The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

armored infantry vehicle on the morning of April 27. He, along with the crew of the vehicle,was moving towards the position assigned to them by the rebel headquarters. Suddenly, hisclose friend, the pilot Assadullah Sarwari, got in touch with him over the radio. Assadullahwas a giant whose face strikingly resembled the famous Soviet film director EldarRyazanov. Sarwari informed him that the commander of the helicopter squadron in Kabul,having learned about the military action against Daoud, lured all of the pilots into a hangarand locked them there. This was very bad news because a victory would be impossiblewithout air support.Assadullah Sarwari suggested that he and Gulabzoi go to the airfield together to freethe pilots and do whatever was necessary. However, military actions seldom go accordingto plan. A pair of Su-7B fighter jets suddenly appeared in the sky from the direction ofBagram and launched missiles at Gulabzoi’s armored vehicle. It remains unclear why thepilots from Bagram, who were all their friends, decided to fire at Gulabzoi’s group. Fourmembers of Gulabzoi’s crew were instantly killed in the attack, while he incurred seriouswounds to the abdomen. Sarwari rushed his friend to a military hospital, stormed into theoperating room with his Kalashnikov rifle, and barked at the doctors, “If he dies, I’ll shootall of you.”Once Sarwari was assured of Gulabzoi’s survival, he continued on his mission torescue the trapped pilots. When he arrived at the air force base, the commander of thesquadron took one look at him, stood up, left his office, and walked towards the runway. Heunderstood exactly what was ahead of him. He was doomed. Sarwari followed him. From adistance it might have seemed that the two pilots were just going for a walk. However, thestroll was cut short for one of them. Having walked away from the buildings, the47