The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

expressed.“It is now clear that we will have to deal with the new leadership of Afghanistan,headed by H. Amin, who has been issuing statements that he will preserve the regimecurrently existing in the country.”The phrase about Taraki’s “extreme indecision” effectively meant that the Sovietleadership had given up on him. His widow, Nurbibi Taraki, later disclosed what hadhappened to the founder of the PDPA. One of the authors of this book met with her inDecember 1989, in her light-filled two-story villa, located in an affluent sector of Kabul.Nurbibi Taraki, widow of the General Secretary of the Central Committee of thePDPA:On the day my husband last received his Soviet comrades, I was in the bedroom, whichwas located not far from the general secretary’s office. Suddenly I heard shooting behind thedoor. I ran out of the bedroom and saw Tarun lying in a puddle of blood. It seemed that he hadbeen shot once in the head and once in the side. The guards said that Amin’s people had doneit. Besides Tarun, one other person was wounded. Dr. Azim, who was bringing tea, was caughtin the crossfire and shot in the shoulder.This all happened around 4 p.m. The Soviet comrades left immediately. Afterwards,Taraki called Amin and asked him why he did it. I don’t know what Amin said in response.Taraki asked Amin to take Tarun’s corpse from the palace and see that he be given a properburial. “Tomorrow,” came the response. The head of the General Staff and the commander ofthe guard, whom Taraki addressed with the same request over the phone, reacted similarly.Then all connections with the outside world ceased. All the telephones were silent. Nobody594