The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

talks with Taraki with his colleagues. According to him, the Afghan leader had arrived inMoscow in a “somewhat agitated state of mind, but relaxed gradually over the course of theconversation, and by the end of it acted calmly and sensibly.”“As I was told, Comrade Taraki was very pleased and left Moscow in a good mood.”Leonid Ilyich sounded clearly satisfied with how things had gone. “Perhaps the comradeswho also participated in the discussions can add to what I have said.”“I saw Comrade Taraki off at the airport,” began Kosygin enthusiastically. “Heexpressed his deep gratitude to the Politburo and Leonid Ilyich for a kind reception andgoodwill towards Afghanistan. It is now the New Year according to the Afghan calendar.Taraki celebrated it here. He did not expect that so many issues would be resolved in such abrief time.”***It is most likely that the uprising in Herat was spontaneous, not controlled orcoordinated. Otherwise it is difficult to explain why the city that had been captured withsuch extraordinary speed was so easily given back.On March 16, a reinforced company of paratroopers, or to be more precise, of thosewhom Gorelov had personally recruited for paratrooper training, was sent to Herat. Severaltank crews that consisted of PDPA members accompanied them. There were tanks in theSeventeenth Division; however, all members of the tank crews had deserted when therebellion began. The commander of that company was Major Shahnavaz Tanai, the sameperson who had dispatched Captain Imamuddin with an ultimatum to Mohammad Daoudduring the April Revolution. He was the one who would later become the minister ofdefense under Najibullah, who would launch his “anti-Parcham” rebellion in 1990, and who387