The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

arranged meeting point for the emergency rendezvous with Mahmoud. When he arrived hesaw his agent wearing traditional Pashtun garb, stalking between the alleyways. Victorturned the headlights off and drove in the dark before stopping the car and unlocking thedoors. The agent quickly jumped into the back seat of the car. After the traditional Afghanwelcome and an apology for bothering his Soviet friend, he proceeded to explain theimportant reason for the clandestine meeting.By the time Victor brought the agent back home, a hot meal was served and waitingfor them in the guest room. A cold bottle of Stolichnaya stood sweating on the coffee table.Bubnov invited his guest to join him at the table. The agent sat down and put food on hisplate, but refused to drink the alcohol.“Thank you, Comrade Victor,” said Mahmoud, bowing with a hand on his heart, “Buttonight I must return to the open session of the Central Committee and the officers of ourfaction, ‘Khalq.’ This is no ordinary session; the destiny of Afghanistan will be determinedtonight. Whether or not there will be an armed uprising will be decided in this session.”“Uprising?” Victor asked as calmly as possible, raised eyebrows revealing hisconcern.“The goal of the uprising would be to oust the fascist regime of Mohammad Daoudand liberate our imprisoned comrades.”“And, so, what do you expect the participants of the session will decide to do?”“Most of them support an armed uprising, although a few are still uncertain,”answered Mahmoud. “They’ll probably end up with a majority. There’s been good workdone among the officers—members of Khalq—in the last twenty-four hours. We are almostcertain of receiving support from the Fourth Armored Brigade and the Bagram Airborne9