The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

Starostin often would run into Frye at scientific conferences after that summer. Thelast time he saw the professor was about a year ago, at a seminar on Kush culture that tookplace in Kabul. Valery thought that it would be inappropriate not to invite the Americanscholar to his house. Frye happily accepted the invitation. However, the following day,during a break between seminar sessions, he approached Valery and, expressing greatdisappointment, declined. Frye explained that, following State Department rules, he hadinformed the security officer at the embassy about his plans to visit Valery. The officerstrongly encouraged Frye to forget about the invitation and avoid future personal contactwith the Soviets.“Perhaps these warnings dissuaded Frye from ‘recording’ his relationship with meby signing his book,” thought Starostin, “but remembering our past interactions, hecontinued to think warmly of me.”“So, what’s the esteemed Professor Frye’s opinion regarding the future relationshipbetween the United States and Afghanistan in connection with the April Revolution?”Frye’s opinion was of great interest to Starostin because of his position as theforemost U.S. scholar of Central Asia, as well as a political adviser to the White House. As anadviser, he could, to some degree, influence the decisions of the U.S. president and hisadministration.“I knew you would ask me this question,” grinned the Anarchist. “Do you really thinkthat I came to Frye and asked him, ‘Dear Uncle Sam, * what do you know about this issuewhich is so important to our Russian friend?’ I certainly couldn’t have had such a* Richard Frye wore a goatee at the time, perhaps modeling his appearance after Uncle Sam’s famouscountenance.214