Appendix

CHRONOLOGY

1734–1979

This is a story about how various big fishes gobbled up the little fishes and then turned their attention to a certain medium-sized fish…

1734 The Russians make conquests in Kazakhstan.

1747 Afghanistan is unified under Ahmad Shah in an absolute monarchy.

1765 The British take Calcutta.

1813 Persia signs the Treaty of Gulistan, yielding most of its territory in the Caucasus to Russia.

1828 Persia signs the Treaty of Turkmanchai, relinquishing the southern Caucasus to Russia.

1837 Lord Auckland, Governor-General of India, sends a Captain Burnes to Kabul “to work out the policy of opening the River Indus to commerce.” Meanwhile, the Tsar sends a Captain Vitkievitch on the same errand.

1838 The British undertake the forcible restoration of Shah Shuja to the Afghan throne, a project which launches the First Afghan War (1838–42). Severe casualties are inflicted on both sides.

1839 The first Russian attempt to conquer Bokhara fails.

1842 The First Afghan War having proved to be a disaster, the British withdraw from Afghanistan, paying compensation and leaving hostages. Later they take their retribution, and a Colonel Sutherland writes, “It is a comfort to be able to look a native in the face again with confidence.” Then they leave again.

1843 Sind falls to the British.

1844 Russia and Great Britain agree to act in the spirit of Count Nesselrode’s memorandum, which recommends that the two powers preserve the internal peace of Persia by leaving Bokhara, Khiva and Samarkand as buffer states.

(1846 Kashmir falls to the British.

1849 The Punjab falls to the British.)

1853 The Crimean War ends this happy cooperation.

1855 The Afghans annex Kandahar, which, with Herat, has often changed hands between Afghanistan and Persia.

1856 The Persians seize Herat in retaliation, and announce that they will next occupy Kandahar and establish themselves on the borders of the Punjab, a British area. The British therefore join cause with the Afghans against the Persians and defeat them.

1859 The British occupy Baluchistan.

1863 The Afghans regain Herat.

1865 The Russians occupy Tashkent.

1867 The new province of Russian Turkestan is established. Bokhara falls to Russia.

1869 Referring to the Nesselrode memorandum, the Russian Prince Gortchakoff suggests Afghanistan as the next buffer zone. The British put him off, saying that the frontiers are too ill defined.

1873 Khiva falls to Russia.

Russia gives up Badakhshan and Wakhan to Afghanistan in exchange for British recognition of the new frontier. Afghanistan is now the only neutral area between the British and the Russians. Sher Ali, the Afghan monarch, asks Lord Northbrook for assurance of British assistance in the event of a Russian invasion of his country. The British refuse. Sher Ali decides that he must cultivate the Russians.

1875 The British become alarmed at the frequent correspondence between Russia and Afghanistan. They become more so when a Russian mission is established at Kabul.

1876 The British sign a treaty with the Khan of Kalat, allowing Empire troops to occupy Quetta. Meanwhile, the Russians make a similar arrangement in Kokand.

1878 Following rejection of their ultimatum demanding the establishment of a British Resident in Kabul, the British invade Afghanistan, precipitating the Second Afghan War (1878–81).

1879 The British retire the bulk of their army after obtaining acquiescence to the presence of a British Resident and the annexation of the Khyber Pass. They begin paying a subsidy to the Amir of Kabul. At the right moment, the Afghans attack the Residence and slaughter all the defenders. Fierce guerrilla-style clashes occur for the next two years, with the Afghans inflicting very respectable casualties. In the end a pro-British government is installed.

1881 The British evacuate Afghanistan.

1884 Baron de Staal, the Russian Ambassador in London, receives his instructions: Russia will maintain its “expansion in Central Asia, leading us to occupy to-day in Turkestan and the Turkestan steppes a military position strong enough to keep England in check by the threat of intervention in India.”

At this opportune moment, the chieftains of Merv are persuaded to tender allegiance to the Russian Emperor.

1893 The Durand Line is drawn to delineate the border between Afghanistan and the North-West Frontier Province of British India. Peshawar and the Khyber Pass are included in the British dominions.

1896 Pamir falls to Russia.

1901 The British draw another line, and the North-West Frontier Province becomes a separate entity from the Punjab.

In Afghanistan, Habibullah succeeds to the throne.

