The 1980 Olympics in Moscow were overshadowed by two events: the death of Vladimir Vysotsky and the boycott of the Olympics by 65 countries in connection with the introduction of a "limited contingent of Soviet troops to help the brotherly people of Afghanistan." It should be noted that among the countries that joined the boycott were countries of the East, with which the USSR had traditionally friendly relations. Only countries of Eastern Europe and Africa remained on our side, for obvious reasons.
The price of the issue according to official data is 14, 000 of our soldiers and officers who died. But who believes the official statistics. In Afghanistan, roads became the arteries through which rivers of blood flowed, as well as machinery, food, and other assistance. The withdrawal of our troops took place only 10 years later.
History of the Afghan Question
Until 1980, only the international department of the CPSU Central Committee was closely interested in issues of the history and political situation of Afghanistan. After the introduction of troops, the people had to somehow justify the need to sacrifice very young guys. They explained something like "this is necessary in the name of the idea of a world revolution, " without going into too much detail. And only after years, with the advent of the Internet, did it still become possible to understand what the citizens of our country gave their lives for.
Afghanistan has always been a closed country. To understand its originality and the relationship between the many tribes and nationalities that inhabited it, it was necessary to live there for many years, delving into all the intricacies of history and political structure. And to govern this country, especially from a policy of power, on the basis of Western values one could not even dream of. So, what happened in the political system of Afghanistan on the eve of the April Revolution?
Great systems confrontation
Until 1953, Shah Mahmoud was the Prime Minister of Afghanistan. His policy ceased to suit Zahir Shah (Emir), and in 1953, Daud, who was also the cousin of Zahir Shah, was appointed Prime Minister. A very important point is the influence of family ties. Daoud was not only a tough, but also a cunning and dodgy politician who was able to fully use the confrontation between the USSR and the USA during the Cold War.
The new prime minister, of course, took into account the territorial proximity of the USSR in his calculations. He perfectly understood that the Soviets would not allow the strengthening of US influence in his country. The Americans also understood this, which was the reason for the refusal of arms assistance to Afghanistan until the Soviet troops were brought in in 1979. Also, due to the remoteness of the United States, it was foolish to hope for their help in the event of a conflict with the USSR. However, Afghanistan needed military assistance because of the difficult relations with Pakistan at that time. As for the United States, they supported Pakistan. And Daoud finally chose the side.
As for the political system during the time of Zahir Shah, neutrality was the leading government policy, taking into account the many tribes and the complex relationship between them. It should be noted that since the time of Shah-Mahmud it has become a tradition to send junior and middle officers of the Afghan army to study in the USSR. And since the training was also based on a Marxist-Leninist basis, the officer corps formed, one might say, class solidarity, involving also tribal cohesion.
So, increasing the level of education of the officers of the Afghan army led to the strengthening of the party of the military. And Zahir Shah this could not but alarm, since such a situation led to an increase in the influence of Daud. And to transfer all power to Daoud, while remaining an emir with him, was not part of Zahir Shah's plans.
And in 1964, Daoud was fired. Not only this: in order not to expose the emir’s power to any danger, a law was passed according to which none of the emir’s relatives could continue to hold the post of prime minister. And as a preventive measure - a small footnote: it is forbidden to renounce family ties. Yusuf was appointed prime minister, but, as it turned out, not for long.
New names in politics
So, Prime Minister Daoud is retired, a new prime minister has been appointed, and the cabinet has been updated. But unforeseen complications arose: student youth took to the streets together with students demanding that they be allowed to attend a parliamentary meeting and evaluate the activities of ministers who were noticed to be corrupt.
After the intervention of the police and the first victims, Yusuf resigned. It should be noted that Yusuf was against the use of force, but two directions came into conflict here: the traditional patriarchal and the new liberal ones, which were gaining strength as a result of apparently well-acquired knowledge taught in the lessons of Marxist-Leninist philosophy in the USSR. Students felt their strength, and power - their confusion before new trends.
Analyzing the active position of students, we can assume that it was based on Western principles of education, and hence the self-organization of young people. And one more thing: the future leader of the Afghan Communists, Babrak Karmal, played an active role in these events.
Here is what the French explorer Olivier Roy wrote about this period:
… a democratic experiment was a form without content. Western democracy only matters when certain conditions exist: the identification of civil society with the state and the evolution of political consciousness, which is something other than political theater.
