The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

auspices of the “National Pashtun Club,” which was created by Daoud. Then Amin wasappointed as the department head of the Pedagogical Staff of the Ministry of Education. In1962 he returned to the United States to study in a PhD program at Columbia University.He wasn’t a serious PhD candidate then, and never received a doctorate, but was veryactive in public activities and became the head of the Afghan Students Community.”“What do you mean by ‘public activities’?” asked Kryuchkov.“First of all, it involved the organization of various activities supporting the conceptof Great Pashtunistan. It was Mohammad Daoud’s idea to unite Pashtuns living on eitherside of the so-called Durand Line. It sounds like that was when Amin got his first taste ofpolitical work. He was good at it, and found that he could lead people.“He returned to Kabul in 1965. According to his own version of events, he wasdeported from the United States ‘for political reasons,’ primarily for his role in organizing amass demonstration in support of the Palestinian cause. That was when he became amember of the newly organized People’s Democratic Party. He ran for Parliament, butfailed. He started teaching at a women’s lyceum before becoming a bureaucrat for theDepartment of Primary Education in the Ministry of Education. In the summer of 1966,Taraki proposed Amin’s candidacy to the party’s Central Committee. After the party splitinto two factions, Amin became a Central Committee member from the Khalq faction. In1968, the plenary session of Khalq decided to expel him from the Central Committee for‘fascist character traits and chauvinistic views.’ However, a year later, Taraki insisted thatAmin be forgiven.”240