Three: 1980

Abstract

The Soviet introduction of massive military force into Afghanistan was accompanied by the launch of a new political initiative. Throughout the first months of 1980 the Afghan and Soviet media repeated the theme that the change of government in Kabul had been so significant that it marked a ‘new phase’ or a ‘new stage’ in the April Revolution. Underlying the Karmal package was the belief that the Khalqis had alienated the population because they had tried to push the pace of change too quickly. As far as the Kremlin was concerned, Amin had been precipitate in declaring Afghanistan a socialist state. The PDPA did not have the membership, nor the government the right mechanisms for harnessing public support for this to happen. As the director of the Soviet Institute of Oriental Affairs, Yevgeniy Primakov, was to state later, revolts erupted because Amin and his colleagues ‘did not take objective reality into consideration’.¹