The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

have consulted on whom to send there with the minister of defense, and we picked you as ourcandidate. What do you think?”General Zaplatin thought for a second to ask for his wife’s consent, but upon looking atEpishev bulldog-like expression, he felt his reply should be immediate. He had no choice. “Thankyou for your trust in me. I will do my best,” he proclaimed.“OK,” softened Epishev. He picked up the phone and said, “Boris Nikolayevich, we havefound an adviser for the military-political directorate. General Zaplatin, a very experiencedpolitical officer, has great overall characteristics. Will you accept him?” After the conversation wasover, he told Zaplatin: “Go to the Central Party Committee to meet with the secretary ofinternational affairs, Ponomaryov. He’ll instruct you further. You should leave for Kabul withintwo days.”Having left Epishev, Vasily Petrovich realized with horror that he didn’t know anythingabout Afghanistan. He had heard by chance of the revolution, but was not interested in it in theslightest. Revolutions and coups happened all the time, why should this one be special? Never inhis life had he thought that he might someday find himself in Kabul. Now he had to go to theCentral Committee to talk with high officials and respond to their questions. He should at least findout some basic facts about this revolution in Afghanistan. Surely there would be some news in thestacks of Pravda at the political directorate of the armed forces. Zaplatin, as a good militarypolitical officer, knew that one could find an answer to any political question in Pravda.Soon he was scanning the pages of the main Soviet newspaper for information on Kabul. Hefound a tiny article titled “Message of Kabul Radio.” It reported that a military coup had takenplace in Afghanistan, and that authority in the country had been transferred to the MilitaryRevolutionary Council. Zaplatin thought, “isn’t it strange that this note has arrived from London,139