Word: karmal
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...Karmal is President. (Watanjar is Minister of Communications and No. 6 in the leadership.) Afghanistan has a made-in-Moscow presidium and the ruble is the coin of the realm. Having become a de facto Soviet satellite two years ago, the benighted nation is now in danger of becoming the de facto 16th republic of the U.S.S.R. That sorry prospect leaves the U.S. to polish its intelligence community's crystal ball and to rebuild the original "security perimeter" south of Afghanistan with new alliances, fresh diplomatic offensives, and reinforced military deployments. Of course, the U.S. can also hope that...
...Karmal tries for political legitimacy as the rebels fight on. More than five Soviet armored divisions were deployed around his country to help suppress the Muslim rebels. Fortified by what might be called Russian courage, Moscow's puppet President Babrak Karmal tried to improve his image last week, both inside and outside Afghanistan. In an attempt to broaden his shaky political base at home, he announced the formation of a "national unity" Cabinet, giving unprecedented prominence to non-Communist and military leaders. And in an effort to mend regional ties he made flamboyant overtures of friendship to Iran...
...Karmal's political ventures were transparent bids for some popular acceptance to complement the Soviets' military support. According to most accounts, Moscow's occupation force effectively controlled all of Afghanistan's major cities and highways, but still faced considerable resistance in rural areas; perhaps 80% of the barren countryside remained in rebel hands. After a four-day lull, attacks by Muslim insurgents flared again in the northeast provinces of Badakhshan and Takhar. Civil unrest, according to U.S. intelligence reports, erupted repeatedly inside Kandahar, an ancient trading center on the edge of the Desert of Death. Soviet...
...insurgents' main advantage is a moral and spiritual one. The vast majority of Aghanistan's 14 million to 18 million people are devout Muslims. The Soviet invaders are widely resented, even despised, as godless interlopers, and consequently so is their principal Afghan standin, Karmal. The President probably has the support of no more than 10% of the population. "The people question his legitimacy and view him as an atheist who has sold himself completely to the Soviet Union," said a senior Western diplomat in Kabul. "Karmal's No. 1 problem is to get some political support from...
...national unity" government that Karmal unveiled last week was obviously designed to extend his narrow base. For the first time since Noor Mohammed Taraki's Marxist coup in 1978, the 20-member Cabinet includes three politicians from outside the card-carrying ranks of the ruling Communist People's Democratic Party, as well as five senior military officers. Four of the officers were also named to the seven-member Praesidium, the main executive body. The government grandly announced the disbanding of the dread KAM secret police, which it said Hafizullah Amin had used for "his own criminal ends...