The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

Once, the professor and the future Afghan ruler traveled together to the Afghan-Pakistan border, to Pashtunistan. Nikolai Alexandrovich made a bet with Taraki for a bottleof top French cognac. Dvoryankov would pretend to be a Pashtun who had left his nativeland during childhood. Nikolai Alexandrovich claimed that nobody would be able touncover the truth. The professor had no problem upholding the linguistic aspect of his bet.However, he didn’t think through the legend of his origin sufficiently. He could not respondto Pashtuns’ inquiries about who was his great-great-grandfather, great-great-greatgrandfather,great-great-great-great-grandfather, his father, brother, uncle, second uncle,and so on. Every Afghan Pashtun could trace his paternal lineage back at least sevengenerations. Before long, the Pashtuns suspected that Dvoryankov was a foreigner.However, Taraki recognized Nikolai Alexandrovich’s victory in their wager, and they drankthe spoils together.Dvoryankov was a world-renowned professor and had authored many scholarlyworks. He had taught at Moscow State University and held the position of deputy chairmanof the Society of Soviet-Afghan Friendship. He was a smart, charming, and confident man,who had many friends in the Soviet government, mainly among his former students. It waseasy for him to open many doors in the Foreign Ministry and the Central Committee.When Taraki was just beginning his political career, it was Dvoryankov whoorganized invitations for his visits to the Soviet Union. The future leader of Afghanistan wasinvited by the Union of Writers and the Society of Soviet-Afghan Friendship. The professorused his connections to arrange free medical treatments for his Afghan friend in resorts inthe Caucasus, and to publish his writings in Azerbaijan. In short, Moscow learned aboutTaraki due to Dvoryankov.268