The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

esolution. He was now in control of the situation. As we were saying goodbye he told us, “Ifyou would like to see Comrade Taraki in the future, you should do it only through me,” hesmiled sarcastically as he looked right at us, “in order to avoid any misunderstanding betweenthe bodyguards.”Dmitry B. Rurikov, Second Secretary of the Soviet Embassy:Taraki was deeply shaken after the shoot-out. He looked pale. He must have decided thathis end was near.When I exited Taraki’s office into the corridor at the request of the ambassador, I felt athick curtain of gunpowder smoke. Tarun was lying on the stairs covered in blood. Taraki’ssecurity officer ran up to him, shook Taraki, and said, “They shot at us and we had torespond.”One important detail: judging by Tarun’s wounds, the submachine fire was so heavy thatAmin would not have been able to avoid getting hit had he been anywhere near the skirmish. Ithink Amin never went beyond the first floor so that he would remain out of the line of fire.When we returned to the embassy after visiting Amin, Alexander Mikhailovich Puzanov,who had never smoked before, lit a cigar in his office. He was shaken as well, but work is work.Using special communication channels, the ambassador contacted the minister of foreignaffairs and reported what had occurred. Gromyko immediately asked whether blood had beenshed. “Yes, it was,” responded the ambassador. “This is very bad,” said Gromyko.Abdul Karim Misak, Member of Politburo of the Central Committee of the PDPA,Minister of Finance:540