Amu: Mohammad Rafi, a former Afghan defense minister and senior official in the Soviet-backed Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, died on Sunday in Germany at the age of 79 after a long illness, family members confirmed. Rafi played a role in the 1973 coup led by Mohammad Daoud Khan, which ended the monarchy and established Afghanistan’s first republic. He later rose to command the country’s Fourth Armored Division. Click here to read more (external link).