Ministry of Information and Culture, contained no mention at all of
socialism or communism. However, Article 4 of the Fundamental
Principles did identify the PDPA as ‘the guiding and mobilising
force of society and state, reflecting the will and interests of work-
ers, peasants, the intelligentsia, all the toilers and national democrat-
ic forces, and a steadfast advocate of real interests of the entire
peoples living in our indivisible homeland, Afghanistan’, and one
might therefore argue that a key element of the Soviet model was
built into the principles, albeit without mentioning communism by
name. Few Afghans seem to have been fooled by the ruse. Instead,
the regime attempted to link itself to respected traditional symbols,
and to pursue a local variant of the classic ‘United Front’ strategy.
Symbolically, the regime attempted to depict itself as the
defender of the Islamic faith, of which the Fundamental Principles
spoke in glowing terms. A Ministry of Islamic Affairs and
Religious Endowments was established in March 1995, and sys-
tematic attempts were made to coopt prayer leaders to support the
regime (Lobato, 1985; Giustozzi, 2000: 57–64). However, these
efforts were largely fruitless: memories of the atheistic follies of
the regime after the April 1978 coup were too recent, the atheism
of the Soviets was notorious, and religious symbolism had been
effectively expropriated by the Mujahideen for the purposes of
resistance. The regime also sought to link itself to tribal tradition
by convoking a ‘Loya Jirgah’ in Kabul in April 1985. This bore
little resemblance to a genuine Loya Jirgah, since the participants
were kept isolated in two guest houses, prevented from mixing
with locals, and reportedly were paid to attend (Maley, 1987a:
718). However, it did provide a platform for Karmal to revive
another legitimating rhetoric, that of the Pushtunistan dispute, with
the claim that everyone ‘should know that we can never remain
indifferent regarding the destiny of the free tribes and our Pushtun
and Baluch brothers who exist under the ruthless boot of oppres-
sion and the cruelty of the militarist reactionaries of Pakistan’
(BBC Summary of World BroadcastsFE/7940/C/11, 2 May 1985).
This coincided with a concentrated effort to suborn Afridi tribes-
men in Pakistan, but with at best patchy success.
96 The Afghanistan Wars