Treacherous conclusion
Russia pays for the withdrawal of the USSR from Afghanistan
What was the reason for the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan and how was their departure from there ten years later justified? Who were the people at the head of the rebellious country with whom our special services interacted? Recalls the chairman of the Coordination Council of the Russian Committee of War Veterans and Military Service, Lieutenant-General Alexander Golubev.
- Alexander Titovich, how did you become involved in storming the palace of Hafizullah Amin?
- Then, while still a lieutenant colonel of the First Main Directorate of the KGB of the USSR, I was the leader of one of the groups that participated in the storming of the palace. All participants in the operation dressed in a soldier's uniform, I was wearing a sergeant's shoulder straps. Our group of "technical support" joined the Muslim battalion, which, together with the special unit of the KGB of the USSR "Alpha", took Amin's palace. Those who took part in this assault were very well prepared for it. And I think they did an excellent job with the task.
- What made the leadership of the USSR go on the introduction of troops into Afghanistan?
- The Americans at that time, despite the disarmament program announced by the USSR, were running around all regions of the world with their cruise missiles, not knowing where to put them yet.
The US leadership assumed their deployment in Afghanistan, which could pose a threat to the security of our country. And if the USSR troops did not have time to enter Afghanistan, it is not known what would have remained of the USSR and that those independent states that had emerged from the republics of the USSR would exist now. As proof of my words, I will give a personal conversation with the chairman of the State Security Committee, Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov. The conversation took place at nine in the evening, four hours before the departure of my group to Afghanistan. Andropov said that I would be visiting abroad, since I was already working in different countries. I asked him: "People who will be with me speak foreign languages?" He patted me on the shoulder and replied that the language would be machine guns and grenades. We must be the first to break into the palace and take from the office and the cabinet of Amin all the documents that indicate his desire for an agreement with the United States to sell the territory of Afghanistan for the deployment of Pershing on it.
Our group delivered four bags of documents from the office of the palace and Amin’s private office to the USSR Embassy in Afghanistan. I handed over these documents to the representative of the USSR KGB, Boris Ivanov, during the battle.
- After the overthrow of Amin, who do you think are more suited to the role of leader of the Afghan revolution in their human and spiritual qualities: Babrak Karmal or Mohammad Najibullah?
- In Afghanistan, there was one leading party with two flanks - Khalk and Parcham. The wing of the Parcham was headed by Babrak Karmal, and if you evaluate the leaders of the Afghan revolution by their business qualities, it seems to me personally that Karmal was weaker. He was inferior to Najibullah in his ability to analyze and draw the necessary conclusions from the current situation, although both were fully oriented towards the USSR. It was Najibullah who announced amnesty to Amin's relatives and gave them the opportunity to go abroad. Under Najibullah, schools and institutes opened in the DRA. He was able to declare a policy of national reconciliation, after which he proceeded to the creation of a coalition government. Gave the way to the development of entrepreneurship, which in turn hit hard by Western propaganda, which painted it with a bloody dictator and a limp puppet of the USSR.
- In the book of the head of the PGU KGB of the USSR Leonid Shebarshin “The Hand of Moscow” described an unsuccessful assault by the Soviet troops of the Pandshirsky Gorge. He claims that Ahmad Shah Massoud left his lair without a loss, because the gang leaders had an agent among the highest ranks of the General Staff of Afghanistan. Doesn't this indicate the unpopularity of those whom the USSR has counted on?
- Ahmad Shah Masud was a smart man, very educated and far-sighted. Being an ethnic Tajik, he very correctly assessed the situation that was developing in Afghanistan. And if it were not for the pressure that the United States began to exert on all the dushman organizations, including Ahmad Shah Massoud, how the situation would have developed, one can only guess. On the eve of the withdrawal of our troops from Afghanistan, I spoke with Masood in Tunisia; this meeting was arranged by the late Yasser Arafat. Albert Chernyshev, Ambassador for Special Affairs of the USSR, was also present. The goal was an agreement with the heads of the Dushmansk groups, so that they would allow our troops to leave quietly and that there would be no casualties on either side. And when we met with Masood, I told him: “Ahmad, we understand the situation and the situation that has developed, our troops fulfilled their task, restrained both hostilities by irreconcilable opposition and the flow of drug traffic across the borders of Afghanistan in the USSR. I would ask you not to shoot at our troops that are leaving. " To which he declared that there would not be a single shot from the side of his grouping, after which he asked the question: “Why are you leaving? When others come, it will be bad for both you and us. And take Kolya Bystrov with you. ” Nikolai was a prisoner of war, became the head of security at Masud, married his wife's sister. “If Kolya returns to Russia, then my children will easily get acclimatized there.” Nicholas Bystrov we took. Through the Committee of Soldiers-Internationalists, he repeatedly traveled to Afghanistan, searched for the graves of our soldiers, brought their remains to their homeland.
