The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

Valery’s chief at the time was a very intelligent and severe man. His name was VladimirAlexandrovich Sobolev. He had been a fighter jet pilot in World War II and had been seriouslywounded during the war. Having become a member of the political intelligence unit of the KGB, hebecame famous for several glorious exploits, namely the uncovering of double agents in Tehranand the crucial recruitment of new agents among the archenemies: America and Britain. Britishintelligence operatives in Cairo once beat Sobolev cruelly, which was against the unwritten rulesof intelligence ethics.Vladimir Alexandrovich was fluent in English, liked to write poetry in French, and solvedcrossword puzzles in Persian. He was an intellectual of the highest caliber. He collected stampsand rare silver coins.From the very first day, Valery felt deep respect towards his chief. Sobolev was strict. Hedemanded that his underling constantly improve himself by studying his assigned tasks. Hewanted Valery to respond immediately and precisely to all of his inquiries, such as where, in whichdossier, index number, and page could he find information pertaining to a specific person or issue.Gradually, due to his natural talents and Vladimir Alexandrovich’s supervision, Valery memorizeddocuments from all the dossiers placed in the Afghan safe, learned the history of Sovietintelligence in Afghanistan, and became an expert in Soviet-Afghan relations.When Starostin arrived in Afghanistan in 1975, then-Resident Ivan Ershov insisted thatValery not only fulfill his duties as a KGB operative, but also take care of the financial affairs andfinancial reporting to the Center in the KGB Kabul Residency. Valery loathed this sort of work, theabstract multiplication, addition, and subtraction of numbers. His work as an accountant revealedall of the attempts to embezzle funds that operatives would often engage in.Valery knew Orlov-Morozov from the first years of his work in the Center. He liked and93