The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

Revolution.“I understand that you may find this hard to believe,” continued Amin, “but if youfollow the history of our party closely, you will see that it was the Parchamis who dideverything to destroy the revolutionary movement. Karmal himself repeatedly appealed forcooperation with the reactionary royal regime. He suggested that we ‘tone down our redtones and convince the king that we are not communists.’ Can you imagine that? Whatcould this be but a covert deal with the monarchy?“I am going to refer to a fact that is well known to the leaders of our party, butperhaps will surprise our Soviet comrades. Karmal was an informer to Mohammad Daoudfor many years, up until April of last year. To Daoud—the tyrant, the hired hand of theimperialists! In order to reward Karmal for his service, Daoud’s security guys turned ablind eye to the Parchamis, while the president appointed some of them as ministers in hiscabinet.”Amin paused here, relishing the generals’ reaction, before moving to his final point.“After the anti-monarchical coup, Daoud, for some reason, suddenly grewdisinterested in his former informer, Karmal. Karmal, wishing to ingratiate himself,outlined a plan to arrest and eliminate the leadership of the Khalq faction and submitted itto the president. It was only Allah’s will and the support of the people that helped us toavoid being hunted down and killed.”Both advisers looked dispirited. They had repeatedly been told before thatParchamis were rotten and unreliable, but now, having heard the new facts, theyunderstood that there was no chance for reconciliation with Karmal and his allies. Amin, ashrewd psychologist, recognized the change in the mood of his advisers. He took advantage350