Zugzwang of Ober lieutenant Bruno Thevs. Story

Separated from the III part of the novel «IN THE CIRCILE OF KUNDUZ» - M .: De'Libri, 2020. - 394 p. ISBN 978-5-4491-0575-2 D21 UDC 82-311.6 BBK 84 (4Ros = Rus) 6-44

ANNOTATION

This is a story about a young oberleutenant of the special operations forces KSK Bundeswehr Bruno Thevs who served in the intelligence anti-terrorist unit TF-47 (TASK FORCE 47) of the United Western Coalition Forces ISAF in Afghanistan, who left in infancy with a widowed mother from Kazakhstan (USSR) to Germany for permanent location. When Bruno Thevs grows up, becomes a military man, he will achieve rotation in Afghanistan. There, by the will of fate, under exceptional circumstances, he will face a mujahideen who killed in a battle in June 1986 his father, a soldier of the Limited contingent of Soviet troops Konstantin Thevs (Kostyan). But Bruno's losses on Afghan soil will not end there. He will be able to survive the badness by returning to his origins in Russia, where he will find the surviving fighting friends of his father. The resonant events described in the story with the excessive use of military force by the united ISAF group, which entailed large casualties among the civilian population, took place in real life during the air strikes:
- on the residents of the Umar-Kheil village accumulated by German fuel trucks - 4.09.2009;
- on the madrasah of the village of Daftani with the mass death of children-hafiz reciters of the Koran from 8 to 14 years old - 04/02/2018;
- on the hospital of the international humanitarian mission "DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS" and a large number of peaceful Afghans and doctors in the city of Kunduz - 3.10.2015, the capital of the northeastern province of the same name.
The prototype of Der Spiegel correspondent Otto Greenberg, who was investigating the inhuman actions of the ISAF, was kidnapped by the Taliban American New York Times journalist Stephen Farrell, and his translator Sultan Muhadi, who died during their release from Taliban captivity, was an Afghan named Sultan Munadi (Sultan Munadi).


ZUGZWANG OBERLEUTENANT BRUNO THEVS


Zugzwang is a chess term meaning coercion into a destructive move.

KALVE,
KARLSRUHE DISTRICT.
LAND BADEN WYURTEMBERG.
SOUTH-WEST FRG

Count Zeppelin's castle. Special Operations Forces Center "KSK" Kommando Spezialkrafte, Bundeswehr. A room in a bunker - its walls are painted in an achromatic color, round shades shine dimly, a Gesella spy glass is mounted in one of the walls. In the center of an empty room sits an exhausted young man with ten days of stubble. His hands are handcuffed to the seat of a chair. He did not sleep at night. The day before, he made a weekly 160-kilometer march through a swampy area, and then for many hours was subjected to alternate exposure to external stimuli - blinded by the light of a powerful searchlight, cooled by the pressure of icy water and stunned by a rock and roll sound. The test was monitored from the examination room by a committee of KSK direction managers. Suddenly, the head of the KSK, Brigadier General Markus Neumann, entered the observation room. Seeing the chief, the officers stood up. He nodded his head in greeting and, with a wave of his hand, offered to sit down.
- Well, how is he ?! - asked Neumann, at the personnel officer of KSK Oberst (Colonel) Kurt Vollmer, without taking his eyes off what was happening behind the glass.
- He’s holding up well, Mr. Brigadier General.
- Read his file to me, Vollmer, - ordered Neumann.
- Yes, Mr. Brigadier General, - Vollmer replied.
Bruno Thevs born in 1985. He arrived in Germany in 1989 from Kazakhstan, the USSR, the city of Dzhambul, at the age of 4, together with his mother and numerous relatives under the Federal Law on Displaced Persons  -Bundesvertriebenengesetz (BVFG). The family settled in Freiburg. He graduated with honors from high school, purposefully prepared for service in the Army. He is fluent in Russian and English. Family members: father - Konstantin Thevs, born in 1966, Volga German, died in Afghanistan on June 17, 1986 in the Khost-Va-Fereng region of Baghlan province. Mother, also a Volga German woman, Rosa Thevs, a widow. Lives in Freiburg, art critic.
Military service: at the end of school, he served in the 26th Airborne Brigade in the 263rd Airborne Battalion in the city of Zweibrucken, Rhineland-Palatinate. From there, Chief-Staff-Corporal Thevs entered the Higher Officers' School. In 2008, he received the military specialty of an army intelligence officer and the rank of oberleutenant. In the same year he was selected to the KSK, served as a group commander in the division of the rapid reaction forces in Stadtallendorf. The rank of oberleutenant was awarded ahead of schedule. Sportsman, winner of the Bundeswehr in boxing. In early January 2009, he turned to the KSK command with a request to send him for further service to the Task Force-47 operational group as part of the united forces of the western ISAF coalition in Afghanistan.
- What are the opinions? Neumann asked.
- In all disciplines and stages of the passed tests, oberleutenant Bruno Thevs was certified with the highest points, Mr. Brigadier General, - Vollmer brought up, - the level of professional training gives reason to consider him one of the best novice army intelligence officers in the Bundeswehr and recommend him for rotation to Afghanistan.
- I agree with you Kurt! - concluded Neumann and signed the castling document.

