Chapter 13: October 24, 1992. Dushanbe, Tajikistan. Summary and Analysis

Chapter 13: October 24, 1992. Dushanbe, Tajikistan.

Robert traveled from Kiev to Frankfurt and finally on to Dushanbe. After several days at a run-down hotel, Robert awoke to the sound of incoming artillery. Tajikistan was the poorest and most isolated republic in the former Soviet Union. In the three years after he left Paris, he had been assigned to Rabat, Morocco, where he was a deputy chief. It was a plum job in a thriving community. But it became boring and Robert asked for a more meaningful assignment. The Cold War was over and the CIA was told that it should no longer consider the KGB as an enemy. Tajikistan was a chaotic city where Islamic fundamentalism was taking hold and terrorism, drugs and nuclear-weaponry was part of the mix.

When the fighting broke out in Dushanbe, the...