Record of Conversation between Soviet Ambassador to Afghanistan A.M. Puzanov and Taraki

Taraki informs [Puzanov] about his conversations on high-frequency radio with Brezhnev, Kosygin, Ustinov, Gromyko, and Ponomarev. The Soviet leadership has made a decision "to provide political and military assistance to the DRA in the event of aggression from Iran, Pakistan," and other countries, to speed up the delivery of weapons by air, postpone the expiration of credits, present 100,000 tons of grain to the DRA, and raise the price of Afghan natural gas bought by the USSR. Taraki gives thanks for the USSR declaration to Iran and Pakistan with the condemnation of interference in the domestic affairs of the DRA.

[Ed. note: For a translation of a report to the CPSU CC Politburo on the Afghan situation by Gromyko, Andropov, Ustinov and Ponomarev, dated 1 April 1979 and approved by the Politburo on 12 April 1979, see CWIHP Bulletin 3 (Fall 1993), 67-69.]