The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

intervention in Afghanistan. Ustinov received Zaplatin then, having just returned from aPolitburo meeting.In those December days, Zaplatin was kicked from office to office, first sent toOdessa, then to L’vov, under the pretext of studying the moods of the Afghans who hadbeen trained in Soviet military schools. Once, in the corridor of the ministry, he bumpedinto the very same general who had lied to him about his daughter over the phone. Thegeneral was embarrassed. “It wasn’t my idea,” he said. “My bosses told me what to say and Isaid it, verbatim.”Zaplatin never returned to Kabul. The rumor in the Afghan capital among theadvisers was that Vasily Petrovich had been expelled from the Communist Party andretired from the army. That was untrue. He served for a long time in the Soviet Union, butwithout any hope of advancing his career.***Fikryat Ahmetjanovich Tabeyev was appointed as the Soviet ambassador toAfghanistan. There was an understandable degree of excitement in anticipation of hisarrival in Kabul. The appearance of a new ambassador is always an important milestone inthe life of any diplomatic mission. All “clean” diplomats, particularly the senior ones, werepreparing for Tabeyev’s arrival. Both residents and the KGB representative werestrategizing how best to construct their relationship with the new ambassador, specifyingwhat they ought to share with him and what they should keep to themselves. Particularlyanxious were the accountant, the property manager, the cook, and the gardener. Theywanted to know how deeply Tabeyev got involved in financial and business affairs, whatsort of food he liked, and what his attitude might be regarding the vegetable garden, with646