The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

freeing the ambassador was not a top priority to them at the time, as if something else,even more important and known only to them, was on their minds.But that was not the strangest thing that occurred on the morning of February 14 atKabul Hotel.It appeared that Major Tarun was not only leading the operation to free theambassador, but also was seeking a way out of the extremely sensitive, uncomfortablesituation that had evolved because of the morning incident. The Americans wouldfrequently lose sight of him, as he would disappear to meet often and privately with hisclosest advisers to explain something or to seek advice. Tarun tensed when Amstutz askedhim whether the Afghan leaders knew of the capture of the ambassador, and if so, whattheir reaction was. “I called Comrade Amin, but he is nowhere to be found,” the majorresponded, looking both embarrassed and incensed by this question.Meanwhile, what was happening at the hotel had turned into a separate reality,almost a mystical space like the one between life and death. Most prosaic were the juniorpolicemen, guerillas who were trained only to kill and destroy. They stared at the massiveoak door of Room 117 more and more frequently, as if assessing the options available tothem. They seemed not to believe that in their country, it was possible to take advantage ofclever tricks and sophisticated devices that were in possession of the special services ofother, more developed, countries. And seemingly, they were not that far away from thetruth.Tanks of gas that had been given as a gift to the Afghan police by the FederalRepublic of Germany during Daoud’s rule, or possibly even earlier than that, were broughtin. Hoses were attached to the tanks and the valves were opened. The tanks hissed. Then it303