Minutes of CPSU Central Committee Politburo, 'Measures in Connection with the Upcoming Withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan' (Excerpt)

(Top Secret)

SPECIAL FOLDER

Nº P 146/VI

To Cdes. [CPSU General secretary Mikhail S.] Gorbachev, [Soviet Premier Nikolai] Ryzhkov, [Party Secretary and Head of Social-Economic Policy Commission  Nikolai N.] Slyun’kov [former KGB chief Viktor] Chebrikov, [Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard] Shevardnadze, [Head of CPSU International Affairs Commission Alexandr N.] Yakovlev, [State Planning Commission Chief Yuri D.] Maslyukov, [Soviet Defense Minister Dmitri T.] Yazov, [State Committee for the Agro-Industrial Complex Chairman and First Deputy Prime Minister Vsevolod M.] Murakhovskiy, [KGB chief Vladimir A.] Kryuchkov, [CPSU General Department head Valery] Boldin, and [Valentin] Falin – everything; [Soviet Finance Minister Boris] Gostev – points 2 and 6; Volkov – point 5; [Soviet Foreign Trade Minister Konstantin F.] Katushev – point 6.

Excerpt from Minutes Nº 146 of the CC CPSU Politburo meeting of 24 January 1989

Measures in connection with the upcoming withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan

1. Agree with the ideas described in the note of Cdes. E. A. Shevardnadze, V. M. Chebrikov, A. N. Yakovlev, D. T. Yazov, V. S. Murakhovskiy, and V. A. Kryuchkov of 23 January 1989 (attached)

2. Proceed from the need to ensure the functioning of the Kabul-Hairaton highway and give the Afghan comrades comprehensive assistance to organize security for this highway using their own forces, even as far as assuming the provisioning of these Afghan subunits [vzyatiye…na nashe dovol’stviye] for a certain time. USSR Gosplan and the USSR Ministry of Finance together with the USSR MID, the USSR Ministry of Defense, and the USSR KGB are to present suitable proposals by 1 February 1989.

3. Cde. D. T. Yazov is charged with making a trip to Kabul for an additional evaluation of the developing military situation and to give practical assistance to the Afghan Side in the resolution of defense issues, including those affecting the security of the Kabul-Hairaton highway.

4. The USSR Ministry of Defense is to help the President of the Republic of Afghanistan work out various arrangementsto declare martial law in Afghanistan.

5. The USSR Ministry of Defense and the USSR Ministry of Civil Aviation are to study the issue of the possibility of using Soviet pilots on a voluntary basis and with appropriate material rewards on Afghan transport aircraft or Soviet transport aircraft which would be leased to the Afghan Side.

6. The USSR Gosplan, the USSR Ministry of Finance, and the USSR Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations are to present ideas about granting additional economic aid to Afghanistan in the prescribed manner by 10 February 1989.

In this regard, provide for a trip to Kabul by Cdes. Yu. D. Maslyukov, B. I. Gostev, and K. F. Katushev.

7. Protocol. The CC CPSU Politburo Commission on Afghanistan with the participation of the CC CPSU General Department is to submit material on a documentary basis to the CC CPSU regarding all stages of the development of events in Afghanistan, beginning with the decision to introduce troops into this country and also ideas about possible alternatives of the future development of the situation in Afghanistan and the consequences for us ensuing from them.

CC SECRETARY M. GORBACHEV