1907 At the Anglo-Russian Convention, Russia agrees that Afghanistan is outside its sphere of influence, and Britain agrees not to occupy or annex the country.

1914 World War I breaks out. Afghanistan is neutral.

1917 The Great October Socialist Revolution takes place in Russia. The Bolsheviki abrogate the secret protocols of the Tsarist regime, and grant independence to previous rump states such as Bokhara. Later they change their minds and nibble them up again.

1919 Constitutional monarchy is adopted in Afghanistan. Amanullah Khan succeeds to the throne. At this point the issue of Afghan independence is as inflammatory as Pushtunistan will be after World War II. Declaring his country’s complete autonomy from any foreign power, Amanullah strikes at British holdings along the frontier, precipitating the Third Afghan War. Allegations are made that the British use chemical warfare against the Afghans. After some inconclusively bloody events, the British recognize Afghanistan’s independence, but not before the Russians do. This year Afghanistan receives its first Soviet subsidy.

1921 A Soviet-Afghan treaty is signed recognizing current frontiers. The Khanate of Bokhara falls to the Soviets. Throughout the decade, various revolts against Soviet power take place in Central Asia, but without success.

1926 The Soviets and the Afghans sign a Pact of Neutrality and Mutual Non-Aggression.

1928 Having taken a leaf from Peter the Great’s book, Amanullah tours Europe and returns to abolish the veil, open coeducational schools and begin construction of a new capitol. Religious leaders encourage revolt. Amanullah is deposed by Bacha Saqqao.

1929 One of Amanullah’s generals, Muhammed Nadir Khan, comes out of exile to depose and execute Bacha Saqqao. He then takes the throne as Nadir Shah, and repeals Amanullah’s reforms.

1931 “Soviet-Afghan economic relations unfailingly responded to the interests of Afghanistan. A new Soviet-Afghan treaty in 1931 on neutrality and mutual nonaggression helped strengthen Afghanistan’s independence” (Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd ed. [trans.], vol. II).

1933 Zaher Shah, last king of Afghanistan, succeeds to the throne upon the assassination of his father (November 8).

1934 The United States officially recognizes Afghanistan.

1935 The Germans, Japanese and Italians begin economic activities in Afghanistan. The Nazis explain that whereas Japanese are only “honorary Aryans, ” Afghans are true Aryans.

1936 The Soviets are refused permission to establish a trade mission in Afghanistan.

1939 World War II breaks out. Afghanistan is again neutral.

1940 The Soviet Union agrees in principle to Nazi Germany’s suggested Four-Power Pact, in which “the Soviet Union declares that its territorial aspirations center south of the national territory of the U.S.S.R. in the direction of the Indian Ocean.” Buhrhanuddin Rabbani, future leader of Jamiat-i-Islami, is born in Faizabad.

1941 Britain and Russia request that Afghanistan expel all nondiplomatic Axis personnel. Afghanistan responds by expelling all nondiplomatic personnel.

1942–43 The United States and Afghanistan exchange diplomatic missions.

1946 A year after the end of World War II, American firms begin operating in Afghanistan. Over the next few years, the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. both give the country development loans and aid.

1947 British India is partitioned into India and Pakistan. Hindu-Muslim hostility creates bad feeling between the two countries from the start. Resettlement of Indian Muslims in Pakistan and Pakistani Hindus in India is accompanied by mutual atrocities. The North-West Frontier Province is given the choice of belonging to India or to Pakistan. It selects the latter. But some Pathans say it should have been given the option of independence, since the tribal areas in the N.W.F.P. are not mere territories but sovereign khanates.

In both Pakistan and Afghanistan there is growing agitation for a “Pushtunistan, ” or separate state for the Pathan tribes, who live in the border areas of both countries. Afghan Pathans call upon Pakistan to hold a plebiscite in the N.W.F.P.; Pakistan refuses. When Pakistan applies for membership in the United Nations, Afghanistan casts the sole dissenting vote by reason of the Pushtunistan issue.

1948 Pakistan and Afghanistan exchange ambassadors.

1949 In the course of quelling unrest in the tribal areas, Pakistan air-bombs the village of Moghulgai, 2, 100 yards inside Afghanistan. Meanwhile, Afghan Afridi tribesmen meet inside Pakistan to found Pushtunistan. Riots ensue.

