The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

compact, they faced less difficulty with their containers. The three each received asubmachine gun and canteens filled with water, and were shown how to use the oxygentanks in case they needed them. Then the heavy boxes were nailed shut and loaded backinto the truck. To an uninformed observer they appeared to be just ordinary military cargocontainers. The Zenit officers sat on the side benches of the truck, each with a weapon andtwo sets of ammunition. The back opening into the cargo section of the truck was tightlysealed. The Zenit members who were leaving Kabul boarded the bus dressed in civilianclothing. They agreed that if the procession were to be stopped by Afghans, they wouldexplain that a group of specialists was returning to the Soviet Union and the truck wasthere to transport their service equipment and personal belongings. Three sedans drivenby KGB operatives accompanied the bus and truck at some distance for additionalprotection.Afghan security service cars joined the convoy as soon as it turned on to Darul Aman.The convoy managed to drive through the city without incident, but as they were leavingthe city, they were stopped at a checkpoint. Parked at the checkpoint was one of the carswith Afghan security service people who monitored the Soviet motorcade after itsdeparture from the villa.Dolmatov was the senior officer in the truck. After receiving a radio transmissionfrom the bus alerting him to the armed Afghan patrol headed directly towards the truck, hetold his group to be prepared to fight upon his command.Kurilov, sitting alongside the others on the bench, heard an Afghan officer approachthe truck driver and inquire about the truck’s cargo and destination. The driver’sinterpreter recited the previously agreed-upon story. The Afghan lieutenant then578