The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

and the cadres of the party. Unfortunately, hostility in our ranks penetrated the hearts of anumber of our people. I think that at the expanded meeting of the Politburo we must openlydiscuss this matter in the presence of our comrades.”“Then let’s call such a meeting. We can discuss everything then and make decisions,”summed up Taraki. He poured a glass of whisky on the rocks for himself and drank it, neglecting tooffer a drink to the others.Karmal, as a deputy chairman of the Revolutionary Council and the first deputy primeminister, was allocated a huge office in one of the buildings in the former Ark Palace compound.Everything in that office was disconcerting to its new master. A residue of dust covered thehardwood floors, antique furniture, and walls of the office. The walls that had been painted babyblue twenty years ago and the dark gray ceiling were framed by thick, black cobwebs. The smell ofrot emanated from inside the office. The walls smelled like rot, the wooden crossbeams smelledlike rot. The space was filled by massive French furniture from the nineteenth century. The size ofthe office and the enormous desk, thought Babrak, was there to emphasize his diminutive figureand the absurdity of his position.Very soon, the Parchami leader understood that he had been caught in a golden cage. Hedid not, and would not, have any real power. All of his high titles were pure fiction and formality.He was called and visited only by his closest friends, and all they talked about was how Taraki,Amin, and their cronies shared power, committed illegal acts, and discriminated againstParchamis as if they were enemies and not party comrades. Babrak would listen to the complaints,promising to resolve the issues, but what could he do? He had no power and no mechanism toleverage the situation. No documents were brought to him for signature. No importantinformation was shared with him. Nobody asked him about candidates for vacant positions. He153