AFGHANISTAN'S LEADER QUITS AS PARTY CHIEF

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00587R000100010010-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 25, 2011
• Sequence Number: 10
• Publication Date: May 5, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/25: CIA-RDP91-0
Ap, AR
Wry
Afghanistan's
Leader Quits
as Party Chief
By RONE TEMPEST,
Times Staff Writer
NEW DELHI-Afghan Presi-
dent Babrak Karmal resigned as
head of the Afghan Communist
Party on Sunday amid reports that
he had fallen out of favor with the
Soviet Union.
In a broadcast from Kabul, Af-
ghanistan's capital, the govern-
ment radio said Karmal has been
replaced as party general secretary
by the Afghan security chief, iden-
tified by the single name of Naji-
bullah. Karmal will remain as pres-
ident and also as chairman of the
ruling Revolutionary Council, a
Kabul radio broadcast said.
Karmal, 57, has reportedly been
suffering from poor health, and the
broadcast said he was replaced at
his own request because of health
reasons.
Rumors of his fall from grace
began circulating when he failed to
attend an April 27 parade marking
the eighth anniversary of the Com-
munist takeover of Afghanistan, in
1978. The parade is considered the
country's most important political
event, and Karmal's failure to ap-
pear prompted speculation that he
was very ill or would soon be
ousted.
His replacement as party leader
is expected to have little effect on
the policy of the government, since
both Karmal and Najibullah, 39, are
members of the same Parcham
(Flag) faction of the party, formal-
ly known as the People's Demo-
cratic Party.
Afghanistan has been described
as a country of "two-party commu-
nism" and there have been bitter,
often violent, rivalries between
two factions-Parcham and the
rival Khalq (Masses).
U.S. reaction to the leadership
change was terse. "We will not
attach undue importance to the
changeover in leadership in Ka-
bul," State Department spokes-
woman Anita Stockman said in
Washington.
LOS ANGELES TIMES
5 May 1986
"The identities of those who hold
leadership positions are of less
significance than the continued
presence of 120,000 Soviet troops in
Afghanistan."
Beyond Afghan government pol-
icy, the elevation of Najibullah to
the top party post may have signif-
icance in Afghanistan's important
tribal political arena, possibly as a
move aimed at winning key sup-
port of the Pushtun people for the
Soviet-installed regime.
In the Afghan tribal scheme,
Najibullah is a member of the large
Pushtun tribe in Paktia province.
An estimated 55% (8 million) of
Afghanistan's people is Pushtun.
Even more important, most Push-
tuns live in the border areas where
the bulk of fighting is taking place
between Soviet-supported Afghan
troops and U.S.-supported rebels,
known as moujahedeen.
Karmal was installed in power as
the result of the Soviet military
invasion of Afghanistan in Decem-
ber, 1979, which replaced a second,
failed Marxist government-that of
Hafizullah Amin, who was execut-
ed. Karmal, although sometimes
claiming Pushtun ethnic ties, is
generally viewed in Afghanistan as
a member of the Dari-speaking
urban elite, as are most of the
members of his Parcham faction of
the party.
Until last year, Najibullah, who
was trained as a medical doctor,
served as head of the Afghan secret
police. His title until Sunday has
been Central Committee secretary
in charge of security. He holds the
rank of major general.
According to Anthony Arnold, a
former U. inter elligence o-fir in
au who has written a book on
Afg an party politics, Najibullah
has been consistent ally of ar-
m .
P-ushtun nationalism has long
been an important political factor
on both sides of the border, and
Najibullah is considered an impor-
0587R000100010010-1
tant factor in the Kabul regime's
efforts to win over Pushtun border
tribes to its side.
He is reported to have turned the
secret police into an effective force
to infiltrate rebel ranks and per-
suade or bribe border tribes to
block rebels coming in from Paki-
stan.
The Kabul government army,
which according to Western diplo-
mats has dwindled from its pre-
1978 level of 80,000 to about 30,000,
has failed to achieve a decisive turn
in the war against the rebels.
Criticism In Pravda
The day before the April 27
parade commemorating the revo-
lution, the Soviet Communist Party
newspaper Pravda criticized the
pace of reforms in Afghanistan
under Karmal.
Karmal, meanwhile, had dropped
from sight after going to the Soviet
Union a month ago, ostensibly for
medical treatment. Western diplo-
mats report that he may be suffer-
ing from leukemia. He finally re-
turned to Kabul last Thursday and
was greeted by most senior gov -
ernment officials and the Soviet
ambassador.
Because the latest round of Unit- i
ed Nations-sponsored peace talks
on Afghanistan are scheduled to
begin today in Geneva, no mgor
changes in the Afghan government
had been expected.
However, when rumors of Kar-
mal's departure were at their
height, a Western diplomat com-
mented from Islamabad, the Paki-
stani capital:
"Remember that the Pakistan
government has always said that it
will not negotiate directly with the
'Karmal government' in Kabul.
Presumably, then, if the Afghans
changed their leadership and it -
became someone else's govern-
ment, the Pakistanis might be
prepared to talk."
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/25: CIA-RDP91-00587R000100010010-1