Word: karmal
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Mustering his defenses from Kabul, Najibullah, a former head of the Afghan secret police who in 1986 succeeded another Soviet puppet, Babrak Karmal, has proved to be surprisingly resourceful. He has concentrated his formerly scattered troops in strategically important towns where they could dig in and count on some support from the urban middle class. He has played on the war weariness of the Afghan people with a series of peace-and-prosperity initiatives. "Najibullah is well organized and intelligent," one of the few diplomats still in Kabul told TIME's Paul Hofheinz, "which is more than...
...envoys at Geneva sign this week, it will bring to an end Moscow's major military involvement of the past 20 years. Soviet troops invaded in December 1979 in order to replace one Communist leader, Hafizullah Amin, with Babrak Karmal, another Communist but one more amenable to Soviet thinking on many issues. Soviet troops quickly became enmeshed in fighting with the budding resistance movement. Moscow has tried to defeat the rebels with everything from carpet bombing to lightning commando attacks, all to no avail. Soviet offers of bribes, cease-fires and amnesties have also failed to quell the mujahedin...
There may also be a threat from Najibullah's Communist rivals. In downtown Kabul, a series of small bombs exploded last week, damaging a shop and an apartment complex. Western diplomats speculate that the blasts were caused by followers of Najibullah's political opponent, former Party Chief Babrak Karmal, whom the Soviets purged last year. Karmal's followers may have staged the attacks to protest the departure of their leader for the Soviet Union two weeks ago, ostensibly for medical treatment. They fear that Karmal has been forcibly detained...
Some Western analysts were inclined to downplay the shift. As one Washington official joked, "The puppeteer now has a new puppet." Certainly Najibullah, a loyal protege of Karmal's, seems unlikely to lead his country in any radically new directions. However, having built the secret police into a disciplined, KGB-style network of 60,000 agents, the major general may bring a new intensity to the civil war with the mujahedin rebels. Najibullah is, says a European diplomat in Islamabad, "an efficient killer...
...Unlike Karmal, who is a member of the small, Dari-speaking elite, Najibullah has the advantage of belonging to the country's dominant Pushtu tribe. The new leader is therefore well placed to get fellow Pushtuns in Pakistan to cut guerrilla supply lines and unify the ranks of a regime so sharply divided that it is sometimes referred to as an example of "two-party Communism." If Najibullah can consolidate a solid and loyal Soviet-style government, Moscow may feel secure enough to withdraw its 120,000 troops from Afghanistan...