The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

Kalashnikov machine gun, began firing at the door lock. Sparks and shards of wood sprayedthrough the smoke. Another officer hit the door with a battering ram. Simultaneously, thesnipers, perched in the bank across from the hotel, opened fire. The door swayed open.Policemen directed a massive wall of fire from the entrance to the room and leapt inside.Tarun followed them, continuously shooting from his revolver.Having read the text, Volodya began to examine it closely, reading between the linesto get an idea of what the authors of the text had been told to convey in Dubs’s obituary.“His Excellence Adolph Dubs was murdered by enemies of the Afghan people. With regretsand grief, we received the news that yesterday, around 12:30 p.m., as a result of a shootoutthat was provoked by several terrorists—enemies of the Afghan people—His ExcellencyAdolph Dubs, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States ofAmerica in Kabul, was killed.”“Okay,” thought Khotyaev, “the ambassador had been killed, according to the text,shot ‘as a result of a shoot-out provoked by several terrorists.’ So, who killed theambassador? The terrorists or the security organs’ operatives? Whose bullets killed him? Itdoesn’t clarify this important point in the text, though it is essential. Further: ‘At about 9a.m., when His Excellency was en route from his residence to his work place, his car wasstopped not far from the American Cultural Center. Four terrorists dressed as transportpolice captured the ambassador and forced the driver to take them to Hotel Kabul. Armedterrorists forced the ambassador to enter the hotel with them, where they subsequentlykept him in one of the rooms.’“‘At about 9 a.m…’ The terrorists chose the right time,” thought Vladimir. “It wasrush hour in the city, and those who are responsible for security in the streets and in offices309