The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

they were still flying over Afghan territory. Sarwari burst into an angry rant: “How is itpossible to leave the motherland at such an important moment? I will be back,” he vowed.“I will be back to destroy that bastard. I will hang him personally.” His face grew red andsweat began to form on his brow. Valery got nervous. He didn’t want the Afghan to suffer astroke. He gave Sarwari a canteen with water and tried to calm him down, but Sarwaricontinued to curse Amin and make colorfully worded vows of vengeance. He was onlypacified when Glotov invited them for vodka with sausages and canned food.The Il-76 was met by two Soviet fighter jets as it approached the Soviet border. Thejets escorted the transport to the military airport Tuzel, near Tashkent.The Khalqis settled in as VIPs in one of the closed residences of the RepublicanCentral Committee of the CPSU in the capital of Uzbekistan. Their rooms were bugged withrecording equipment and all of their conversations were monitored around the clock untilthey left Tashkent. Colonel Ershov, who had known Sarwari for a long time, speciallyarrived from Moscow. He and Officer Kitaev questioned the Afghans about a variety ofissues. They were particularly interested in the situation within Amin’s immediate circle.Who was involved? Could the KGB establish secret contact with those who weredissatisfied with the way events had unfolded? At the same time, PGU bosses in Moscowwere negotiating with Bulgarian colleagues in search of an asylum for the three ministersin some discrete location on the Black Sea coast. On October 14, the Khalqis, accompaniedby Ershov and Kitaev, were flown on a chartered plane to Varna.So concludes the story of “the gang of four.” There remained one insignificant detail toaddress—the Toyota that had been parked in Starostin’s garage. On September 18, Ivanovinvited Osadchiy and Starostin for a meeting to discuss how to dispose of the car. Valery581