The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

Afghanistan. Comrade Taraki is facing physical elimination. The plot against the revolutionis being organized by the CIA, with participation of the long-term American agentHafizullah Amin. He is a provocateur, a traitor to the Afghan people and the AprilRevolution. He wants to turn Afghanistan into a U.S. military base at the southern bordersof your country. With that goal in mind, he is going to trigger a civil war in Afghanistan,turning our people against the PDPA and other progressive forces. He wants tocompromise the brotherly assistance of the Soviet Union and destroy the long-termfriendly ties between our two countries. This is why the Soviet Union, keeping in mind notonly our interests, but also those of the entire international communist movement, mustinitiate military intervention in Afghanistan without delay, and send at least one or twoairborne paratrooper divisions. This could interrupt Amin’s evil plans because in case ofSoviet military intervention, the commanders of the Afghan armed forces who are preparedto support Amin would not dare side with the traitor. Write down what I am telling you,”Gulabzoi said in a ministerial tone and pointed to a notepad and pen on the table.The declaration about Amin’s planning of a coup d’etat, which was made in such adirect and categorical way, not by some kind of a journalist but by the hero of therevolution, an Afghan minister who was close to Taraki, by the man whose portraitdecorated the first page of Afghan newspapers, overwhelmed Starostin. “Ahh, ViliorGavrilovich! Why didn’t you tell me what this visitor had in mind! You must have known forsure or at least had an idea of what Gulabzoi was so eager to share. And I wouldn’t besitting here like a fool gasping for air, but would have prepared for this conversation,”thought Valery. Coming back to his senses, he grabbed a notebook and wrote down theessence of what Gulabzoi had said. While taking notes, he concentrated on the continuation480