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indecisiveness and, as you know, eliminated
him; he has achieved the leadership. Amin
did this even though he was held as Taraki’s
friend. You know that Taraki had a stopover
in Moscow on his way from Havana where
the Conference of the Non-Alignment
Movement took place. I met him and ad-
vised him to take measures to stabilize the
situation in his country and among other
things begin with the work on a constitu-
tion and to keep up revolutionary lawful-
ness, etc. We now see that Amin is imple-
menting what I told Taraki.
Frankly, we are not pleased by all of
Amin’s methods and actions. He is very
power-driven. In the past he repeatedly re-
vealed disproportionate harshness. But with
regard to his basic political platform, he has
decidedly confirmed to the course of fur-
ther development of the Revolution, of fur-
thering cooperation with the Soviet Union
and other countries of the Socialist commu-
nity.
It is a fact that many of Amin’s follow-
ers and partisans are honorable people who
are faithful to the ideas of Marxism-
Leninism and take a good attitude towards
us.
By taking into consideration the actual
situation, we will continue to support Af-
ghanistan and give it a variety of support
and help it in its fight against foreign ag-
gression and the domestic counterrevolu-
tion. [. . .]
[Source: SAPMO (Berlin), DY30 JIV 2/201/
1342; obtained and translated from Ger-
man by C. Ostermann.]
Information of KGB USSR to CC
CPSU International Department,
10 October 1979
The Leadership of Iran on the External
Security of the Country
According to KGB information, in
August in Teheran a secret meeting was held
with the participation of representatives of
the Prime Minister, the Ministries of For-
eign and Internal Affairs, the Intelligence
and Operational Administrations of the Gen-
eral Staff, Gendarme and Police Adminis-
trations of the General Staff and the Staff of
the “Corps of Defenders of the Revolution,”
with the goal of studying issues which touch
on the security of Iran. It was noted that the
USSR and the USA, which have their own
interests in this region, are worried about
the victory of the Islamic revolution in Iran.
It is presumed that the USA might resort to
a direct military threat and realization of a
blockade. But in the event that Iran will not
take sharp steps which hurt the USA, and
will obstruct the penetration of the Soviets,
this will ease the position of the USA.
Evaluating the policy of the USSR in
relation to the Iranian regime, the partici-
pants in the meeting came to the conclusion
that insofar as strengthening the Islamic re-
public will lead to a weakening of the posi-
tion of the regime in Afghanistan, exert a
certain influence on the Moslem republics
in the USSR and will be “a brake in the path
of penetration of Communism in the re-
gion,” the Soviet Union “will not turn away
from the ideological struggle and efforts to
put into power in Iran a leftist government.”
It was stressed that with the aim of weaken-
ing the Islamic regime the USSR might or-
ganize “provocational” activity among Irani
Kurds, Azeris, Turkmen, Baluchis, support
leftist forces, create economic difficulties,
resort to a military threat on the basis of the
[Soviet-Iranian] agreement of 1921.
It was noted that Afghanistan is not in
any condition to undertake military actions
against Iran. However, border conflicts are
not excluded. In addition, Afghanistan is in
need of economic assistance from Iran,
which might soften its position.
The positions of Iraq, Turkey, Pakistan,
and Saudi Arabia were also analyzed.
[Source: Notes by O.A. Westad at TsKhSD,
f. 5, op. 76, d. 1355, ll. 17-20.]
Gromyko-Andropov-Ustinov-
Ponomarev Report to CPSU CC,
29 October 1979
Top Secret
Special File
To the CC CPSU
The situation in Afghanistan following
the events of September 13-16 of this year,
as the result of which Taraki was removed
from power and then physically destroyed,
remains extremely complicated.
In the effors to strengthen Amin in
power, along with such superficial gestures
like the beginning of the reworking of the
draft of the constitution and the liberation [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]