death_date death_place birth_place imagesize party birth_date order term_start article_title term_end name
17 april 1978 kabul , democratic republic of afghanistan kabul , emirate of afghanistan 175px people 's democratic party of afghanistan -lrb- pdpa -rrb- 11 january 1925 editor of the '' parcham '' 1968 mir akbar khyber
 1969 mir akbar khyber
mir akbar khyber

mir akbar khyber -lrb- sometimes spelled khaibar -rrb- -lrb- 1925 -- april 17 , 1978 -rrb- was an afghan intellectual and a leader of the parcham faction of people 's democratic party of afghanistan -lrb- pdpa -rrb- .
his assassination led to the overthrow of mohammed daoud khan 's republic , and to the advent of a socialist regime in afghanistan , the democratic republic of afghanistan .
born in 1925 , khyber graduated from harbi pohantoon military university in 1947 .
in 1950 , he was imprisoned for his revolutionary activities .
later he was employed by the ministry of education , until he was expelled from paktia for taking part in a riot in 1965 .
after returning to kabul , he became editor of the parcham newspaper , `` parcham '' , and oversaw the parchams recruitment program in the afghan army .
he was assassinated outside his home on 17 april 1978 .
the daoud regime attempted to put the blame for kyber 's death on hekmatyar 's hezbi islami , but nur mohammad taraki of the pdpa charged that the government itself was responsible , a belief that was shared by much of the kabul intelligentsia .
louis dupree , an american historian and specialist of afghanistan , concluded that interior minister nuristani , a virulent anti-communist , had ordered the killing .
however , several sources , including fellow parchamis babrak karmal and anahita ratebzad , claimed that hafizullah amin , a leader of the rival khalq faction , was the instigator of the assassination .
daoud 's confidant , abdul samad ghaus , suggested that a strong rivalry existed between amin and khyber as they both attempted to infiltrate the military for their respective factions .
also , khyber 's attempts to reunite khalq and parcham cells within the military would have undermined amin 's power , according to communist sources .
at khyber 's funeral on april 19 , some 15,000 pdpa sympathizers gathered in kabul , and paraded through the streets chanting slogans against the cia and the savak , the shah of iran 's secret police .
alarmed by this demonstration of communist strength , daoud ordered a crackdown on the pdpa leadership , which in turn prompted the pdpa to launch a military coup that became known as the saur revolution , during which daoud was killed , and the pdpa took power .
