The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

the April Revolution.”The minister of the interior went back to Karmal. Karmal was furious. His face darkened.“What should we do?” asked Nur.“What can we do? You cannot approve the appointment of your cadres without thesignature of the prime minister. Taraki will not sign it without Amin’s approval. You have no wayout.”While the second-ranking official in the PDPA and the state was ignored, the head of theForeign Ministry was enjoying notoriety as the “Hero of the Revolution.” Hafizullah Amin, who hadbeen a little-known operative of the PDPA until recently, had suddenly reached celebrity status.When members of foreign press corps wanted to interview representatives of the government ofAfghanistan, their questions would be answered solely by Comrade Amin. He was always ready topersonally meet with anyone, regardless of the status of the foreigner or the importance of theissue. He managed to attend all of the public gatherings and participated in all of the public events.His face was constantly smiling in the front pages of Afghan newspapers. He was always by theside of the leader, “great Comrade Taraki.”Once, in May, on a Friday, which is a day off in Afghanistan, Amin called the Soviet embassyusing a regular city line. The operator, who did not know Farsi, did not understand who wascalling and what the purpose of the call was. Fortunately, Budrin, the deputy director of the SovietCultural Center and an expert on the Orient, happened to be walking by when the operator handedhim the receiver and asked him to “talk with the foreigner.”“This is Hafizullah Amin, the first deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs ofthe Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. Hello, Comrade!” said the voice in the receiver. “I wastrying to reach the office of Mr. Puzanov, but there was no answer.”156