The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

13.07.2015 Views

Akhromeev, the deputy head of the General Staff, with a group of generals and laterthe first deputy minister of defense, Marshal Sokolov, was sent to Termez. There theformation of the 40th Army, a full-fledged war machine with a number of headquarters,reconnaissance centers, rear support services, and other infrastructure components, wasunderway.High-level KGB apparatchiks continued to arrive in Kabul. There were so many ofthem that the old guard—Ivanov, Bogdanov, and Osadchiy—began to grow indignant anddeeply frustrated. Not only did the new arrivals require housing, every general was tryingto introduce his own agenda, ideas, and needs. The atmosphere at the embassy grewincreasingly tense by the day.Bogdanov still nourished hopes that Amin would be eliminated without unnecessarynoise or fanfare, which would allow the USSR to avoid large-scale troop involvement.Bogdanov, Ivanov, and Kirpichenko spent a long time discussing various options forremoving Amin. Leonid Pavlovich remembered that in the summer, Soviet dentists treatedTaraki’s teeth, to the former head of state’s delight. He called Bakhturin.“Tell me, what is Amin’s dental situation? Does he have any problems? Perhaps hewould like to get dentures in our embassy’s clinic?”“I can look into it,” responded the security officer. An accompanying instructionfollowed.“Well, look into it, and ask our dentists about the possibility of planting a capsulewith poison into his tooth during the treatment.”Once again, they visited the scenario involving a sniper. Kryuchkov suggestedarranging an ambush in the mountain roads near the Tajbeg and opening fire on the704

general secretary’s motorcade with a combination of grenade launcher and sniper rifle.Specialists from the Eighth Department offered their creative means of elimination, butwhen they began to sort through the details of their proposals, one hundred percentsuccess could not be guaranteed, so they did not go anywhere.At some point, Boris Semyonovich Ivanov lost his temper. “I will go myself,” hesuggested to his astonished colleagues. “Give me an unmarried interpreter who is preparedto sacrifice his life to fulfill his mission. We will come up to Amin and bomb the three of usinto smithereens.”Certainly, the Center would never sanction this sort of plan, and General Ivanovhimself got carried away in those final days of endless reprimands from Moscow,acrimonious exchanges between colleagues, and total uncertainty.Certainty arrived on December 25, when, via a military bridge that had been builtacross the Amu Darya, the 108th Motor Rifle Division entered Afghan territory.Paratroopers of the 103rd Airborne Division were flown in simultaneously. Units of theFifth Motor Rifle Division left Kushka, headed towards Herat and Kandahar. Another motorrifle detachment and paratrooper assault brigade, as well as a number of other militarydetachments, began to advance on Afghanistan. The issue of uncertainty became moot. Thefull-scale assault became inevitable.Babrak Karmal and the other members of the future leadership were once again inBagram.On December 26, members of the Politburo Commission on Afghanistan, plusChernenko, convened at Zarechie, at Brezhnev’s dacha. The minister of defense debriefedthe group on the troops’ advance. Aside from an Il-76 heavy cargo plane flying705

Akhromeev, the deputy head of the General Staff, with a group of generals and laterthe first deputy minister of defense, Marshal Sokolov, was sent <strong>to</strong> Termez. <strong>The</strong>re theformation of the 40th Army, a full-fledged war machine with a number of headquarters,reconnaissance centers, rear support services, and other infrastructure components, wasunderway.High-level KGB apparatchiks continued <strong>to</strong> arrive in Kabul. <strong>The</strong>re were so many ofthem that the old guard—Ivanov, Bogdanov, and Osadchiy—began <strong>to</strong> grow indignant anddeeply frustrated. Not only did the new arrivals require housing, every general was trying<strong>to</strong> introduce his own agenda, ideas, and needs. <strong>The</strong> atmosphere at the embassy grewincreasingly tense by the day.Bogdanov still nourished hopes that Amin would be eliminated without unnecessarynoise or fanfare, which would allow the USSR <strong>to</strong> avoid large-scale troop involvement.Bogdanov, Ivanov, and Kirpichenko spent a long time discussing various options forremoving Amin. Leonid Pavlovich remembered that in the summer, Soviet dentists treatedTaraki’s teeth, <strong>to</strong> the former head of state’s delight. He called Bakhturin.“Tell me, what is Amin’s dental situation? Does he have any problems? Perhaps hewould like <strong>to</strong> get dentures in our embassy’s clinic?”“I can look in<strong>to</strong> it,” responded the security officer. An accompanying instructionfollowed.“Well, look in<strong>to</strong> it, and ask our dentists about the possibility of planting a capsulewith poison in<strong>to</strong> his <strong>to</strong>oth during the treatment.”Once again, they visited the scenario involving a sniper. Kryuchkov suggestedarranging an ambush in the mountain roads near the Tajbeg and opening fire on the704

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