The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

years earlier, he was offered a position in the Eighth Department of PGU, which handled theMiddle East, Bogdanov agreed on the condition that he would not be sent to Afghanistan on a longtermassignment. Deputy Head of Intelligence Solomatin, who had interviewed him for the job,grinned with understanding. “Nobody wants to go into that shithole.” Solomatin liked to usestrong language, and was unparalleled among his peers in his verbosity. At the same time, therewere very few who could challenge him in his work in the field, namely in the recruitment of newagents. Andropov himself publicly named Solomatin the “intelligence genius.” That complimentled colleagues to believe that the general would surely become the next head of the PGU. Alas, the“intelligence genius” had turned out to be a poor player in the bureaucratic arena and wasdispatched by Kryuchkov as a resident overseas.Being stationed in Afghanistan was not a part of Colonel Bogdanov’s designs. It was not astep down, nor a step up. He thought he deserved a better appointment. He was very eager toattain the rank of general. His father was a general and an important figure in the border troops.Leonid Pavlovich himself started military service as a 10-year old-boy in the Suvorov militaryschool. He had an impeccable career, so why not be made a general?However, in the middle of the summer, he was invited for a meeting with a humanresources staff member.“So, Leonid Pavlovich, wouldn’t you like to contribute to the defense of the AprilRevolution?”“How would I do that?” inquired Bogdanov.“Comrade Taraki has asked us to assist him in organizing his country’s security services.We are going to form a corps of advisers there and the prevailing opinion is that you should be incharge.”204