The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

again.”With a clear sense of relief, having locked the gate, Biryukov sat on the cool stone steps andlit a cigarette. Suddenly a helicopter flew right above the roof of his villa, circling the perimeter,then returned and hovered directly over his house. Leonid grew anxious, thinking, “they couldthrow a grenade and that would be the end of it.” The helicopter roared overhead for severalminutes before flying off towards the center of Kabul. Although it was still quite early, Biryukovwent to the embassy. Surprisingly, Puzanov was already in his office. The operative, confused andexhausted from lack of sleep, reported the night’s events to the ambassador. It turned out thatAlexander Mikhailovich had already been briefed about the incident.“Calm down, my friend,” he said in an uncharacteristically fatherly manner. “We alreadyinformed Moscow that Babrak Karmal and his comrades spent the night in the TASS office. All iswell. Now, go and report to your supervisor.”Having left the ambassador’s office, Biryukov began drafting a cable to the Center. He wrotea cable that was fifteen pages long and took it to Orlov-Morozov’s desk. The unperturbed deputyresident flipped through the pages.“Do you want to keep your job? You do? Then my advice to you is to tear up what you’vewritten and to forget about this little incident. Or allow me to destroy the text.”Orlov-Morozov knew all too well by then that such cables only caused irritation in Moscow.Karmal, who failed to obtain support from the Soviet ambassador, decided to have aconversation with Taraki instead. During his farewell visit to the head of state, he attempted towarn him of forthcoming danger. “Nothing will stop your ‘favorite pupil’ on his way todictatorship. He wants total control. Open your eyes.” In response, Taraki laughed in Babrak’s face,saying, “Your mind has been blinded by the insult. The truth is, Amin is prepared to give his life for188