The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

ecame a colony of Britain. Afghan troops led by the national heroes from this particulartribe successfully defeated the Brits in three wars. And here appears some unknown Ghilzaifrom the Taraki tribe and announces that the descendants of the nation’s leaders aretraitors? And he goes and confiscates their property? What do you suppose other Afghansthink about that?”Dvoryankov was thinking, furrowing his brow.“After that second decree was issued,” continued Starostin, “the belongings of thefamilies of King Zahir Shah and President Daoud were pawned off. Tamara and I went tothe auction. A hand-woven carpet with a portrait of the former president of Afghanistanthat had been given to him as a sign of love and respect by residents of either Baghlan orMazar-i-Sharif was spread in front of the entrance. The exhibition’s organizers thoughtthat, entering the pavilion, every visitor should step and wipe their dirty feet on Daoud’sface. I don’t understand—from where does the desire to defile images of defeated enemiesarise? As far as I know, this is not representative of Afghan culture. We certainly did notstep on that carpet, and many Afghans had similar reservations.“There were different things exhibited there: clothes, footwear, dishes, jewelry. Mostof the pieces were cheap and old. It was a very sad sight. All of the visitors, includingAfghans and foreigners, were surprised at how modest the members of the Afghanmonarchal clan were. I met my old American friend Lenox, a CIA operative, at the sale. Heasked me if I bought anything. I showed him a pajama top that Mohammad Daoudsupposedly wore upon returning home from work. I paid close to nothing for it, still morethan it was worth. The item was of interest for me only as a souvenir. Lenox showed metwo small silver rings with lapis lazuli and a coffee cup made of Lomonosov porcelain from276