- It turns out that one of the leaders of the Central Committee of the CPSU, Valentin Falin, was right when he asserted that from the very beginning of the war in Afghanistan, the leadership of the USSR should cooperate more closely with Ahmad-Shah Massoud?
- I think, not only Falin, but the entire leadership of the USSR adhered to the right direction to work with those who were not one of the most irreconcilable. We found ourselves in the most difficult conditions, because our opponents were already there who did not allow us to negotiate peace with all the tribes and a number of representatives of armed formations. Afghanistan, by virtue of its geographical position, became a bargaining chip in a war that did not go by the will of the USSR, but on the initiative of the side that provokes today's events in Ukraine. Afghanistan has always been a friendly country to us and our territorial ally.
- Najibulla could create an army capable of defending the country without the presence of our contingent?
- I rate Najibullah as a very intelligent and progressive politician. He stood on the position of developing democracy in his country, rallying the Afghan nation. Therefore, he created a coalition government, where he accepted people who did not always agree with his course. I think if he had taken Ahmad Shah Massoud into the government, according to a different scenario, the life of Najibullah himself would have turned around. Masood was a very influential field commander in northern Afghanistan. I had the impression of Najibullah as a very sincere and extraordinary man, capable of finding a way out of the most difficult situation. He, to my great regret, did not manage to create a strong army and powerful state special services. The withdrawal of our troops from the territory of Afghanistan dramatically complicated the solution of the tasks facing Najibullah.
- One of the high-ranking diplomats, who worked for a long time in Afghanistan, said that the KhAD security service, at the direction of Najibullah, began to hand over information about the withdrawal of the USSR troops to dushmanskim leaders. What do you think it could be?
“Mohammad Najibullah was not such as to expose those whom he believed and respected. But how a smart person could understand that the restructuring of the Kremlin actually betray him, leaving him alone with a well-trained and armed to the teeth enemy, who later did not spare him. Our representative office of the KGB in Afghanistan was at a very high level; both the personal representative of Andropov, Boris Ivanov, and the head of the C department of the PGU of the USSR KGB Yuri Drozdov worked there. They had constant contacts with Najibullah and other representatives of state power, the army, the security service of the KhAD, who helped us very much in a joint assessment of the situation that had been forming at different times in Afghanistan.
- Do you agree with the point of view that the United States intentionally dragged us into the war in Afghanistan in order to wear down the economy and speed up the collapse of the USSR?
- We entered Afghanistan after repeated requests from the government - from Nur Mohammed Taraki to Hafizullah Amin. The USSR troops defended their southern borders and the most important objects of our cooperation with this country. But I don’t know at the request of which government coalition troops headed by the United States entered there and what objects they are protecting. And I do not see them doing it. The American intelligence services in Afghanistan created the Taliban movement that fought against our troops. When it got out of control, the same US began to work on other armed groups that had already fought with the Taliban. They created al-Qaeda, and when the whole world community saw that this organization was a terrorist, they began to destroy it. Believe me, the policy of double standards goes sideways in the United States. Can it be called peacekeeping? It is worse than political prostitution. When an ally is profitable to me, I will buy it, but not - I will sell it myself. This is a dangerous game with political fire, primarily for the one who plays with it.
I'm not talking about the fate of such a state in the Middle East, like Libya. Who interfered with Muammar Gaddafi, why should he have been overthrown? He was in many ways holding back Islamic fundamentalists, in his country people had social guarantees for studies and work. And now the US is launching its tentacles to Ukraine. I think they will reach to Russia.
- A number of diplomats who worked in Afghanistan, told in personal conversations: when our troops leave Afghanistan, part weapons by decision from Moscow, was given in the form of buying off the leaders of the irreconcilable opposition. To get out of the DRA without a loss, the top political leadership of the USSR had no other way?
“We donated weapons and equipment not to the Mujahideen, but left the leadership of a friendly country to the Soviet Union to use in the interests of the independence of the Afghan state and protecting its integrity from numerous gangs. And if we had transferred all this to the Mujahideen, we would simply not have traveled to the provinces and districts of Afghanistan under their control, and would not have negotiated with them that they should not bombard our army that was leaving Afghanistan.
- Did Ahmad-Shah Massoud receive equipment and weapons?
- I don’t think that even Masud received something from the weapon during the withdrawal of our troops from Afghanistan. The leadership of the USSR held a real position. In Afghanistan at that time, which we are talking about, there was a legitimate government headed by Najibullah. Weapons and equipment of military significance were transferred to his government exclusively to protect the integrity of the DRA. I think it was the right steps of the leadership of the USSR.
What was the reason for the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan and how was their departure from there ten years later justified? Who were the people at the head of the rebellious country with whom our special services interacted? Recalls the chairman of the Coordination Council of the Russian Committee of War Veterans and Military Service, Lieutenant-General Alexander Golubev.
