The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

end of the year.”“It would be good if they came with pilots,” Taraki changed his tone.The marshal objected. “You need to train your pilots. Your officers study here; wecan expedite their graduation.”“Perhaps we should borrow helicopter pilots from Hanoi, or some other country—for example, Cuba?” Taraki would not give up.“Four hundred Afghan officers are studying here in the Soviet Union. You have thelist of their names. Select those you need and we will expedite their graduation,” Kosyginresponded harshly.The guest did not even consider surrendering his demands. “If we cannot find pilotsin Afghanistan,” he said thoughtfully, “then we will look for them in other countries. Theworld is big. We need loyal people. There are too many ‘Muslim brothers’ and Maoists withpro-Chinese sentiments among the Afghans who study in the USSR.”“One hundred and ninety Afghan officers, among whom there are sixteen pilots andthirteen helicopter pilots, are due to graduate this year in the Soviet Union,” Ustinovstruggled to suppress his irritation. “We can give you a list of graduates according to theirtraining through General Gorelov. Then you can select the people you need.”Kosygin further described in detail the military and economic assistance that theSoviet Union was prepared to provide the Afghans in the near future. He read through aninventory of different types of military vehicles, helicopters, and anti-aircraft units. Hereminded Taraki of the decision to allocate 100,000 tons of wheat, whereupon the Afghanleader asked for an additional 300,000 tons, as well as forbearance for repaying the credits.Kosygin reluctantly agreed to postpone the credit repayment. Marshal Ustinov noticed that383