The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

of the opportunity to develop the success of his smear campaign. He had becomeincreasingly familiar with the characters of his Soviet friends. For example, he knew thatZaplatin was a family man with traditional values, someone with a moralistic worldview.Turning to Zaplatin, Amin continued: “Take, as an example, Karmal’s affair with AnahitaRatebzad. Do you know who her husband was? It was none other than Dr. Kiramuddin, theking’s personal physician! And here is Karmal, dragging this sinful woman into the CentralCommittee!”Zaplatin clasped his hands as if sharing the indignation of his host, who solemnlycontinued: “We have always stood firmly by our class positions and based our support inthe proletariat. Parchamis constantly talked about some union with the intelligentsia,national bourgeoisie, even landlords! Clearly, they didn’t study Lenin very closely. What isthe result? It was the Khalqis who triumphed in the great April Revolution. The Khalqiswere the vanguard of the revolutionary struggle. Name one Parchami who displayed anydistinction on that day. Raffi, the commander of the Fourth Armored Brigade, sat in hisoffice quietly while his junior officers risked their lives fighting to liberate the Ark Palace.Major Zia, a covert Parchami, was in charge of Daoud’s Guard, and personally shot ourKhalqi comrades. Others simply hid in their burrows. No, they did not need this revolution.“Now, everybody knows the true hero of the April Revolution!” stated Amin proudly,puffing his chest. “When Comrade Taraki recommended my candidacy for membership inthe Central Committee thirteen years ago, who spoke out against me? Karmal! He and hisfriends have done everything in their power to stop me. Just a month before the revolution,these people again demanded my expulsion from the Central Committee and revocation ofmy leadership of the military wing of the party. What is the conclusion? They were anti-351