The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

methods of leverage instead of leftist slogans. He aimed not for a violent overthrow of theregime, but a gradual progression towards national democratic goals.From March 14, 1968, when Babrak Karmal and his allies began publishing thenewspaper Parcham (Banner) without involving Taraki, the schism in the party becamefinal. The schism was not only structural; the factions deliberately split off from oneanother and began operating independently. Babrak’s allies became Parchamis, andTaraki’s supporters became Khalqis, named for the newspaper Khalq (People) that waspublished in 1965.Karmal stood up, crossed the small cell, stretched, and lit another cigarette.“It’s too bad they didn’t elect me as the first secretary then,” thought Babrak. “Theevents in the country would have developed differently…some of the Central Committeemembers and many other party cadres * might not have left. There would have been no tenyearschism, and under no circumstances would I have allowed Hafizullah Amin to join theparty. All of the major problems started right after he returned to Afghanistan following hisstudy in the United States, became Taraki’s friend, and was appointed as a CentralCommittee member,” ruminated Babrak sadly.Any other politician would have reached the banal conclusion that there are no “if’s”in history. Any other politician would have done that, but Babrak thought instead of thewords written by the Iranian revolutionary Kazemi on the night before his execution: “Ourspring has passed. Our past is gone, and I am walking forward, towards my destiny.”“Well,” thought Babrak, “Daoud chose a good time to destroy our party. He didn’t* The People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan had the following hierarchy at the time: first secretary of theCentral Committee, secretaries of the Central Committee, members of the Politburo, members of the CentralCommittee, party “cadres,” members of the party, allies of the party.69