# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/babrak-karmal
# Generated: 2026-08-31T19:39:19.002Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/babrak-karmal"
name: "Babrak Karmal"
slug: "babrak-karmal"
description: "He arrived in Kabul on Soviet tanks in December 1979, installed after Moscow's troops killed his predecessor. For seven years Babrak Karmal led Afghanistan as the face of an occupation he couldn't justify and reforms that bought him no loyalty, trapped between a rebellion that never stopped and patrons in the Kremlin who eventually decided he'd failed."
tagline: "3rd General Secretary of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (1929–1996)"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Babrak_Karmal_January_1980_(cropped).jpg?width=1200"
gender: "male"
category:
  name: "Politicians"
  slug: "politicians"
profileType:
  name: "Politician"
  slug: "politician"
birthDate: "1929-01-06"
deathDate: "1996-12-03"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           58.22
  momentum:             10
  historical:           22.78467066666667
  currentAttention:     0
  sourceConfidence:     65
  profileCompleteness:  65
  trendDirection:       "STABLE"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
tags:
  - name: "Politicians"
    slug: "politicians"
  - name: "Politician"
    slug: "politician"
  - name: "Politics"
    slug: "politics"
  - name: "Law"
    slug: "law"
  - name: "20th Century"
    slug: "20th-century"
platforms:
  - platform:  "IMDB"
    url:       "https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0439733/"
    handle:    "nm0439733"
sources:
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q63827"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babrak_Karmal"
    title: "Wikipedia"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://pantheon.world/profile/person/Babrak%20Karmal"
    title: "Pantheon 2.0"
    type:  "DATABASE"
  - url: "https://ast.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babrak_Karmal"
    title: "Babrak Karmal"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://az.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C9%99br%C9%99k_Karm%C9%99l"
    title: "Bəbrək Karməl"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ba.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9A%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8C_%D0%91%D0%B0%D0%B1%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BA"
    title: "Кармаль Бабрак"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://be.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%91%D0%B0%D0%B1%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BA_%D0%9A%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8C"
    title: "Бабрак Кармаль"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%91%D0%B0%D0%B1%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BA_%D0%9A%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%BB"
    title: "Бабрак Кармал"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "বাবরাক কারমাল"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babrak_Karmal"
    title: "Babrak Karmal"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babrak_Karmal"
    title: "Babrak Karmal"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cv.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9A%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8C"
    title: "Кармаль"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babrak_Karmal"
    title: "Babrak Karmal"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babrak_Karmal"
    title: "Babrak Karmal"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%9C%CF%80%CE%B1%CE%BC%CF%80%CF%81%CE%AC%CE%BA_%CE%9A%CE%B1%CF%81%CE%BC%CE%AC%CE%BB"
    title: "Μπαμπράκ Καρμάλ"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babrak_Karmal"
    title: "Babrak Karmal"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babrak_Karm%C4%81l"
    title: "Babrak Karmāl"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babrak_Karmal"
    title: "Babrak Karmal"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A8%D8%A8%D8%B1%DA%A9_%DA%A9%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%85%D9%84"
    title: "ببرک کارمل"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babrak_Karmal"
    title: "Babrak Karmal"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babrak_Karmal"
    title: "Babrak Karmal"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babrak_Karmal"
    title: "Babrak Karmal"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://io.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babrak_Karmal"
    title: "Babrak Karmal"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babrak_Karmal"
    title: "Babrak Karmal"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%90%E3%83%96%E3%83%A9%E3%82%AF%E3%83%BB%E3%82%AB%E3%83%BC%E3%83%AB%E3%83%9E%E3%83%AB"
    title: "バブラク・カールマル"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://it.wikiquote.org/wiki/Babrak_Karmal"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A8%D8%A8%D8%B1%D9%83_%D9%83%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%85%D9%84"
    title: "ببرك كارمل"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%83_%D9%83%D8%B1%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%84"
    title: "بابراك كرمال"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Born Sultan Hussein in 1929, Karmal was introduced to Marxism during imprisonment and became a founding member of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan, leading its Parcham faction after the 1967 split. He served in parliament, helped Mohammad Daoud Khan take power in 1973, then participated in the 1978 Saur Revolution that brought the PDPA to power. When the rival Khalq faction turned on the Parchamites months later, Karmal was exiled to Prague and lived in the forests under Czechoslovak protection, hiding from Afghan assassins. The KGB brought him to Moscow in late 1979; in December Soviet troops staged a coup, killed Hafizullah Amin, and installed Karmal as head of state. His reforms—amnesty, a new flag, softer rhetoric—failed to win legitimacy, and Mikhail Gorbachev removed him in 1986, replacing him with Mohammad Najibullah. Exiled to Moscow, he returned briefly in 1991, aligned with Abdul Rashid Dostum, and may have helped topple Najibullah before leaving Afghanistan for the last time. He died of liver cancer in Moscow in 1996.