The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

General Gorelov was particularly concerned by the news that the rebels had alreadydelivered a blow to the Ministry of Defense. There were some twenty Soviet advisers andinterpreters working there. What had happened to them? Were they killed? Wounded? Itlater became clear that none of the Soviet specialists were injured, despite the great riskthey faced. Around noon, Soviet officers began to hear a peculiar thunderous rumblingfrom outside. At first they believed a column of heavy trucks was passing, but then as theycame up to their windows they saw a line of moving tanks, about a hundred of them,directly in front of the Ministry of Defense, approximately a hundred meters away from ArkPalace. Some were passing by, roaring loudly, on their way to Pashtunistan Square, whileothers stopped right there. Somebody asked apprehensively, “This is the way they domilitary drills down here, isn’t it?”“What kind of drills are you talking about?” some of the more experienced officersresponded. “Looks like it’ll get hot here soon, boys.”At noon a tank swiveled its heavy machine gun and began to fire upon thepresidential palace. Another tank turned its turret towards the Ministry of Defense andtook a direct shot. The tank was targeting the office of the head of the general staff, but bymistake the shell hit the chemical services room. Panic arose, the wounded were moaning,and soot and smoke began to fill the corridors. Soviet advisers ran out to the yard. The chiefof the General Staff, Abdullah Rokai, who was outside with the advisers, shouted only oneword in Russian, “Domoi!” (“Go home!”). He grabbed a passing interpreter to explain in Darithat there was a bus outside waiting to take the Soviet officers to Mikrorayon.The officers were evacuated safely, and by 2 p.m. the Defense Ministry had beencaptured by the rebels. Minister of Defense Ghulam Hayder Rasouli had left for the Eighth28