Word: taraki
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Amin's accession is unlikely to bring much peace to the ancient mountain kingdom. Afghanistan has been in continuous turmoil since Taraki came to power, in April 1978, following a coup in which former President Mohammed Daoud was gunned down in Arg Palace. Taraki's Marxist Khalq (masses) Party promptly launched a radical program of social reform and land redistribution. The policy met with violent resistance from the country's Islamic tribesmen, who make up some 85% of Afghanistan's 17 million people. Loyal to their old feudal leaders and enraged by the new, "godless" regime...
...Taraki's end came suddenly, in the best Afghan tradition. On Sept. 14 he was warned by four loyal government officials that Amin was plotting his overthrow. Taraki heeded the warning but ignored the first rule of Afghan politics: kill the adversary immediately. Instead, he invited his rival to a Friday afternoon conference at People's House, possibly intending to arrest him. But Amin came to the rendezvous armed with a pistol and the knowledge that Taraki's personal bodyguard, Major Sayed Daoud Taron, had changed masters. It is not known how the Shootout started, but when...
...former education student at Columbia University, Amin tried to project a statesmanlike image in his first national radio and television address. In an apparent reference to Taraki, Amin rejected "one-person rule" and announced that certain enemies of the people had been "eliminated." He promised to introduce the principle of habeas corpus, to guarantee complete religious freedom, and to reduce frictions with neighboring Iran and Pakistan, which harbors some 185,000 antigovernment Afghan refugees...
...President's new, democratic guise is blatantly at odds with his previous words and deeds. He is generally regarded as the architect of the Taraki government's most repressive measures, including the execution of at least 2,000 political prisoners, the imprisonment of 30,000 others, and countless "gross violations of human rights" that were cited last week in a report issued by Amnesty International. Says one longtime Kabul resident: "Amin is the reincarnation of Joseph Stalin...
...Premier Aleksei Kosygin signed Moscow's telegram of congratulation to Amin, who is most unlikely to steer Afghanistan from its Marxist, pro-Moscow course. The Soviet leaders may be less happy with the erratic Amin than they profess. DeVoss has learned that on two occasions the Soviets advised Taraki to distance himself from Amin and reduce his power. Taraki responded by replacing Amin as Defense Minister last March. But he was unable to reduce Amin's influence with the top Khalq military officers; their support enabled him to repossess the defense portfolio in June and, presumably, to carry...