The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

“Everybody is here,” Kurilov assured him. “The whole gang!”“Great!” laughed Sarwari. “Then victory will surely be ours. Death to bloody Amin!”Kurilov was about to return to his tent, but was suddenly approached by anunfamiliar special forces operative. The man was enormous, and armed to the teeth. Valerydidn’t yet know about the existence of the elite counterterrorism Group “A.” Theyintroduced themselves. It turned out that Valery’s new acquaintance was in charge ofsecurity for members of the future Afghan government.“Don’t approach them anymore,” he told Kurilov, nodding towards the Afghans.“Don’t tell anybody that you saw them. It’s important that we keep this a secret.”“So,” Kurilov concluded, “this means that we will advance on Kabul to overthrowAmin soon.”The next day, his assumptions were confirmed. At first, the Zenit fighters wereassigned to a fleet of armored vehicles of the Muslim Battalion, and were ordered toprepare to advance on Kabul. Then the commander of one of the Zenit units, YashaSemenov, came and said that he had been invited to the commander’s tent for a meeting.The participants of the meeting looked strange in the faintly lit tent. All of them, those whosat at the table of the “presidium” and the regular participants, were dressed in thesoldiers’ overcoats and hats. The bosses could be distinguished by the ribbons on theirepaulets. Sergeants’ signs signified that their carrier was actually a colonel. Almost all ofthem were unshaved, with shadows of fatigue on their faces. Commanders of the MuslimBattalion, Zenit, and paratrooper detachments all participated in the meeting.One of the unfamiliar parties, an older-looking man (Kurilov figured that he must bea general) gave a lecture on the topic of Hafizullah Amin’s character flaws, his alleged ties692