The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

those meetings, he would invite people to have dinner either at his home or at a cozyrestaurant.On Thursday, February 15, Starostin decided to see the Anarchist. In the morning,from a telephone booth, he called the hotel room where the American was staying.Introducing himself as Jimmy Carter, Valery said that it would be a good idea to visit a“good old teacher.” By that, Starostin hinted that he planned to bring along a bottle ofTeacher’s whiskey.At 6:50 p.m., Starostin arrived at the area where the meeting was scheduled to takeplace. He parked his car by a nearby movie theater and walked through a park to the alleywhere he was to meet the Anarchist. Although the temperature had dropped by theevening, the air already carried hints of a fragrant early spring in Kabul.A tall figure emerged from the opposite side of the alley. The Anarchist was dressedin a dark green jacket, bell-bottom jeans, rubber boots, and his customary fedora. Therewas nothing unusual in his gait or his untidy appearance. The two greeted each other and,smiling, entered a small restaurant. Starostin reached into a plastic bag for the whiskey andagreed on a corkage fee with the waiter. They ordered little food, but made sure to samplethe oshak that was the trademark dish of that particular restaurant.Starostin expressed his condolences to the Anarchist in regards to the U.S.ambassador’s death. Then, recalling the sophisticated English words that he had looked upin advance, he began to talk about terrorism. It was the greatest evil of the time, and causedgrief in all countries, regardless of their socio-political order, including the Soviet Unionand the rest of the world community…but the Anarchist didn’t allow him to finish thephrase.317