after two days of heavy fighting, quickly hanged a former pro-Soviet president, and proclaimed a strict Islamic state. President Najibullah, who had been in hiding for four years since losing power, was seized from a United Nations compound and executed. His bloated, beaten body was hanging from a cement lamppost outside the presidential palace just hours after the opposition Taliban militia seized Kabul from retreating government forces. Witnesses said the triumphant Taliban insurgents met little resistance as they rolled into the city about 1 a.m. after two days of heavy fighting in the outskirts of the capital. They said celebratory bursts of machine-gun fire, Islamic chants and passages from the Koran intoned through bullhorns resounded through largely empty streets as the militiamen set up checkpoints and occupied vacated government buildings.

• Publisher: WP Company LLC d/b/a The Washington Post
• Subject: Najibullah