The “Liberal Parliament” is established in Afghanistan. Some freedom of the press is permitted. A student movement springs up.

1950 Pakistan stops petroleum traffic to Afghanistan for three months. Afghanistan and the Soviet Union sign a four-year barter agreement. The student movement becomes more aggressive, attacking Islam and the Royal Family.

1951 Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Liaquat Ali Khan, is assassinated by an Afghan. In Afghanistan, the student union is dissolved.

1952 The Soviets establish a trade office in Kabul. They export enough grain and cement to allow the Afghans to lift rationing on these commodities. Due to continuing unrest, all non-government newspapers are closed. Mr. Hafizullah Amin, a man of considerable ambition, becomes Cultural Officer of the Embassy of the Royal Government of Afghanistan in Washington, D.C. “The future is hidden from us, ” says Wittgenstein. “But does the astronomer think like this when he calculates an eclipse of the sun? ”^*

1953 Muhammed Daoud, first cousin of Zaher Shah, becomes Prime Minister of Afghanistan. Daoud requests military aid from the United States and is refused.

1954 The U.S.S.R. loans Afghanistan $3.5 million. Pakistan signs a Mutual Security Agreement with the United States. Daoud requests military aid from the United States and is refused.

1955 A war almost breaks out over the Pushtunistan question. Pakistan closes the border for five months. Soviet Premier Bulganin says that his country supports Afghanistan’s demands for a plebiscite. The peace-loving democratic peoples of the U.S.S.R. offer the Afghans arms to use against the Pakistanis, and award them a $100 million development loan. Daoud requests military aid from the United States and is refused. Amin joins the staff of U.S.A.I.D. in Kabul. The 1931 Soviet-Afghan Treaty of Neutrality and Non-Aggression is extended for another ten years.

1956 The Afghans make “major development agreements” with the Soviet Union. The United States funds a $15 million airport in Kandahar. Amir Sayyid ’Alim Khan, the last ruler of Bokhara, dies in exile. Afghanistan receives $25 million in military aid from the Soviet Union and East Bloc countries. Some of this money is used to construct airfields, which the Soviets will find very convenient in 1979. In reaction to Daoud, the Islamic Movement, the nucleus of the religious Mujahideen factions, is formed by professors in Kabul. Rabbani becomes a member.

1957 Women announcers begin working for Radio Afghanistan.

1959 During Independence Week celebration, the wives and daughters of the Royal Family and dignitaries appear unveiled. When the mullahs protest to Daoud, he has them thrown in jail.

1961 On August 23, Pakistan and Afghanistan break diplomatic relations, and the Pakistan-Afghanistan border is closed. Various skirmishes occur in the N.W.F.P. over the Pushtunistan question.

1962 Amin becomes a translator for the U.S. Embassy in Kabul.

1963 Prime Minister Daoud resigns (March 9). He is succeeded by the commoner Dr. Muhammed Yousuf. The border with Pakistan is re-opened, and diplomatic relations re-established.

1964 A liberalized Islamic constitution is promulgated. Women are given equality under the law. Zaher Shah remains king, but the Royal Family is prohibited from entering politics. (This bars Daoud, for instance, from returning to power, because he is a member of the Royal Family.) The Doshi-Jabal Us-Seraj road is completed between Kabul and the Soviet border.

1965 The first national elections are held. (With what ironic sadness does one remember this now!) Political parties appear on the scene: conservatives, centrists, liberals and leftists. In July, the newspaper Khalq (The Masses) first appears. Its publisher is a man named Nur Muhammad Taraki, about whom Louis Dupree remarks: “The novel as found in the West is rare in the Middle East and virtually unknown in Afghanistan. One well-known leftist journalist, Nur Muhammad Taraki, is considered to be a budding Persian-language novelist, however.”^† Khalq is the organ of the Democratic People’s Party, formed by Taraki on January 1. A more extremist wing of the D.P.P. publishes Parcham (The Flag), a magazine to which Mr. Babrak Karmal is a frequent contributor. Babrak calls for the formation of a “United Democratic Front” to achieve socialism by evolution from within the system. (Both wings, Parcham and Khalq, are politically right of a third group within the D.P.P. called Shu’la-yi-Jawed, “the Eternal Flame.”) Babrak and a woman deputy of the D.P.P., Dr. Ananhita, are elected to Parliament. Babrak urges the students to come and demonstrate, which they do with such vigor that Parliament must be adjourned. On October 25, government troops fire on student demonstrators, killing three. On October 29, Mohammad Hashim Mawamdal succeeds Dr. Yousuf as Prime Minister.

