First Published: Unity, Vol. 3, No. 2, January 18-31, 1980.
Transcription, Editing and Markup: Paul Saba
Copyright: This work is in the Public Domain under the Creative Commons Common Deed. You can freely copy, distribute and display this work; as well as make derivative and commercial works. Please credit the Encyclopedia of Anti-Revisionism On-Line as your source, include the url to this work, and note any of the transcribers, editors & proofreaders above.
Following their blitzkrieg occupation of Afghanistan in late December, the Soviets are now attempting to permanently colonize the country.
Right after Babrak Karmal was installed in Kabul by the Soviet invasion last month, the Soviet ruble was made the official currency, replacing the Afghani national currency. Russian language signs are appearing on buildings.
Soviet officials have taken up residence in most government offices, particularly in the defense ministry and in the offices of the state security police, Agsa.
Estimates on the current Soviet troop presence in Afghanistan are now ranging from 75,000 to 100,000 and more. Soviet troops are stationed in most provincial capitals and are attempting to secure the major highways, a task made difficult by the rugged terrain and frequent ambushes by Moslem guerrillas.
The Soviets have deployed such a massive force in Afghanistan because they know it is their only hope for controlling the country.
To find out more about how this situation came about, UNITY talked with an Afghani citizen living in the U.S. who was a former official in the government of Mohammed Daoud. The following quotes are taken from this interview.
Daoud ruled the country from 1973 until he was toppled by Moscow in 1978.
“About a year before he was overthrown, Daoud asked the Soviet Union for more economic and military aid, but they denied him this, so he started back towards the U.S. He sent his special agent – his brother – to Washington to get aid. The Soviet Union saw that Daoud was no longer a friend and he should go. They engineered his overthrow and replaced him with Taraki and Karmal. Taraki then asked for more aid from the Soviet Union. He got more aid, more advisers, and more Russian army.
“Under the Taraki government, Babrak Karmal was prime minister for one month, and then was sent as the ambassador to Czechoslovakia. The Soviets put Babrak in a freezer to be fresh so if Taraki didn’t work out they could use him. Six months after Taraki took power, the mujahedin (the Moslem guerrillas – ed.) began the fight against the Russians.”
It was this resistance that weakened Taraki’s government, leading to the September 1979 coup by Hafizullah Amin, in which Taraki was killed. “Amin tried to be close to Russia. He killed many people but the rebels fought harder. Russia couldn’t trust Amin. So they sent in 6,000 troops and killed him and all of his relatives.” This was the coup that brought Karmal to power.
The Afghanis would not submit to indirect Russian rule under Taraki or Amin. The open occupation of Afghanistan by the Soviet army has only heightened the Afghani’s resistance. On January 11 the Moslem rebels liberated Talokin, the provincial capital of Takhar province. The Soviets are reported to have already suffered 700-1,000 troops killed.
The Afghani citizen UNITY spoke with explained the resistance, “Seven rebel groups are fighting in the country, but now they have joined into one united front. They represent many different people – a communist party which supports Mao Zedong, and Amin’s followers, and the Afghan military that is patriotic, the Moslems, and all the nation all over the country.
They all fight to get the Russians out. It is the nature of the Afghanis that when they see foreigners and they have no control, they must fight. When they saw Taraki in power, at least he was an Afghani. But now they see only Russian troops and they must fight.”