The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

Democratic-e Khalq-e Afghanistan. So the ‘brand’ Khalq remains in the name of the party, and itsbanner, while mentioning the name of the other faction is prohibited.”Khotyaev wrote a cable about it to the Center. In the cable, he concluded that the plenarymeeting of the Politburo, rather than strengthening the foundation for a unified party, had insteadcaused further divisions in Khalq-Parcham relations, which in turn could provoke a new split.He shared the text of the cable with Orlov-Morozov, who, after having read it, commented,“The issue of Afghan terminology will hardly be appreciated in the Center, but as an analyst,Vladimir, you’ve done a very good job.”Then the deputy resident, along with Khotyaev, took the cable to Osadchiy, who had justreturned from Moscow. Vilior Gavrilovich, who looked well after his medical leave and vacation,immediately signed off on the cable to the Center.The next day, the KGB resident in Kabul gathered his staff members, including technicalpersonnel and a driver, for a meeting. Briefly, with a hint of pride, he informed them thatChairman of the KGB Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov, Secretary of the Central Committee of theCPSU Boris Nikolayevich Ponomaryov, and many other high-level party and government officialshad received him during his stay in Moscow. Andropov tasked the operatives to use all availableintelligence resources to buttress the new regime against the pressures of domestic and externalpolitical conditions. Andropov warned that nobody, under any circumstances, should interfere inthe domestic affairs of the sovereign state. He stated that the operatives must not become arbitersin the resolution of controversies within the PDPA, which had become more acute since the AprilRevolution. At the same time, Yuri Vladimirovich asked us to reconsider maintaining covertcontacts with representatives of the Parcham wing of the PDPA. Were Taraki to find out about ourcontacts with Parchamis and begin to suspect us of covert actions against the regime, a significant169