The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

So, what happened then? Was it a real assassination attempt or was it staged? Evennow * , I cannot answer this question. This is a very murky affair. Nothing is clear. Amin himselfgave me the following account of the incident. He called his friend Tarun before departing forthe meeting with Taraki at the palace. Tarun had recently been appointed as the chief aidede-campto the general secretary and candidate to the Central Committee of the PDPA. Aminhad a very close relationship with him for some time prior to the incident. Having calledTarun on the phone, Amin asked whether it would be dangerous to accept the invitation.Tarun replied that there was nothing to be concerned about because the Soviet comradeswere also at the palace. “Tarun met me downstairs,” said Amin. “He and my bodyguard VazirZirak went on ahead, while another bodyguard and I followed several steps behind. Havinggone upstairs, we saw two officers armed with submachine guns by the doors to Taraki’soffice. Tarun ordered them to move aside, shouting that Comrade Amin was with him. Theysuddenly raised their submachine guns and opened fire. Tarun was killed immediately. VazirZirak, who shielded me with his body, was also shot.”Amin managed to escape from the palace unharmed. He got into his car and droveaway.I think that in Moscow, Brezhnev and Taraki agreed to remove Amin from the politicalstage. He was perceived as the main obstacle to the unification of the party. Besides, Moscowwas concerned by the overzealous “leftism” of our “second man.” It remains a mystery whyTaraki did not attempt to use peaceful means—why, for example, he didn’t call a meeting ofthe Central Committee or the Politburo. Perhaps he was uncertain whether he would succeed* The conversation with Misak took place in 1990, when, after a long prison sentence that he served as aKhalqi ally of Amin, he was released from prison by President Najibullah during the campaign of nationalreconciliation. He then became mayor of Kabul.541