Word: karmal
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...only in the mountain passes but also reportedly in Kabul and other cities. There were unconfirmed rumors from the Afghan capital of widespread looting by Soviet troops, and even of gunfights involving Cabinet members in the government of national unity named by the U.S.S.R.'s puppet strongman, Babrak Karmal. The wildest story was that Karmal had been deposed in favor of former Secret Police Chief Assadullah Sarwari, a hard-line Stalinist...
Even if he still held office, Karmal's position was less than secure. His official photographs have been removed from government offices and public squares, and he has not been seen publicly for the past two weeks. Late last month a surprisingly strong criticism of Karmal's attempts to form a broader political base appeared in the Kabul New Times, a government-run English-language daily. Karmal, who is believed to have ties among both the deposed royal family and the frontier tribes, had included non-Marxists in his government. Knowing that many of the Cabinet members were...
Indeed they would not, especially since they had hand-picked Karmal to rule Afghanistan after the overthrow and execution of Hafizullah Amin last December. Karmal did seem to be losing control of events. Early last week, diplomats living near the People's Palace in Kabul heard bursts of machine-gun fire coming from inside the building. This led to speculation that a quarrel had erupted among rival members of the Politburo and had ended in a gunfight. Lending credence to that theory was an official Afghan news agency report a couple of days later that said that Deputy Premier...
...took part in the original invasion, suggested that the Soviets are settling in for a long stay. Oil Tycoon Armand Hammer last week said that Soviet Ambassador Anatoli Dobrynin had assured him that the troops would leave; but they surely will not go until the Kabul government of Babrak Karmal is secure and the insurgency is under control -and that could take months, if not years...
...Afghan official complained, "no decision at any level of government is taken without them." Said another senior Afghan official: "The Russians are taking over everything-we are being virtually annexed." According to some experts on Afghanistan, that may be a functional necessity: the Cabinet of President Babrak Karmal is as riddled with feuds as the rebel groups...