1986 in Afghanistan resigns from the largely ceremonial post of president of the Revolutionary Council. He is succeeded on November 24 by Haji Mohammad Chamkani, formerly first vice-president and a non-PDPA member. An extraordinary plenum of the PDPA Central Committee approves a policy of national reconciliation, involving negotiations with opposition groups, and the proposed formation of a coalition government of national unity. A cabinet reshuffle sees the elevation of Najibullah supporters Abdul Wakil and Mohammad Rafi to the posts of foreign minister and defense minister, respectively. Najibullah visits the U.S.S.R. to discuss prospects for ending the conflict in Afghanistan. 1986 in Afghanistan The
George Burns (British Army officer) George Burns (British Army officer) Major General Sir Walter Arthur George Burns, (January 1911 – 5 May 1997) was a British Army officer and native of Hertfordshire. Burns was born in January 1911 and educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge. He obtained a commission in the Coldstream Guards in 1932, and served as aide-de-camp to the Viceroy of India, the Marquess of Linlithgow from 1938 to 1940. He then held several staff posts during the Second World War: adjutant of the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards from 1940 to 1941 (in which service he received the Military Cross), brigade major