Top Secret Attachment, by KGB cipher Kabul

TO THE KGB REZIDENT

When you next meet K. Babrak and N. Taraki give them the following, referring to an assignment.

“In Moscow the results of the official friendly visit to the Soviet Union of the head of state and Prime Minister of the Republic of Afghanistan, Mohammed Daud, are being highly praised and are recorded in a joint Soviet-Afghan announcement published in the USSR and Afghanistan. It expressed confidence that this visit will make a great contribution to strengthening the relations of friendship and fruitful cooperation between our countries. The fact that the leader of republican Afghanistan paid his first visit abroad to Moscow, his northern neighbor, was noted with great satisfaction.

The direct participation of CC CPSU General Secretary L. I. Brezhnev, Chairman of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet N. V. Podgornyy, and Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers A. N. Kosygin in the talks with M. Daud and other Afghan government leaders, which were held in an atmosphere of cordiality, mutual understanding, and a high level of trust, was evidence of the great attention which Soviet leaders pay to the strengthening and expansion of friendly, good neighborly relations with the Republic of Afghanistan and raising these relations to a new, higher level.

A broad range of issues of bilateral relations and the international situation were discussed in the course of the talks.

The Soviet leaders, responding to the wishes of the Afghan side, announced that the Soviet Union, as before, will assist their southern neighbor in implementing the plans of the republican government directed at a further expansion and development of the national economy, and an increase in the prosperity and culture of the Afghan people. Agreement was achieved on a broad range of issues of bilateral cooperation raised by the Afghan side.

A commonality or closeness of the views of both sides on many of the most important issues was recognized when discussing international issues which Soviet leaders and the head of the Republic of Afghanistan noted with satisfaction.

It can be confidently stated that the results of the official friendly visit of M. Daud to the Soviet Union will exert a favorable influence on the further development and strengthening of the close friendship and fruitful cooperation between our two countries for the good of the Soviet and Afghan peoples and in the interests of world peace.

The expansion and strengthening of friendly Soviet-Afghan relations based on the principles of equality, mutual respect for sovereignty and independence, and non-interference in the internal affairs of one another will doubtless facilitate a further strengthening of the republican regime which was established in July of last year in Afghanistan. This will also aid the desire of the Afghan people and the leadership of the Republic to carry out social and economic reforms whose time has come and advance the country on the path of peace, creativity, and national and social progress.

It goes without saying that the tasks standing before the Republic of Afghanistan are very great and quite complex. “But they, as experience has shown, can be successfully solved”, declared the Chairman of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet, N. V. Podgornyy, on 5 June 1974 in a speech at a breakfast in the Kremlin in honor of M. Daud, “when the chosen course is firmly followed, and the broad masses are involved in the building of a new life, when forces which are genuinely interested in strengthening the new order operate actively and in solidarity”.

Tasks of enormous importance stand in front of the progressive forces of Afghanistan who are objectively loyal and reliable supporters of the republican regime. In conditions of constant struggle [against] domestic and foreign reactionaries who are trying to restore old regimes, the leaders of progressive organizations should cast present differences aside, since a continuation of internecine fighting among them only weakens them and essentially provides grist for the mill of reactionary forces.

The consolidation of the forces now joined in “Parcham” and “Khalq” in order to defend the interests of workers, peasants, and all the working sections of Afghan society based on cooperation with the republican regime and the government of the Republic headed by Mohammed Daud would be in accord with the interests of strengthening the national independence of the country”.

Acquaint the Soviet ambassador with the text of this telegram.

Report when this is done.


SPECIAL FOLDER
Top Secret
[Stamp: CC CPSU
1796
2June1974