The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

socialism,” and to create a regime that, “would satisfy the aspirations of the broad masses andguarantee the support of all countries in the world.” All leaders of the plot, including Qadir,Keshtmand, Shahpur, and others, were sentenced to capital punishment. Others were sentenced tolong prison terms of up to twenty years.The courageous General Gorelov was not the only Soviet official who sought to save or atleast lighten the punishment of the “plotters.” However, when facing Taraki’s arguments, andparticularly the unwavering confidence of Amin, the Soviets would usually back off and lose theirdetermination. They already understood who was in charge in the country, and were not willing toundermine his authority, either because of concerns about their personal well being or due to theprinciple of non-interference in the internal affairs of foreign nations.When Ambassador Puzanov sheepishly inquired as to what was the reason behind thearrest of the minister of defense, Taraki did not even attempt to contain his anger. According toTaraki, an anti-government plot involving the United States, China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and theFederal Republic of Germany had been uncovered in Kabul. The plotters wanted to liquidateTaraki and Amin. How did they find out about it? Shahpur and Dr. Ali Akbar admitted their guiltand gave the names of alleged accomplices, among them Minister of Defense Abdul Qadir, alongwith a slew of other public figures.The ambassador nodded with reservation. Yesterday the GRU chief, Pechenenko, told himthat, according to his intelligence, Shahpur was tortured to the point that he cried constantly andbegged to be shot as soon as possible.Taraki continued: “Your comrades are defending Qadir, but he also confessed to somemistakes. Our people are working with him now.” These words gave the ambassador goosebumps. “You shouldn’t doubt that we will receive his confession as well. You, Comrade Puzanov,201