A. Y. URNOV Doctor of Historical Sciences In January 1987, after meeting with Mikhail Gorbachev, Chairman of the Revolutionary Council of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA) Najibullah presented a program of measures to implement the national reconciliation policy. Opponents of the regime were invited to engage in a dialogue on the cessation of hostilities and the creation of"counties and provinces of peace." The final result of the settlement was to establish a multi-party system and coalition forms of government in the country. A truce was declared, amnesty and the unhindered return of refugees were promised. "We support the line of the Afghan leadership towards national reconciliation... It is up to the Afghan people to decide what path they will take and what kind of government they will have. This is its sovereign right, " Gorbachev wrote in his book on new thinking.1 As for Afghanistan's place in the system of international relations, we were now quite happy with its Finlandization. The USSR wants Afghanistan to be "an independent, sovereign, non-aligned state," Gorbachev wrote.2 This definition was later expanded to include not only non-aligned, but also"neutral" 3. Deputy Head of the International Department of the Central Committee of the CPSU G. M. Kornienko testifies that on the question of what Afghanistan should be like after us, there was a "wide range of opinions" in Moscow, but in principle there were two opposite points of view. According to E. A. Shevardnadze and V. A. Kryuchkov (who became chairman of the KGB in 1988), by taking measures to strengthen the government of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) before the withdrawal of Soviet troops and giving it a "margin of safety", we will create a situation in the country in which friends can secure a "leading role" in the new ruling coalition, although they will have to give up "full power". Kornienko considered this view "illusory" and " completely unrealistic." "The most w ... Read more