The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

was fresh in their minds. Only the close friends of the Starostins—the Vietnamese diplomatComrade Ko, his interpreter Lian, a Bulgarian named Nikolai Popov, and his wife Martina—remained. Valery announced that whoever stayed the longest would be proclaimed the bestfriend of the Soviet Union. Comrade Ko stayed for a long time, but ultimately said hisfarewells before the Bulgarian. Nikolai was very happy about this; now it would just be himand Valery sitting by the fire with whiskey.“You know, Valery, our ambassador thinks that Amin’s treacherous capture of poweris not in the interest of the Afghan revolution or the international socialist movement,” theBulgarian began carefully. “Besides, Taraki’s ouster cannot be considered fully legal. Whathappened in Kabul casts a shadow not only on Afghan communists, but on all socialistcountries as well. Valery, share your thoughts about this with me as a friend.”“Kolya, I will tell you sincerely, as a close friend. My thoughts are similar to those ofyour ambassador. I do not approve of the coup. I personally would not like to see the SovietUnion accept Amin as the head of the Afghan state. However, I think that there are veryserious reasons—much more serious than mere personal sympathies—why the Sovietleadership will continue to promote cooperation with the Afghan regime. These reasonsare conditioned by the objective geopolitical reality and the long-term interests of ourcountry in the Middle East. I am also certain that Afghanistan will be unable to developnormally, regardless of the regime, if it does not remain both economically and politicallylinked with us.”The Bulgarian took the conversation further. He turned out to be less simple than hemight have appeared.“If you’re planning on developing relations with Amin’s regime and don’t plan on571