The Soviet-Afghan Treaty of Neutrality and Non-Aggression of 1931 is renewed. Meanwhile, U.S. assistance to Afghanistan continues to average $22 million a year.

1966 Khalq is closed by the government.

1967 Prime Minister Mawamdal is replaced by Nur Ahmad Etemadi. A split occurs in the D.P.P. between the Khalq and the Parcham (which remains affiliated with the Shu’la-yi-Jawed).

1968 The share of socialist countries in the total foreign trade turnover of Afghanistan reaches 47 percent. Some conservative members of Parliament propose that Afghan women be prohibited from studying abroad. A demonstration of Afghan women students makes them change their minds. The Parcham and the Shu’la-yi-Jawed split apart.

1969 Parcham is closed by the government. In a melee in Parliament, Babrak is severely injured and sent to the hospital. His and Ananhita’s terms expire.

1970 The magazine Mujalla-i-Shariat (Shariat Journal) appears, edited by Professor Rabbani.

1971 Pakistan and India go to war. Pakistan loses. As a result, East Pakistan becomes the sovereign state of Bangladesh. In Afghanistan, Dr. Abdul Zahil becomes Prime Minister, and a student strike begins which lasts until 1972.

1972 Rabbani becomes head of the Jamiat-i-Islami.

1973 Supported by the Parcham and others, Daoud overthrows the monarchy while Zaher Shah is in Italy (July 17).^‡ Daoud becomes both President and Prime Minister. He declares martial law. Over the next half-decade he strives to continue the policy of gracious nonalignment, but with increasingly less success. The Soviets improve the border routes of Afghanistan and strengthen the roads between major Afghan cities. Some Cassandras say that the roads are being given a much greater weight capacity than the Afghans require. It is almost as if (ignoble thought!) the roads had been designed to accommodate Soviet tanks. Daoud meanwhile sends 1, 600 Parcham cadres to the country to assist in modernization. This effort fails, and many of them leave their posts, convinced that a more radical approach is needed.

On October 20, former Prime Minister Mawamdal, convicted of a plot against Daoud, “commits suicide” in prison.

1975 Dissatisfied with what they see as increasingly anti-Islamic tendencies of the government, Gulbuddin et al. begin to build up their own political organizations in the provinces and in Peshawar, where they are given support by Pakistan’s Bhutto government in retaliation for Afghan-supported subversive activities in Pakistan. On the night of July 21–22, religious leaders launch the “Panjsher Insurgency, ” which is not limited to Panjsher but includes Paktiya, Jalalabad and many other areas. Ninety-three people are brought to trial, and three executed. In September, a military plot against Daoud is uncovered.

1976 Daoud and Bhutto exchange visits.

1977 In February, a new constitution is passed, and the country officially becomes the Republic of Afghanistan. In July, the Parcham and the Shu’la-yi-Jawed reunite. General Zia seizes power in Pakistan and arrests Bhutto, who is imprisoned for two years. Zia visits Daoud for consultations in October. In December, another plan for a military coup against Daoud is discovered, and the perpetrators arrested.

1978 On April 17, Daoud tells confidants that he will soon announce sweeping reforms. But ten days later he and his family are efficiently liquidated. Nur Muhammad Taraki accepts the call of the nation and becomes President and Prime Minister.^§ The Soviet Union expresses congratulations; the United States does not. Surviving members of the Royal Family are arrested and deprived of citizenship. The Democratic Republic of Afghanistan is now governed by a coalition of Khalq and Parcham members. Babrak Karmal becomes Deputy Prime Minister for a little while, and Hafizullah Amin, who had set the coup in motion through his party contacts in the army, becomes Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs. Taraki signs a treaty of friendship with the Soviet Union, kindly reaffirms the equality of women in a Decree Number Seven, and then gets to work. In July, when he feels secure, he reduces the Parcham leadership to ambassadors and packs them off — Babrak to Prague, Ananhita to Belgrade, etc. In August, the remaining Parcham members are arrested on charges of conspiring against the government. Babrak, Ananhita and the other ambassadors are stripped of their powers and recalled home, but they wisely go to Moscow instead.

