The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

“May I speak to you not according to protocol, but as a comrade and brother? I willexpect the same from you.”“Certainly, Comrade Amin,” said the guests.“What Shah Wali narrated to the ambassadors of socialist countries is our position,which was presented earlier to the Politburo and the plenary session of the CentralCommittee of the PDPA. Almost a month has passed since that fateful day when Tarakicommitted this criminal assassination attempt on my life. So why wait until now to speak?Why did none of you come to us, to advise us on what to do or to say?”“But Comrade Amin,” Pavlovsky protested, “all of us were present then in Taraki’soffice, and we know what actually happened.”“I’m telling you that things happened exactly as our document has described,” Aminrudely interrupted. “I had Afghan comrades in the same room with me who can confirmthat it was Comrade Puzanov who, through an interpreter, invited me to the People’sPalace and guaranteed my safety. But I had already been warned about the threat and forthis reason I arrived with guards. Now, as we all know, this was not an unnecessarymeasure. Certainly, it is possible that I am mistaken,” Amin walked out from behind hisdesk and theatrically marched to the center of the room. “Perhaps you believe that mymistake is hurting the world communist movement? If this is what your Politburo believes,then I will do everything that the Soviet comrades ask me to do. But then you ought to takeinto consideration that I will be the only one to blame, because it was I who narrated eventsthe way that they actually happened.”Amin was completely in his element during this exchange. He reveled in suchdemagogic maneuvers.614