The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

was short, without a moustache despite being an ethnic Pashtun, and a Khalq member since theparty’s inception. He was close to Taraki. Abdul Khayyum taught at the Pashtun Academy. He wasa specialist in the Pashto language and in the history of Afghanistan. He defended his dissertationat Moscow State University under the supervision of one of the most prominent Soviet scholars onAfghanistan, Professor Dvoryankov. Nurzai spoke Russian better than many Russians.Yura also knew that Natalya, who was a Jew from Odessa, was a formidable cook. That’swhy, without hesitation, he responded, “If it’s okay, we’ll come tomorrow.”“Yes, that’s fine—come at about five o’clock. Write our address down. Well, you have ouraddress.” Yuri had the address because Natalya recently visited him at the consulate to discusssome unpleasant issue.After he hung up, Yuri thought to himself, “why have they invited us over now, whereasthey never had before? Something is not right. I’m going to figure it out when I see them.”The next day Yura and his wife, having bought flowers, candy, vodka, champagne, and toysfor the children, came to the Nurzais in Mikrorayon.Smiling Abdul Khayyum opened the door. Their three-room apartment was filled with thefragrances of delicious foods. Abdul Khayyum hugged Yura and kissed him as if he’d just seen hislong-lost brother. They greeted each other, chatted with the children, who were happy to receivethe toys, and the dinner began. The theme of the conversation was the military coup.Yura avoided straight answers when Nurzai asked Yura what he was doing during themilitary assault. Instead, he raised many toasts and vodka began to flow. Nurzai understood Yura’stricks.Later, they started a conversation that was purely political. Abdul Khayyum explained howhe, a philologist who had never served in the army, received a note from Hafizullah Amin about132