Varennikov reports on Afghan opposition leader Ahmad Shah Masoud, who is seen as the most significant threat to the Soviet-backed regime.
October 1988
Report from Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Defense and KGB Representatives
This document was made possible with support from Leon Levy Foundation
(Secret)
On 4 October we met with RA [Republic of Afghanistan] President and General Secretary of the PDPA [People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan] CC [Central Committee] Najibullah.
…During the discussion of urgent domestic political problems we noted that the time had come now for active operations by each one of us. Something has already been undertaken – letters to Ahmad Shah [Masoud] and also the dispatch of RA government and USSR KGB representatives to Hazarajat.
The Soviet Ambassador expressed readiness to personally contact Ahmad Shah, if required, keeping in mind that the Soviet Ambassador does not have the burden of the past and is free in his contacts with the opposition.
…President Najibullah noted that…there is little time left, the four remaining months need to be used as if it were four years; therefore we need to follow the principle of military-political specificity; that is, proceeding from the situation on-site, employing force or negotiating and compromising. The key object of employing this policy, in his opinion, is the situation with Ahmad Shah. Only after deciding the issue with Ahmad Shah can the security of the highway be ensured…
N. Yegorychev (MID), V. Varennikov (MO), V. Zaitsev (KGB)
October 1988
Report on efforts to contact Afghan opposition leader Ahmad Shah Masoud.
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Source
A. A. Lyakhovskiy, Plamya Afgana (Flame of the Afghanistan Veteran) (Moscow: Iskon, 1999); pp. 492-493. Translated for CWIHP by Gary Goldberg
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