RASC News Agency: The communist governments led by Noor Mohammad Taraki and Hafizullah Amin, who were power-hungry puppets of the Soviet Union, unleashed a reign of terror in Afghanistan during the years 1978 and 1979. Under the pretext of combating criminals and counterrevolutionaries, they brutally tortured and buried alive thousands of Afghanistani people in the dusty hills of Pul-e-Charkhi, known as the “Polygon of Death.”
Noor Mohammad Taraki, born and raised in the Ghiljai Pashton tribe in Nawah district of Ghazni province, founded the Democratic People’s Party of Afghanistan in 1963 with direct support from the former Soviet Union. However, following internal rifts among its members, the party split in 1967 into two factions: Khalq, led by Noor Mohammad Taraki, and Parcham, led by Babrak Karmal. In 1977, under pressure from the Soviet Union, these two pro-Soviet factions reunited, and Noor Mohammad Taraki assumed the position of secretary general of the Marxist party. A year later, with the assistance of trained Soviet military units, he orchestrated the overthrow of the Republic of Daoud Khan and seized political power.
Upon coming to power in 1977, this ruthless Ghiljai leader established the notorious Desert Court to carry out mass killings of Afghanistani citizens who had been imprisoned during the oppressive rule of Daoud Khan due to their Islamic beliefs, religious convictions, and aspirations for Afghanistan’s freedom. The contemporary history of Afghanistan narrates the grim tales of Noor Mohammad Taraki’s killing grounds in the Polygon of Death, which depict a horrifying blend of torture, massacre, and burying alive of countless innocent human beings, leaving painful and heart-wrenching memories for every Afghanistani citizen.
These prisoners were snatched from their cells at night by Khad soldiers, under the watchful eyes of officials, and were buried alive in the area known as the Polygon of Death.
The investigation into some of the heinous crimes committed by Noor Mohammad Taraki and Hafizullah Amin, as reported by the Dutch government, reveals that around five thousand individuals were mercilessly buried alive in the Polygon of Death during the years 1977 and 1978 by AGSA, an acronym for the Intelligence and Information Department of the Democratic People’s Party of Afghanistan. The documentation, prepared by AGSA, provides details of the victims’ identities and crimes, labeling them as counterrevolutionaries, criminals, and troublemakers, among other things. It also continues to withhold information regarding the identities and positions of the victims in this intelligence organization. These victims were described as “workers, street vendors, students, and so on.”
The Afghanistani people, bearing the brunt of Taraki and Amin’s oppressive rule, launched movements and uprisings against the communist puppet governments throughout the country. The February uprising of 1979 by the people of Herat left the Russian-backed regime in deeply unsettled and fearful Until December 27th of that year, when the former Soviet Union launched a military invasion of Afghanistan, the Afghanistan government, led by Noor Mohammad Taraki, repeatedly appealed to the Russians for aid in supporting their military forces in Afghanistan and suppressing the people’s resistance, emphasizing the urgent nature of their needs. According to the history of Afghanistan, Noor Muhammad Taraki resorted to the Soviet trick after the bloody uprising of the Herat people, forcing the former Soviet Union to send military forces and attack Afghanistan, claiming that “four thousand Iranian military personnel have entered Herat in civilian clothes.”
Noor Muhammad Taraki, who had traveled to meet with Brezhnev, the then President of the Soviet Union, in August 1979, received a warning about his excessive violence and Hafizullah Amin from Brezhnev. The Russian authorities also expressed concern about Hafizullah Amin’s closeness to the Americans. However, Taraki gave the green light to the Russians to remove him, showing that he could permanently eliminate Hafizullah Amin from the political scene in Afghanistan. But Amin, who had learned about the political decision to eliminate him by Taraki in coordination with the former Soviet Union, seized political power by assassinating Taraki upon his arrival in Afghanistan.
Until the Russians eventually concluded that the pawn they had installed might have a tendency to communicate with the Americans, they also decided to remove him. After executing the plan to assassinate Hafizullah Amin, they replaced him with Babrak Karmal.
According to history, Hafizullah Amin, who had been poisoned by his Russian chef in the Tajbeg Palace in Kabul, shortly before the attack, was then tied with a rope in front of his spouse and children by Russian soldiers and his body wrapped in one of the palace rugs. They buried his corpse next to his palace without leaving any epitaph or sign on his grave. After the assassination of Hafizullah Amin, Babrak Karmal relied on the political power in Afghanistan by direct orders and support from the Russians. In his first radio address, which was broadcast from within the territory of the former Soviet Union, he confirmed the news of Hafizullah Amin’s assassination and his presence in Afghanistan, stating: “I, Babrak Karmal, on the occasion of the downfall of the oppressive regime and the fascist government of Amin, this treacherous spy of American imperialism and a ruthless dictator deceiving the people, extend my greetings and congratulations to you, the tormented patriots and oppressed Muslims of Afghanistan who have been under the yoke of the executioner and the bloodthirsty tyrant Hafizullah Amin and his followers throughout history.”
