The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

no idea that some destructive political forces were evolving within Afghan society.Gorelov and his people had their work cut out for them. While the Afghani militarycould march well at parades, their professional training and mastery of modern weaponryand tactics appeared weak. Soviet advisors had to start with the basics, making theiradvisees study textbooks and learn during various military exercises in the field. Besidestraining, the Soviet advisors had to address the routine living conditions of the troops.Soviet officers arriving in Afghanistan were shocked to discover that there were not evenbasic barracks in the Afghan army. Soldiers slept either on the floor or on the ground,cooked food by fire, and ate whatever they could get their hands on. Physical abuse waswidespread, as officers had no qualms about beating up their subordinates. Junior officersthemselves were prey to beatings by colonels and generals.Two months earlier, Gorelov had been promoted to the rank of lieutenant general.He invited the most esteemed Afghan military leaders to celebrate his promotion. Out ofrespect to local Afghan customs, which prohibited consumption of alcohol, dinner wasserved in one room and in the next room there stood the table with alcoholic drinks. Bythat time, Gorelov knew that despite the prohibition, his Afghan colleagues wouldn’t mindquietly downing a drink or two, just as long as there were no witnesses. They would go intothe adjacent room one by one and come back to the table laden with food, looking verypleased.The traditional “trade-union” meeting at the embassy was scheduled for April 19.This “trade-union” was a label used for meetings of Soviet Communist Party membersworking at the Soviet embassy in Afghanistan. Military advisers filled up two buses headingto the embassy from Mikrorayon. Gorelov and his deputies drove a Volga to Darul Aman22