Sarwari, Asadullah

A Tajik from the city of Ghazni, Asadullah Sarwari had been trained as a helicopter pilot in the Soviet Union. As a radical Khalqi, Sarwari was for action against the government of President Daoud even before it was overthrown. After the coup he headed the Intelligence Department, AGSA. For him, AGSA was an agency meant to suppress any person or any group that he considered to be antigovernment. He himself used to torture the accused. The Afghans dreaded no other Khalqi official as much as they dreaded Sarwari. Siding with President Taraki, he turned against First Minister Amin and hatched plots to do away with him. After his last plot failed on 14 September 1979, Sarwari, along with Gulabzoy and Watanjar, took refuge in the Soviet embassy. Later they served as guides for the invading Soviet army. Sarwari was afterward appointed vice president of the Revolutionary Council and deputy premier. Sarwari intended to overthrow the Parchami regime by a coup, but in June 1980, before his plan could reach fruition, he was sent to Mongolia as Afghan ambassador.