Word: kabul
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...firepower of Soviet combat troops. In Amin's place, Moscow installed Babrak Karmal, a former Deputy Prime Minister long considered to be a Soviet protégé, but not before Russian troops were forced to fight a sporadic series of gun battles in the streets of Kabul, Afghanistan's capital...
...week's end the Carter Administration charged that Moscow was launching an outright invasion of its neighbor, with two mechanized Soviet divisions crossing the border and heading for Kabul. U.S. intelligence estimates indicated that at least 20,000 troops were in Afghanistan. Said White House spokesman Jody Powell: "The magnitude of the Soviet invasion continues to grow...
...began a massive airlift of combat soldiers to Afghanistan. The suspected motive at the time: to help the Afghan regime put down the rebellion of conservative Muslim tribesmen. In full sight of arriving and departing passengers, wave after wave of Soviet An-12 and An-22 transports landed at Kabul's international airport and unloaded not only combat troops but equipment ranging from field kitchens to armored vehicles...
...Thursday the real motive of the intervention was clear: Radio Kabul suddenly announced that President Amin, a tough, repressive Communist who had seized power only last September from former President Noor Mohammed Taraki, had been deposed. The new President, the broadcast said, was former Deputy Prime Minister Karmal. A later announcement specified that Amin had been convicted of "crimes against the people" and executed, along with members of his family. Radio Kabul failed to mention that in the upheaval, Soviet military units had entered combat for the first time since their border clashes against China...
...fighting began at 7:30 in the evening, according to the U.S. State Department, with Soviet troops and weapons deployed in key locations of Kabul. In a 3½-hour battle for the radio station, Soviet troops using armored personnel carriers knocked out two Afghan tanks and took a number of prisoners. At one point a U.S. official reported with some relish, "The Soviets are getting shot up pretty well." Soviet-built MiG-21 jets flew overhead in repeated passes. By midnight the city was reported quiet...