The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

differs from the way they think as individuals. When together, they are ruled by instinctsthat are different than individual instincts.”“What do you know about the terrorists who killed Dubs?” asked Starostin directly.“You stated the question incorrectly. The terrorists who killed Dubs do not exist.You know as well as I do that the ambassador was killed by policemen—disgusting, dumb,evil, uneducated Afghan policemen. Or, perhaps the opposite—very smart, intelligentpolicemen, who managed to outwit us, intelligent Americans, and you, intelligent Russians.”The Anarchist deliberately repeated the word “intelligent” a number of times, as if teasinghis interlocutor. “And it is all because they turned out to be freer than us. They didn’t playby the rules that we know.”“What do you mean? Are you trying to say that this was all some game?”“Maybe I am. Do you know what ‘covert action’ means?”Starostin pretended to hesitate, trying to conceal his knowledge of intelligenceterminology.“These are secret operations,” said the Anarchist in Russian, loud and clear.“Are you implying that this was a covert operation of the special services?” askedStarostin. “The U.S. special services or Afghan special services?”“Why not,” continued the Anarchist in English. “Why not consider what happened tobe a failed covert operation, or a covert operation with unexpectedly high costs? Why notconsider this incident as an act of a huge spectacle played out by certain forces inAfghanistan?”“And the purpose of this play?” asked Starostin, adopting the theatrical metaphor.320