- Alexander Titovich, how did you become involved in storming the palace of Hafizullah Amin?
- Then, while still a lieutenant colonel of the First Main Directorate of the KGB of the USSR, I was the leader of one of the groups that participated in the storming of the palace. All participants in the operation dressed in a soldier's uniform, I was wearing a sergeant's shoulder straps. Our group of "technical support" joined the Muslim battalion, which, together with the special unit of the KGB of the USSR "Alpha", took Amin's palace. Those who took part in this assault were very well prepared for it. And I think they did an excellent job with the task.
- What made the leadership of the USSR go on the introduction of troops into Afghanistan?
- The Americans at that time, despite the disarmament program announced by the USSR, were running around all regions of the world with their cruise missiles, not knowing where to put them yet.
Najibulla was an outstanding man
able to find a way out of the most difficult
situations but the withdrawal of Soviet troops from
Afghanistan has dramatically complicated the decision
tasks facing him
Photo: RIA NEWS
able to find a way out of the most difficult
situations but the withdrawal of Soviet troops from
Afghanistan has dramatically complicated the decision
tasks facing him
Photo: RIA NEWS
The US leadership assumed their deployment in Afghanistan, which could pose a threat to the security of our country. And if the USSR troops did not have time to enter Afghanistan, it is not known what would have remained of the USSR and that those independent states that had emerged from the republics of the USSR would exist now. As proof of my words, I will give a personal conversation with the chairman of the State Security Committee, Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov. The conversation took place at nine in the evening, four hours before the departure of my group to Afghanistan. Andropov said that I would be visiting abroad, since I was already working in different countries. I asked him: "People who will be with me speak foreign languages?" He patted me on the shoulder and replied that the language would be machine guns and grenades. We must be the first to break into the palace and take from the office and the cabinet of Amin all the documents that indicate his desire for an agreement with the United States to sell the territory of Afghanistan for the deployment of Pershing on it.
Our group delivered four bags of documents from the office of the palace and Amin’s private office to the USSR Embassy in Afghanistan. I handed over these documents to the representative of the USSR KGB, Boris Ivanov, during the battle.
- After the overthrow of Amin, who do you think are more suited to the role of leader of the Afghan revolution in their human and spiritual qualities: Babrak Karmal or Mohammad Najibullah?
- In Afghanistan, there was one leading party with two flanks - Khalk and Parcham. The wing of the Parcham was headed by Babrak Karmal, and if you evaluate the leaders of the Afghan revolution by their business qualities, it seems to me personally that Karmal was weaker. He was inferior to Najibullah in his ability to analyze and draw the necessary conclusions from the current situation, although both were fully oriented towards the USSR. It was Najibullah who announced amnesty to Amin's relatives and gave them the opportunity to go abroad. Under Najibullah, schools and institutes opened in the DRA. He was able to declare a policy of national reconciliation, after which he proceeded to the creation of a coalition government. Gave the way to the development of entrepreneurship, which in turn hit hard by Western propaganda, which painted it with a bloody dictator and a limp puppet of the USSR.
- In the book of the head of the PGU KGB of the USSR Leonid Shebarshin “The Hand of Moscow” described an unsuccessful assault by the Soviet troops of the Pandshirsky Gorge. He claims that Ahmad Shah Massoud left his lair without a loss, because the gang leaders had an agent among the highest ranks of the General Staff of Afghanistan. Doesn't this indicate the unpopularity of those whom the USSR has counted on?
- Ahmad Shah Masud was a smart man, very educated and far-sighted. Being an ethnic Tajik, he very correctly assessed the situation that was developing in Afghanistan. And if it were not for the pressure that the United States began to exert on all the dushman organizations, including Ahmad Shah Massoud, how the situation would have developed, one can only guess. On the eve of the withdrawal of our troops from Afghanistan, I spoke with Masood in Tunisia; this meeting was arranged by the late Yasser Arafat. Albert Chernyshev, Ambassador for Special Affairs of the USSR, was also present. The goal was an agreement with the heads of the Dushmansk groups, so that they would allow our troops to leave quietly and that there would be no casualties on either side. And when we met with Masood, I told him: “Ahmad, we understand the situation and the situation that has developed, our troops fulfilled their task, restrained both hostilities by irreconcilable opposition and the flow of drug traffic across the borders of Afghanistan in the USSR. I would ask you not to shoot at our troops that are leaving. " To which he declared that there would not be a single shot from the side of his grouping, after which he asked the question: “Why are you leaving? When others come, it will be bad for both you and us. And take Kolya Bystrov with you. ” Nikolai was a prisoner of war, became the head of security at Masud, married his wife's sister. “If Kolya returns to Russia, then my children will easily get acclimatized there.” Nicholas Bystrov we took. Through the Committee of Soldiers-Internationalists, he repeatedly traveled to Afghanistan, searched for the graves of our soldiers, brought their remains to their homeland.
