The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

“And the English-only Kabul Times is published for whom? For Afghan workers andpeasants?” remarked Starostin sarcastically.Dvoryankov didn’t have a chance to respond. There was a polite knock on the door.A young officer with a bushy moustache, who was an aide-de-camp of the head of state,invited the professor downstairs, where the car was waiting. Dvoryankov took an attachécase filled with gifts and went towards the door, handing Starostin the room key. BiddingDvoryankov farewell, Valery asked him to call as soon as he returned to the hotel.Nikolai Alexandrovich called around 10 a.m. the following morning. He was agitatedand told Valery that while he was returning to the hotel, Taraki’s car was involved in anaccident. Nobody was hurt, but it was suspected that the head of state was the object of aterrorist attack. The driver of the car that impacted Taraki’s limousine was arrested andunder investigation.Valery stopped by his residence to pick up some cold beer before continuing to thehotel. Dvoryankov was not alone in his hotel room. The professor was having a livelyconversation with his guests, including Nurzai, the president of the Academy of Sciences,and other Afghans who sat on the bed and chairs in the room. The Afghans were in obviousadmiration of the scholar, who was in his teaching mode trance. Valery thought that theylooked like sparrows sitting on bare branches of a wintery tree. They would utter fromtime to time in Pashto, “Ustaza! Ustaza! (Oh Teacher, Oh Teacher).”When Dvoryankov saw Valery, he told his visitors that he had to leave for theembassy right away. The guests filed out of the room. Starostin drove NikolaiAlexandrovich not to the embassy or to his home, but to Paghman. There, in the emptypark, designed by Italians in the early twentieth century during the rule of Amir Amanullah271