The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

invited to meet with Minister of Foreign Affairs Hafizullah Amin. Iqbal Waziri, the newly mintedhead of the political directorate of the Afghan armed forces, who picked him up at the airport,explained to Zaplatin: “It’s revolution! We have so much to do. Comrade Amin took upon himselfresponsibility to supervise the army, to help the police and the security services. He works aroundthe clock.”Vasily Petrovich liked Hafizullah Amin right away. He was energetic, full of ideas, and hadthe desire to immediately realize those ideas. His every expression exuded enormous energy.Conveying his sincere joy on the occasion of the arrival of the military political adviser, the Afghanileader clarified his expectations for Zaplatin.“You see, Comrade General,” the deputy premier was saying energetically, impatientlylooking at Iqbal, who was interpreting, “we link great hopes and expectations with our army. TheSoviet revolution was carried out by the proletariat and the poorest peasants. In Afghanistan therevolution was made by the army. Officers and soldiers fulfilled the role of the proletariat inAfghanistan. The army should become a filter for thousands of people, molding them to becomeresilient and motivated defenders of the revolution.“I wouldn’t hide from you that the situation is complicated. After the great April Revolution,we were forced to dismiss almost all of our former commanders, to remove all unreliable officersand generals. They were replaced by young, not very literate people. You will get to meet themsoon. Don’t be surprised if some of them will seem to you to be unprepared. They should beeducated and molded. This is where the army’s political branch should play a decisive role.“This is Comrade Iqbal. The party tasked him to create the political branch of the armedforces. It shouldn’t concern you that he is a civilian. Comrade Iqbal graduated from the departmentof philosophy of Moscow State University. He is an old and trusted party member. Daoud threw160