The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

had to be restrained: “The former ambassador of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA) inPrague, Karmal Bobrak [the spelling of the name that was used in the Soviet documents of theperiod], who has received political asylum from our Czech comrades after having been removedfrom the post of ambassador and having ignored an order to return home, is consolidatingParchami forces abroad (in capitalist and socialist countries) and in Afghanistan for actionsdirected against the current Afghan regime, the ruling PDPA, and the government of the DRA.”Deputy Head of the CPSU International Department of the Central Committee Ulyanovskyread Osadchiy’s cable and immediately sent the following note to the Secretariat of the CentralCommittee: “It would make sense to ask the Central Committee of the Communist Party ofCzechoslovakia to conduct consultations with K. Bobrak and to impress on him the necessity ofputting an end to the activities hostile to the progressive regime of Afghanistan.” Soon the Sovietambassador in Prague received instructions to meet with one of the leaders of the CzechCommunist Party and ask him to instruct the exiled Afghan leader accordingly. The attachmentcontained the main arguments. In particular, it said that, “such activities of K. Babrak are puttinghis hosts, as well as Soviet comrades, in an uncomfortable and dishonest position in the eyes of thecurrent revolutionary leaders in Afghanistan.” The Afghan politician was instructed to “draw hisown conclusions.”When Karmal was given the message, his response was, “You wait and see. Soon, theseSoviet comrades will speak to me differently.”He would later be proved correct.After three months, Kharazov’s mission came to an end. Without any regret, he departedfrom a country that he never learned to understand and returned to his quiet and cozy home inVilnius. He stopped in Moscow on the way back to Lithuania to rest and to receive some medical191