The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

een taken.It was past midnight when Taraki arrived at the guest residence in Lenin Hills. Hewas exhausted and eager to go to bed. The time difference between Havana and Moscowwas eight hours. Immediately upon his arrival in Moscow he had felt compelled to speak tothe Afghan students who were studying in the USSR. Then he had the intense meeting inthe Kremlin. On the way to the bedroom, in a corridor of the residence, Tarakiunexpectedly walked into his old acquaintance Alexei Petrov, whose official position inKabul was a TASS correspondent. They embraced and Taraki invited Alexei to have a drink.Petrov obliged, as he had a good reason to be at the residence at that late hour.The PGU leaders were not at all certain that Taraki would actually understand thegravity of the warning delivered by Brezhnev. So in order to ensure that Taraki got it,Petrov, who had a close relationship with Taraki, was sent over to the guest residence.Alexei spoke Dari fluently, so they could have a one-on-one conversation.When they had settled at the table in the dining room and the waiter had servedthem drinks, Alexei asked Taraki about his impression of the meeting with Brezhnev.“It was a very good meeting,” Taraki replied enthusiastically. “Leonid Ilyich and FidelCastro are true revolutionaries!”Then Alexei carefully inquired: “How did you perceive Leonid Ilyich's message thatnobody else but you should have an exclusive position in the leadership of the country?”Taraki took a minute to think. Then he had some whiskey and said to Petrov: “You knowabout jet lag after several long flights. I slept very little, felt very tired, and did notunderstand everything that Leonid Ilyich said to me. But he promised to send me detailednotes of the conversation.”507