The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

evolutionary, anti-party, and against the democratic reforms. And where are Karmal andhis cronies now? Nowhere to be found! And look at me, sitting here in front of you, numbertwo in the state, the secretary of the Central Committee, minister, and vice premier. The topbrass in the Soviet Union, the leaders of the International Communist Movement, welcomeme with open arms. The whole world knows me!“Don’t believe the fairy tales about Karmal as the ‘great theoretician of therevolutionary movement in Afghanistan.’ He may have written many articles over the lastfew years, but if you read those articles attentively, you will see a revolting revisionistideologist, bourgeois opportunist, and provocateur. Tell this to your leaders in Moscow andlet them shed their misunderstanding once and for all.”Gorelov and Zaplatin duly reported their positive impressions of “the second man ofthe DRA” to their bosses. They expressed their admiration for his outstanding personalqualities and business skills. Interestingly, Amin himself never fully trusted the head of theSoviet military advisory mission. A self-described “true revolutionary,” he could not forgiveGorelov for having been close to M. Daoud and having toasted to the king’s health. Almostall distinguished Afghans who were associated with the former regime had been killed,imprisoned, or had fled the country during the last year—that was the merciless logic ofthe revolutionary struggle led by Amin. Amin learned the lessons of the Great OctoberRevolution from books by American authors, which he had read with great pleasure duringhis studies in the United States. That was why General Gorelov and Ambassador Puzanov—both Brezhnev-era “revisionists”—had no place in Amin’s revolutionary plans for the newlife in Afghanistan.Lev Nikolayevich, however, had no inkling of Amin’s enmity and continued to352