- It turns out that one of the leaders of the Central Committee of the CPSU, Valentin Falin, was right when he asserted that from the very beginning of the war in Afghanistan, the leadership of the USSR should cooperate more closely with Ahmad-Shah Massoud?
- I think, not only Falin, but the entire leadership of the USSR adhered to the right direction to work with those who were not one of the most irreconcilable. We found ourselves in the most difficult conditions, because our opponents were already there who did not allow us to negotiate peace with all the tribes and a number of representatives of armed formations. Afghanistan, by virtue of its geographical position, became a bargaining chip in a war that did not go by the will of the USSR, but on the initiative of the side that provokes today's events in Ukraine. Afghanistan has always been a friendly country to us and our territorial ally.
- Najibulla could create an army capable of defending the country without the presence of our contingent?
- I rate Najibullah as a very intelligent and progressive politician. He stood on the position of developing democracy in his country, rallying the Afghan nation. Therefore, he created a coalition government, where he accepted people who did not always agree with his course. I think if he had taken Ahmad Shah Massoud into the government, according to a different scenario, the life of Najibullah himself would have turned around. Masood was a very influential field commander in northern Afghanistan. I had the impression of Najibullah as a very sincere and extraordinary man, capable of finding a way out of the most difficult situation. He, to my great regret, did not manage to create a strong army and powerful state special services. The withdrawal of our troops from the territory of Afghanistan dramatically complicated the solution of the tasks facing Najibullah.
- One of the high-ranking diplomats, who worked for a long time in Afghanistan, said that the KhAD security service, at the direction of Najibullah, began to hand over information about the withdrawal of the USSR troops to dushmanskim leaders. What do you think it could be?
“Mohammad Najibullah was not such as to expose those whom he believed and respected. But how a smart person could understand that the restructuring of the Kremlin actually betray him, leaving him alone with a well-trained and armed to the teeth enemy, who later did not spare him. Our representative office of the KGB in Afghanistan was at a very high level; both the personal representative of Andropov, Boris Ivanov, and the head of the C department of the PGU of the USSR KGB Yuri Drozdov worked there. They had constant contacts with Najibullah and other representatives of state power, the army, the security service of the KhAD, who helped us very much in a joint assessment of the situation that had been forming at different times in Afghanistan.
- Do you agree with the point of view that the United States intentionally dragged us into the war in Afghanistan in order to wear down the economy and speed up the collapse of the USSR?
- We entered Afghanistan after repeated requests from the government - from Nur Mohammed Taraki to Hafizullah Amin. The USSR troops defended their southern borders and the most important objects of our cooperation with this country. But I don’t know at the request of which government coalition troops headed by the United States entered there and what objects they are protecting. And I do not see them doing it. The American intelligence services in Afghanistan created the Taliban movement that fought against our troops. When it got out of control, the same US began to work on other armed groups that had already fought with the Taliban. They created al-Qaeda, and when the whole world community saw that this organization was a terrorist, they began to destroy it. Believe me, the policy of double standards goes sideways in the United States. Can it be called peacekeeping? It is worse than political prostitution. When an ally is profitable to me, I will buy it, but not - I will sell it myself. This is a dangerous game with political fire, primarily for the one who plays with it.
I'm not talking about the fate of such a state in the Middle East, like Libya. Who interfered with Muammar Gaddafi, why should he have been overthrown? He was in many ways holding back Islamic fundamentalists, in his country people had social guarantees for studies and work. And now the US is launching its tentacles to Ukraine. I think they will reach to Russia.
- A number of diplomats who worked in Afghanistan, told in personal conversations: when our troops leave Afghanistan, part weapons by decision from Moscow, was given in the form of buying off the leaders of the irreconcilable opposition. To get out of the DRA without a loss, the top political leadership of the USSR had no other way?
“We donated weapons and equipment not to the Mujahideen, but left the leadership of a friendly country to the Soviet Union to use in the interests of the independence of the Afghan state and protecting its integrity from numerous gangs. And if we had transferred all this to the Mujahideen, we would simply not have traveled to the provinces and districts of Afghanistan under their control, and would not have negotiated with them that they should not bombard our army that was leaving Afghanistan.
- Did Ahmad-Shah Massoud receive equipment and weapons?
- I don’t think that even Masud received something from the weapon during the withdrawal of our troops from Afghanistan. The leadership of the USSR held a real position. In Afghanistan at that time, which we are talking about, there was a legitimate government headed by Najibullah. Weapons and equipment of military significance were transferred to his government exclusively to protect the integrity of the DRA. I think it was the right steps of the leadership of the USSR.
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