Someone who justifies Soviet imperialism to the extent that this writer does has lost the right to call anyone irrelevant. Just as Hitchins cheerleading for US empire are dismissed, so should apologists for Soviet brutality. Given that, here's a couple of points.

RAWA is not a monarchist organization. "Support" of Zahir Shah was limited to the role of a possible stepping stone to democracy, something which was completely hopeless under the Taliban and the so called Northern Alliance. Such is the tragedy of Afghanistan that people look back to the time of Shah as being infinitely preferable to anything that followed in it's wake. From an article on Znet regarding the first post Bonn Loys Jirga:

"Just prior to the meeting, a group of delegates put together a "wish list" that "emphasized access to food, education, and health services in neglected rural areas" but above all else the delegates were united in "the urgency of reducing the power of warlords and establishing a truly representative government." Delegates Omar Zakhilwal and Adeena Niazi wrote, "The sentiment quickly grew into a grassroots movement supporting the former king, Zahir Shah, as head of state. The vast majority of us viewed him as the only leader with enough popular support and independence to stand up to the warlords." Upon arrival in Kabul, more than 800 loya jirga delegates (out of 1500) signed a petition supporting the nomination of the former king as head of state (Starr & Strmecki, NYT 14 Jun 02). But even allowing Zahir Shah to be nominated wasn't on the US agenda.

Soon after the start of the meetings it became apparent that the only true purpose of the Loya Jirga was to legitimize Hamid Karzai's interim government, and confirm him as President of Afghanistan. This was engineered by eliminating the former king as a possible competitor for head of state. According to a NYT op-ed piece by Frederick Starr and Martin Strmecki (14 Jun), "America's envoys pressed the king to withdraw himself from consideration, in effect pre-empting the loya jirga from selecting the nation's leader by itself." Then, before Zahir Shah could even make his own announcement, Zalmay Khalilzad, the US special envoy to Afghanistan told the press: "The former king is not a candidate for a position in the transitional authority. He endorses Chairman Karzai."1

In the Berkeley talk Ms. Saba spoke about what an undesirable character Zahir Shah was in response to a question from a pro-monarchist. It is easy for people in our safe California homes to critique this position of Zahir Shah being preferable to the Taliban et al onlyas a first step to try to get the ball rolling towards democracy, but people on the ground need more than just rhetoric.

Just as leftists and other pro - democracy forces agitated against the Shah of Iran, there were leftist and pro democracy forces involved in the resistance to the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan (People rising up against a foriegn occupying force, imagine that..) Sadly, unlike various factions of the Mujahideen (financed by the US, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia) these forces had no outside funding.

As far as the "progressive" PDPA (with a bit of background, although reading the entire article is recommended):

"In July 1973, the king's cousin, Daoud Khan, with the help of the Parchamis, staged a nearly bloodless coup, ousting King Zaher Shah. Having no more need of the Parchamis after gaining power, Daoud removed them from his government and began to distance himself from the Soviet Union. Under pressure from the Soviets, the Khalq and Parcham factions of the PDPA reunited in 1977. The assassination of a Parchami leader on April 17, 1978 provoked widespread protests to which Daoud responded by arresting the PDPA leadership. PDPA officers in the military then launched a coup, killing Daoud and seizing power.

Days later, Nur Mohammad Taraki became president of the newly proclaimed Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, and Babrak Karmal and Hafizullah Amin became deputy prime ministers. Prominent former political leaders were immediately arrested and executed. Within months, conflict again broke out between Khalq and Parcham, resulting in a purge of Parchamis from the government. Some, including Babrak Karmal, were exiled abroad as ambassadors, and others were arrested. Under Amin's direction, the government then launched a campaign of radical agrarian reform and mass repression that resulted in the arrest and execution of tens of thousands. Those targeted included former political figures, religious leaders, students and teachers, lawyers and other professionals, members of various ethnic groups, particularly the Hazaras, and members of Islamic political organizations. Subsequent governments have acknowledged that some 12,000 people were executed just in Pol-e Charkhi Prison in Kabul during this period; as many as 100,000 people may have been killed in the countryside.

The government's unprecedented and badly planned attempt to intervene in rural society by decree and terror, and the executions of Islamic leaders and members of key ethnic groups, provoked a number of uprisings across the country, to which the government responded with greater repression. The army, racked by mutinies and desertions, rapidly disintegrated. Alarmed by Amin's strong-armed tactics and the disintegration of the Afghan army, the Soviet Union apparently plotted in September 1979 to have Amin removed, but the plot failed and instead an embittered Amin assassinated Taraki and made himself president. Finally, on December 24, 1979, the Soviet Union airlifted thousands of troops into Kabul, and three days later a crack Soviet force assassinated Amin and installed Babrak Karmal as president.

The Soviet presence soon grew to some 115,000 troops, and all aspects of government quickly came under the supervision of Soviet advisers, including the state security agency, which was reorganized andplaced under the control of Dr. Najibullah. The invasion greatly expanded the resistance, which organized around the mujahidin parties based in Pakistan and Iran. Foreign support for the resistance increased after the Soviet invasion, with Pakistan, the U.S., Saudi Arabia, China and Iran playing leading roles. Massive aerial bombardments by Soviet forces in the countryside and repression in the cities swelled the flow of refugees, with some three million fleeing to Pakistan and another two million to Iran."

and

"Indiscriminate Attacks on Civilians by Afghan Government Forces

In the years following the Soviet invasion in December 1979, the shelling and aerial bombardment of rural villages and cities by government and Soviet forces32 was almost constant. The mass destruction caused by these bombing raids has been the primary cause of over one million civilian deaths during the course of the war and for the exodus of five million refugees from Afghanistan into Pakistan and Iran." 2

If that's progressive, save us from progressive politics.

notes: 1)Afghanistan: The First Puppet Regime in the Post Sept 11 World by James Ingalls

www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm

2)Human Rights Watch: Afghanistan
The Forgotten War: Human Rights Abuses and Violations of the Laws Of War Since the Soviet Withdrawal

www.hrw.org/reports/1991/afghanistan/