The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

“No, thank you. I’d rather she go to the embassy on foot. It isn’t so far, only eighthundred meters or so. That way we would attract less attention from the neighbors and thechowkidar.”As Starostin was leaving the deputy resident’s office, he was nearly knocked off hisfeet by an encryption officer who was sprinting to pick up the cables that were to be sent tothe Center.***At about 8 p.m. on that very day, the customary group of Soviet representativesvisited Amin. He appeared calm and confident as he shared the details surrounding Tarun’sdeath. According to Amin’s explanation, Tarun had been the victim of an attempt on Amin’slife. He claimed that the guards shot over a hundred rounds. He claimed he had beenwarned of just such an ambush. Only two days earlier he had been the target of an ambushat the airport during Taraki’s arrival from Moscow. It is possible that at that time ComradeTaraki didn’t want to have Amin assassinated in plain view of his Soviet allies. However, itis possible that he forgot to withdraw the order that he had made, and the guards hadbegun to fire upon Amin. According to Amin, the fact that he had purposefully laggedbehind Tarun as he ascended to the second floor had saved his life. When the shootingbegan, he bent over, quickly ran downstairs, grabbed his wounded assistant Vazir, and ranto the car.What could the Soviet comrades say? They once again expressed their deepcondolences, appealed to Amin’s common sense, and called for preservation of party unity.Those had been their instructions, but what sort of unity was there to preserve now? Aminwas clear in his response that from that day on, he would be the commander-in-chief of the550