The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

In the middle of October, military advisers Gorelov and Zaplatin received an order toreport to Minister of Defense Ustinov and the head of the Tenth Chief Directorate of theMinistry of Defense, Colonel General Zotov. That directorate was in charge of internationalmilitary cooperation. They informed the ambassador about the forthcoming trip, and thenboth of them met with Amin before flying to Moscow. Amin was in a good mood, told manyjokes, and asked about the details of the advisers’ prior military service over dinner. As hebid the advisers farewell, he asked, “What would you say if I wrote a personal letter toComrade Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev?”“That’s fine,” Gorelov responded for both generals.“And could I ask you to deliver this letter to Comrade Brezhnev?”The generals exchanged glances. Never before had a head of state asked them such afavor.“We can’t promise to deliver it to the general secretary personally,” respondedGorelov tentatively. “But we will certainly pass it along to those who can.”“Excellent,” said Amin with a smile. Then, addressing Zaplatin, he added,“Tomorrow, Comrade Iqbal will deliver the letter to the plane.”When the advisers left the People’s Palace, Gorelov became overwhelmed withdoubt. Did they do the right thing, having agreed to fulfill such a delicate task? Was there apossibility of negative repercussions for them? “Let me talk it over with the ambassadorjust in case, Vasily Petrovich,” said Gorelov.Although it was quite late, Puzanov received him immediately. As he did regularly insuch cases, he also invited the KGB representative. Bogdanov later recalled that havingascertained the situation, he thought that the letter surely contained a request to the Soviet606