"Friend of Labor" - Origin
Babrak Karmal could not boast of a working-peasant origin. He was born on January 6, 1929 in the city of Kamari, in the family of Colonel General Muhammad Hussein Khan, a Pashtun from the Gilzai tribe of Mollahail, close to the royal family and who was Governor General of the province of Paktia. The family had four sons and a daughter. The mother of Babrak was a Tajik. The boy lost his mother early and was brought up by an aunt (mother's sister), who was his father’s second wife.
The nickname "Karmal", which means "friend of labor" in Pashto, was chosen from 1952 to 1956, when Babrak was a prisoner in a royal prison.
Biography of Babrak Karmal began quite safely, in the best traditions: studying at the prestigious metropolitan Lyceum "Nejat", where teaching was conducted in German, and where he first became acquainted with new radical ideas for rebuilding Afghan society.
The lyceum ended in 1948, and by that time Babrak Karmal showed obvious makings of a leader, which came in handy: the youth movement was growing in the country. The young man takes an active part in it. But precisely because of membership in the Union of Students of the University of Kabul in 1950, he was denied admission to the law faculty. However, the following year, Karmal still became a university student.
Student life and social activities
He plunged headlong into the student movement, and thanks to oratorical abilities became his leader. Also, Babrak was published in the newspaper "Vatan" (Homeland). In 1952, an oppositional intellectual elite called for the restructuring of Afghan society. Babrak was among the protesters and spent 4 years in the royal prison. After leaving prison, Babrak (now Karmal), having worked as a translator of German and English, ended up in military service in connection with general military service, where he remained until 1959.
After successfully graduating from Kabul University in 1960, Babrak Karmal worked from 1960 to 1964, first at the translation bureau and then at the Ministry of Planning.
The constitution was adopted in 1964, and since that time Karmal began active social work together with N.M. Taraki: the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) was organized, at the first congress of which in 1965 Babrak Karmal was elected deputy secretary of the Central Committee of the party. However, in 1967, the PDPA split into two factions. Karmal became the leader of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (the Workers' Party of Afghanistan), better known as Parcham, which published the newspaper Parcha (Banner).
In 1963-1973, the monarchical regime of Afghanistan decided to go for a democratic experiment, apparently taking into account the growing activity of the intellectual elite, as well as the brainwave in the army. During this period, the activities of Karmal were deeply conspiratorial.
But in 1973, the organization led by Karmal provided support to M. Daoud by carrying out a coup d'etat. In the administration of M. Daud, Karmal did not have any official posts. However, M. Daud instructed Babrak to develop program documents, as well as the selection of candidates for senior positions at various levels. This state of affairs did not suit Babrak Karmal, and his activities in M. Daud’s group ceased, but not without consequences: he was secretly monitored, and they began to “squeeze” him out of public service.
In 1978, the PDPAB came to power. Karmal assumed the posts of Deputy Chairman of the DRA Revolutionary Council and Deputy Prime Minister. But two months later, on July 5, 1978, the contradictions in the party escalated, as a result of which he was removed from these posts, and on November 27, 1978, he was expelled from the party with the wording "for participating in the anti-party conspiracy."
A military confrontation began already with the participation of the Alpha special group and Soviet weapons. On December 28, 1979, the path to power was cleared by the Soviet special forces, and until the beginning of May 1986 Karmal was the Secretary General of the PDPA Central Committee, the chairman of the DRA revolutionary council, and until June 1981, he was also the prime minister.
However, this amount of power was nominal, but by no means factual: Karmal could not take a step without coordinating his actions with the international department of the CPSU Central Committee, KGB advisers, and also the USSR ambassador to the DRA F. A. Tabeyev, who did not differ in great knowledge of the specifics of this country. It seems that for all interested parties Karmal was a convenient "scapegoat" on which it was possible to blame all the miscalculations.
As part of a brief biography of Babrak Karmal, it is impossible to make a detailed description of all the events, as well as the actions of all the statesmen who took part in the fate of this person and the country that he wanted to change. In addition, the leadership of the USSR was replaced, which was already solving other tasks: Moscow no longer wanted to support Karmal and "in the name of the country's highest interests" he was asked to leave his post, transferring it to Najibullah. Najibullah accepted Karmal’s resignation "due to his health condition undermined by enormous responsibility."
