The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

Department, who specially traveled to Afghanistan from Moscow. Taraki himself traveledto the Soviet Union under the guise of seeking “medical treatment,” while in reality he wasthere to consult with the Central Committee. The negotiations between Taraki and Babrak,akin to bargaining at a bazaar, went on endlessly. As a result of the impasse, the stage wasset for a unifying party conference. The conference took place on July 3, 1977. Two dayslater the plenary session of the Central Committee of the PDPA occurred. Taraki waselected as the general secretary of the party, and Babrak Karmal, Nur Ahmad Nur, and ShahWali, were selected to be secretaries of the Central Committee.At demonstrations protesting the murder of Khyber, Taraki and Karmal led thecolumn holding each other’s hands. To outsiders it appeared as though the two old fightershad totally reconciled, but Karmal knew that the reconciliation was superficial. Everythingstill lay ahead of them: new arguments, mutual rejection, and, eventually, war. “All of it isstill ahead of us, and none of it can be changed,” Karmal thought bitterly.“So, what can they charge me with?” Babrak repeatedly asked himself. “Can theProsecutor’s Office accuse me of violating the law of public meetings? Yes, they can, butthat would be a baseless charge. We didn’t have to ask permission to have a funeral for ourcomrade. A funeral is a ritual, not a public meeting. Yes, the funeral turned into a masspolitical demonstration, but is there any law limiting the number of people allowed toattend a funeral procession? Besides, none of those people were specially invited or calledto participate. They came of their own volition to pay their respects to a popular politicianwho had been assassinated. It’s true that during the funeral, accusations were leveledagainst the ruling regime and oaths were sworn to continue Khyber’s struggle. So what?Who can determine the themes of the speeches given during a funeral? So, any accusations73