The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

describing what had transpired in Hotel Kabul. The Moscow bureaucrat listened to thecolonel’s account of Tarun’s decision to disengage him from the operation (“A direct orderthat had been issued in a most offensive manner”) skeptically.“Who can confirm this claim?” he asked Kliushnikov.“I have proof,” responded the colonel quietly, “and I will be happy to give it to you ata later point in time.”He then described the final moments of the operation, when the Kabul police raidedthe room where the ambassador was being held. According to the colonel’s account, aSoviet adviser was indeed participating in the operation at that stage, though it was not thecolonel himself, but a major from the Ninth Directorate, an adviser on issues related to thesecurity of the DRA leadership. The major was dressed in a similar black raincoat and wassimilar in height to Kliushnikov, which accounted for the subsequent confusion.During the raid, Kutepov was on the balcony of the adjacent room and gave signalsto the snipers waiting across the street in the bank. It was he, according to Kliushnikov,who later prohibited staff members of the American embassy from entering the roomwhere Dubs’s body was located.Having finished his story, Kliushnikov handed over a tape cassette to theinvestigator from Moscow.“Here is my proof,” he said.They listened to the cassette that had recorded the colonel’s angry monologue in thehall after Tarun had ordered the Soviet advisers “not to meddle in the domestic affairs ofAfghanistan.” It became clear from the recording that Kliushnikov was cut out of theoperation and was in strong disagreement with the proposed plan. The tape was given to324