Word: karmal
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Applauded sporadically by obsequious Soviet diplomats and reporters, Karmal tried to turn aside tough questions from Western correspondents with bluster and even downright lies. How many Soviet soldiers have been killed or captured since the start of Afghanistan's internal war? "Not even one Soviet soldier has been killed, captured or wounded," he answered. When a British correspondent tried to ask a question, Karmal boorishly denounced him as a representative of British imperialism. "You invaded us three times and you got a rightful and deserved answer from the people of Afghanistan," he growled at the Briton, to the approving...
...month-old regime of President Hafizullah Amin. The unfortunate Amin, 50, who had turned out to be a more independent-minded nationalist than Moscow wanted, thus became the third leader of Afghanistan to be overthrown and killed within the past 20 months. In his place the Soviets installed Babrak Karmal, 50, a former Deputy Prime Minister who had long been considered a Russian prot?...
...mysteries of the week was what had happened to newly appointed President Karmal, who failed to show up for four days after the coup. As it turned out, his first radio address was beamed to Afghanistan from a Russian station, lending credence to the notion that he remained out of the country until his Soviet mentors decided it was safe for him to come home. Finally, on Tuesday evening, he appeared with several members of his new Cabinet at a televised rally, where he called on his countrymen to "come together and support our glorious revolution...
...well-born son of a general, Karmal has been a Marxist ever since his days as a student at Kabul University; his graduation was delayed by a stint in prison for left-wing agitation. His Parcham Party always leaned more dependably toward Moscow than Taraki's more broadly based faction, which sometimes espoused a Maoist-flavored brand of Marxism. Says former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Robert Neumann: "Karmal is the original Communist, a dyed-in-the-wool article...
...record suggests that Karmal will continue to be Moscow's man, a custom-tailored partisan, as it were. But no matter how slavishly he follows the policies of his Soviet mentors, Karmal does not appear to have the agility necessary to reconcile the tribal, religious and ideological disputes that divide his volatile country. Concludes Neumann: "He is not a very flexible fellow...