The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

“Where? In the texts of the cables that are sent to Moscow from our party advisers?In the speeches of the Afghan leaders? In their decrees?”“What is it in their decrees that you don’t like?”“Well, let’s have a look.” Starostin took a manila folder from the bookshelf. “Here’sDecree Number One. It proclaims the creation of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistanand establishes a one-party system in the country. Frankly, as a Soviet man and a CPSUmember, I am not against a one-party system. I may accept that, for example, a one-partydemocracy may not be worse than a two-party or multi-party bourgeois democracy. A onepartysystem was confirmed in Mohammad Daoud’s constitution before the AprilRevolution as ‘reflecting the hopes and traditions of the Afghan people.’ Taraki didn’tintroduce anything new here. It’s unfortunate that this Afghan style one-party system hurttheir former allies, the Parchamis, so badly, as well as other undesirable folks.”“Yes, but they, those Parchamists, were preparing a coup d’etat! Taraki told meabout it last night. They were preparing a military coup.”“Fine, Nikolai Alexandrovich. Let’s leave the Parchamis alone. Let’s move on. Here’sDecree Number Two. The members of the royal family who remain in Afghanistan are to bearrested and their citizenship and property confiscated. What do you think, my dearNikolai Alexandrovich, of the act of taking away civil rights and, most importantly,confiscating the property of the direct representatives of the monarchal lineage from theMohammadzai dynasty? Would you say this reflects the national spirit and traditions of theAfghan people? You are the one who should know well that during almost a hundred andfifty years, the leaders of the Mohammadzai dynasty were fighting for the independence ofthis country. It was due to the courage and patriotism of this clan that Afghanistan never275