Politburo Commission on Afghanistan

Establishment and mandate

On 18 March 1979 the CPSU Central Committee established a Politburo commission on Afghanistan for interdepartmental coordination, rapid decisions and proposals to the Politburo. Its initial members were Suslov, Gromyko, Ustinov, Andropov, Ponomarev and Arkhipov.[P23]

The Herat uprising and the refusal to intervene

During the March 1979 Herat uprising the Afghan leadership made the first of some twenty requests for direct Soviet military intervention.[P23] The commission reported to the Politburo that the negative consequences of direct Soviet intervention were obvious, and the request was refused.[P23] At the Politburo session of 19 March Brezhnev said that becoming entangled in Afghanistan would harm both the USSR and, above all, the Afghans themselves.[P24][P25] Despite the commission's opposition to intervention, the USSR strengthened its forces near the border, and on Ustinov's order preparation began to airlift the 103rd Guards Airborne Division. The number of Soviet advisers, including military ones, rose from 409 in January to 4,500 by the end of June.[P26]

Recommendation to intervene and the December decision

After Amin removed and killed Taraki in September 1979, Soviet leaders received a report dated 29 October, signed by Gromyko, Andropov, Ustinov and Ponomarev, recommending a limited Soviet military contingent.[P4] That report became the basis of the December decision.[P2][P3] At the Politburo session of 12 December the proposals of Andropov, Ustinov and Gromyko were approved and the implementation of the measures was assigned to the same three men.[P41][P43][P44] Some historians, relying on Brezhnev's diary and those of his secretaries, suggest that the Politburo did not meet on 12 December and that the decision was approved backdated on 13 December.[P45]

Collective leadership and resistance

A survey in a Japanese academic journal describes the commission as a body that collected information on Afghanistan, adjusted policy and submitted proposals to the Politburo, and considers that it acquired an expanded role under the collective leadership of the Brezhnev period. It also notes that many members were elderly and that the Defence Ministry, the Foreign Ministry, the KGB and the party's International Department were represented.[P6] In 1979 Kosygin was the only Politburo member who did not support sending troops, and the issue caused a complete rift between him and Brezhnev and his circle. Chief of the General Staff Ogarkov argued against the deployment in sharp disputes with Ustinov; Akhromeyev, Varennikov, Primakov and Bogomolov also opposed it.[P46][P47]

During the war and after 1980

A report dated 17 November 1979, held by the US National Security Archive, calls the body the 'Special Commission of the Politburo on Afghanistan' and names its core group as Andropov, Gromyko, Ustinov and Ponomarev.[P5] Joint reports in the name of these four ran from about April to December 1979, and the commission continued to report and advise on Afghanistan into 1980.[P7] On 24 December Ustinov signed directive No. 312/12/001 on the entry of limited Soviet contingents into Afghan territory.[P8]