The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

“I don’t have my own intelligence here; thus I am not signing the report, which hasnot been verified.”The meeting participants probably wondered what Pavlovsky had in mind, as theGRU was an outlet of the General Staff.Ivanov broke an awkward pause: “Fine, we shall send the cable only to the ForeignMinistry and the KGB. We will not send it to the Ministry of Defense.”The cable was sent. Kryuchkov called the next day. As Ivanov was out of the office,General Neshumov, who was in charge of border protection, took the call.“Tell me, Comrade Neshumov,” Kryuchkov spoke dryly, “Did General Pavlovskyknow about the cable that was sent yesterday?“Yes, Comrade Kryuchkov. He did.”“Thank you, Comrade Neshumov. Please tell Boris Semyonovich that Pavlovsky senthis own cable yesterday, in which he recommends against believing the rumors about theplot against Taraki, calls Amin a loyal friend of the Soviet Union, and recommends that wesupport Amin. Also tell Boris Semyonovich that Andropov and Ustinov, each havingreceived their cable, asked that it be distributed among the members of the Politburo. Doyou realize what happened? Two opposite messages arrived on the same day from Kabul,”said Kryuchkov with irritation. “Find out what is going on there and have Comrade Ivanovpresent his report to me by tonight.”***Hafizullah Amin, as the de facto head of its government, should have representedAfghanistan at the Havana session of the NAM Summit. However, since the summer, Aminhad applied a lot of pressure on Taraki for him to travel to Cuba as the new leader of the499