The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

13.07.2015 Views

But even the “special people,” in particular many leaders of the First Directorate ofthe KGB (Foreign Intelligence), in their conversations with me, never said with certaintythat U.S. special services had recruited Amin. They allowed for the possibility of it, but nomore. Their position, more often than not, was that it made little sense to speculate aboutwhether Amin was a CIA agent. The essence was that, objectively, he damaged the outcomeof the April Revolution, along with our interests, by committing his actions. That was whatplayed the decisive role behind making the decision to liquidate him and replace him withthe more loyal and predictable Babrak Karmal.Valery Samunin:Do you really think that “special people,” particularly senior intelligence leaders,would ever tell the whole truth to a journalist or a historian, and would go so far as toreference the source of the information? This is impossible. Even I, your co-author, haveleft a lot of information out of this book, as if I’ve “forgotten” it altogether. A lot of it willfollow me to the grave.However, I can assure you that the operatives of the KGB Residency who wereworking in Kabul then, including Alexei Petrov, who worked with Hafizullah Amin prior tothe April Revolution on an assignment from the CPSU’s Central Committee, suspected thatAmin was a traitor and a CIA agent. There were many signs of this. Moreover, this personwas watched by KGB intelligence long before he emerged as one of the leaders of the PDPA.His biography was scrupulously researched. There was one vague moment in it inparticular. Before leaving for his studies in America, Amin published nationalistic and evenanti-Soviet articles in Kabul newspapers. Judging by those articles, he had absolutely no722

affection for the USSR, at a time when he was already a mature person with well-formedpolitical opinions. For some time in the United States, he successfully led a group of Afghanstudents. And then, right after the founding congress of the PDPA, he quit his studieswithout any apparent reason and returned to Afghanistan. Once he returned to Kabul, hequickly became Taraki’s trusted right-hand man and the mortal enemy of Babrak Karmal,which would lead to the eventual break-up of the PDPA.Since that time, information about Amin’s collaboration with the Americanintelligence services began to arrive in Moscow through KGB channels. The flow of suchinformation was steady. It came from Afghan sources, as well as agents from othercountries. However, for a long time we treated accusations of Amin’s involvement with theCIA as slander, and as a consequence of inter-party disagreements within the PDPA.Vladimir Snegiryov:You agree that there was a basis for believing that Amin was being slandered. Youand I emphasize many times in the book that the factional strife within the party wasaccompanied by such mud-slinging and slander from both sides, and it would have beenvery easy for a party member to accuse another member of treachery. The surviving Khalqleaders say that Babrak Karmal was an informer for President Daoud, which would meanthat he was an agent of the secret police. Parchamis, for their part, freely directedaccusations of that sort at members from the other faction.As to your remark regarding the fact that intelligence leaders would never revealthe whole truth, thank God if this is the case. That’s why their services are called secretservices. However, there remains one significant question here—this is true if one talks723

affection for the USSR, at a time when he was already a mature person with well-formedpolitical opinions. For some time in the United States, he successfully led a group of Afghanstudents. And then, right after the founding congress of the PDPA, he quit his studieswithout any apparent reason and returned <strong>to</strong> <strong>Afghanistan</strong>. Once he returned <strong>to</strong> Kabul, hequickly became Taraki’s trusted right-hand man and the mortal enemy of Babrak Karmal,which would lead <strong>to</strong> the eventual break-up of the PDPA.Since that time, information about Amin’s collaboration with the Americanintelligence services began <strong>to</strong> arrive in Moscow through KGB channels. <strong>The</strong> flow of suchinformation was steady. It came from Afghan sources, as well as agents from othercountries. However, for a long time we treated accusations of Amin’s involvement with theCIA as slander, and as a consequence of inter-party disagreements within the PDPA.Vladimir Snegiryov:You agree that there was a basis for believing that Amin was being slandered. Youand I emphasize many times in the book that the factional strife within the party wasaccompanied by such mud-slinging and slander from both sides, and it would have beenvery easy for a party member <strong>to</strong> accuse another member of treachery. <strong>The</strong> surviving Khalqleaders say that Babrak Karmal was an informer for President Daoud, which would meanthat he was an agent of the secret police. Parchamis, for their part, freely directedaccusations of that sort at members from the other faction.As <strong>to</strong> your remark regarding the fact that intelligence leaders would never revealthe whole truth, thank God if this is the case. That’s why their services are called secretservices. However, there remains one significant question here—this is true if one talks723

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!