KGB CALLED RELUCTANT ON AFGHANISTAN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000303410010-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 23, 2010
• Sequence Number: 10
• Publication Date: November 15, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/23: CIA-RDP90-00552R000303410010-1 STAT
THE BALTIMORE SUN
15 November 1982
KGB called
reluctant on
Afghanistan
New York (Reuter) -A high-rank-
ing Soviet KGB defector says the late
Leonid 1. Brezhnev overruled KGB
advice not to turn Afghanistan into a
Soviet satellite and that Afghan Pres-
ident Babrak Karmal is a longtime
KGB agent, Time magazine said yes-
terday.
Time identified the defector from
the KGB, the Soviet Union's secret
police and intelligence agency, as
Vladimir. Kuzichkin, .-.35, .a -former
KGB major who defected to the Brit-
ish from his post in Tehran, Iran, last
June.
Mr. Kuzichkin said his superior
said Mr. Brezhnev got, the Soviet
Union into a war "they cannot win
and cannot abandon," Time said.
Mr. Kuzichkin, according to Time,
quoted his superior as saying, "Af-
ghanistan is our Vietnam."
The KGB tried to explain to Mr.
Brezhnev that a communist takeover
in Afghanistan would present prob-
lems, Mr. Kuzichkin told the weekly
newsmagazine.
Afghan President Mohammed Da-
oud Khan was toppled in 1978 by a
communist coup.
"We pointed out that despite all his
slaughter the tribes had accepted
Daoud as a legitimate ruler," Time
quoted Mr. Kuzichkin as saying.
"An openly communist regime
would arouse their hostility, that
would then be directed against the
Soviet Union. It was clearly of the ut-
most importance that Afghanistan
should have the right leader," Mr. Ku-
zichkin was quoted as saying.
Mr. Kuzichkin also said the Krem-
lin staged the murder of President
Karmal's predecessor, Hafizullah
Amin, after he had been backed for
the presidency by Mr. Brezhnev
against KGB advice, Time said.
Though Mr. Karmal had been "a
KGB agent for many years," Mr. Ku-
zichkin said "the Politburo decided to
back [Noor Mohammed] Taraki [as
Mr. Daoud's successor] because Mr.
Brezhnev said he knew Taraki per-
sonally. He was sure Taraki would do
a good job!" according to Time.
Once in power, Mr. Kuzichkin said,
Mr. Taraki turned against the Soviet
Union and then Mr. Brezhnev turned
to Mr. Amin, Mr. Taraki's deputy.
Mr. Brezhnev secretly agreed to
have Mr. Amin arrange for Mr. Tar-
aki to step down. "Taraki stepped
straight from the presidency to his
grave," Mr. Kuzichkin was quoted as
saying.
Mr. Amin, though, did not suit the
Kremlin and was killed by Soviet
agents dressed as Afghan soldiers,
Mr. Kuzichkin told Time.
Mr. Karmal was then brought to
Moscow and agreed to become the
next Afghan president, Mr. Kuzichkin
told Time.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/23: CIA-RDP90-00552R000303410010-1