1979 (January) 12, 000 Afghan troops are moved to Konar Province to fight 5, 000 guerrillas.

(March) Radio Kabul claims that Iran has sent 4, 000 troops in disguise across the border, along with 7, 000 Afghan dissidents, in order to unseat Taraki. Iran denies this. The Afghan government also accuses Pakistan of harboring and supporting the Mujahideen (as of course it is doing). A new all-Khalq cabinet is announced. Amin becomes Prime Minister, and thereby takes on responsibility for pacifying the countryside. Nuristani rebels commence operations. In Herat, rebels kill Soviet technicians and their wives and children.

(April) Bhutto is hanged in Pakistan.

(July) Guerrilla activity is reported in all twenty-eight provinces of Afghanistan. Amin asks Taraki to request increased Soviet military aid.

(August) Thirty Soviets are killed by Afghans in Kandahar. It is fair to say that Amin’s pacification of the countryside is not going swimmingly.

(September) Taraki meets with Brezhnev in Moscow. What they discuss is a secret. But shortly thereafter Taraki summons Amin to his office, and gunshots are heard.

(October) Taraki’s death is officially announced on Radio Kabul. The Soviets are silent. Amin releases some political prisoners, appoints a constitutional convention (here I must laugh), and launches major offensives against the Mujahideen in Paktiya and Badakhshan.

Christmas Day, 1979 The Soviets airlift troops and tanks into Kabul. Amin is liquidated, together with his family. Succeeding him is Mr. Babrak Karmal, a man for whom the Soviets have the warmest feelings.

1980–1989

In these hideous years the Soviets followed a principle of counterinsurgency set forth by Brigadier Frank Kitson. Borrowing an analogy from Mao, Kitson describes the insurgents as a fish, and the population is the water in which the fish swims. “If a fish has got to be destroyed it can be attacked directly by rod or net, providing it is in the sort of position which gives these methods a chance of success. But if rod and net cannot succeed by themselves it may be necessary to do something to the water which will force the fish into a position where it can be caught. Conceivably it might be necessary to kill the fish by polluting the water, but this is unlikely to be a desirable course of action.”^‖ The chaos of the invasion years gave way to a system of liquidation based on the establishment of zones of terror, which continued until the Soviet pullout.

Soviet deserters

describe atrocities

in Afghanistan

Mercury News Wire Service

LONDON — Two soldiers who deserted the Soviet army in Afghanistan … spoke publicly for the first time of atrocities committed by the Soviet army on unarmed civilians.

They said that entire villages of as many as 200 people were being massacred on the orders of senior Soviet commanders in regular sweeps of the mountains in search of Afghan rebel forces. In one village, Bazartcha near the town of Kandahar, where spent cartridges were found, all the men and boys were shot where they stood. The women were then herded into a house, into which the Soviet officer in charge, Lt. Vyacheslav Osdchi, threw grenades.

…[Igor] Rykov, an armored personnel carrier driver of the 70th motorized infantry brigade, described one incident in search of settlements around Nangarkhar in which a senior official ordered a young private to kill a 16-year-old Afghan boy with a knife.

Slaying

“Our lieutenant, 1st Lt. Anatoly Gevorkyan, ordered the members of our platoon to bring out a young Afghan boy, about 16 years old. He then ordered Pvt. Oleg Sotnik to kill him with a knife, saying: ‘Now then, Sotnik, here is the knife. Stick it into this young man. They tell me you are afraid of blood. You must get used to killing in cold blood, like I do.’ ”

When the private’s attempt was unsuccessful, the lieutenant cut the boy’s throat himself…

1988 In Pakistan, General Zia is killed in a mysterious plane crash.

1989 Soviet troops pull out of Afghanistan. Benazir Bhutto comes to power in Pakistan.

* Phil. Inv.; Ilxi, p. 223^e.

† Louis Dupree, Afghanistan, p. 92.

‡ Afghan calendar: 26th of Saratan, 1352.

§ “After the bloody coup of 7th of Saur, ” says a Jamiat-i-Islami publication, “… our dear country was falling in the mouth of social Imperialism dragon. Inferior slaves and country-selling elements have changed this country into a horrible prison.”

‖ Frank Kitson, Low-Intensity Operations: Subversion, Insurgency, Peace-keeping, p. 49.