MAZAR-I-SHARIF,
AFGHANISTAN.
BUNDESWEHR AIR BASE,
THE HEADQUARTERS OF THE REGIONAL COMMAND OF THE ZONE "NORTH"
OF THE JOINT FORCES OF THE WESTERN COALITION ISAF

The military transport aircraft "С.160D Transall" has landed on the runway, a tall, athletic build, light-haired young oberleutenant in a gainsborough dress uniform came out of the ramp. His name is Bruno Thevs. Afghanistan met Bruno with clear sunny weather + 38C. After completing registration at the headquarters of the "North" zone, Bruno was to arrive at his place of future service in Task Force-47 - a secret intelligence anti-terrorist unit of the Bundeswehr in the city of Kunduz. Waiting for the arrival of the helicopter, he settled down in a chair in the airfield hall, took out a book and began to read.

APRIL 14, 1929. SOVIET-AFGHAN BORDER

The warm April night of + 17C was expiring, a light breath of breeze was felt and the noise of the river flow was heard. In the Jurassic of the northern bank of the border river Amu Darya, two hours before the day, there was a formation of a special detachment of the Red Army of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army, disguised in an Afghan military uniform. Its commander, corps commander Vitaly Primakov, with the call sign "Vitmar", read out a combat order to infiltrate the adjacent Afghan territory to carry out a responsible government mission. Meanwhile, the advance group of the detachment had already overcome the water barrier and, silently removing the Afghan border outpost, provided the conditions for the transfer of the main forces "across the river": two thousand Red Army soldiers from among - Russians, Cossacks, Uzbeks, Turkmens, Tajiks, Kazakhs, Kirghiz , Uighurs of the cavalry and mountain infantry regiments, the horse-mountain artillery division. All of them are from the national units of the Central Asian Military District SAVO.
The special detachment was armed with 4 mountain guns, 12 easel and 12 light machine guns, a powerful mobile radio station and a sufficient supply of provisions. The commanders of the units of the Vitmar detachment received Muslim names, which they were to use in the presence of the Afghan population. Vitmar got the pseudonym of the Turkish officer Rahim Bey. On motor boats, barges and kayukas, a special detachment of the Red Army crossed the Amu Darya and, having penetrated the adjacent territory, moved south. Simultaneously with its transfer in the area of ;;the settlement of Termez of the Uzbek SSR, six SAVO airplanes equipped with bombs and machine guns crossed the Soviet-Afghan border. Having flown twice in a circle around the Afghan border post of Patta-Gissar, they descended and made a powerful fire raid on it, destroying the barracks and all personnel. Of the 50 Afghan border guards, only two survived, who rushed to the neighboring border post Sia Gert, 20 miles away and reported the attack.
A detachment of 100 Afghan border guards set out from Siyah-Gert to Patta-Gissar, attempted to block penetration from the outside, but, without breaking even six miles, was destroyed by the fire of machine guns of the Vitmar detachment. On April 16, continuing to advance deep into Afghan territory, Vitmar's detachment approached the city of Kelif. The Afghan army formations defending Kelif desperately repelled the attacks of a special detachment, but after the very first cannon shots and machine-gun bursts, they morally broke down and laid down their arms.

PREVIOUS EVENTS

In early April 1929, the Consul General of Afghanistan in Tashkent, former Minister of War of the Emirate, General Gulam Nabi Khan, asked the Soviet leadership for assistance in returning the deposed King Amanullah Khan to power. It is important to note that the deposed King Amanullah Khan was the first of the leaders of foreign states to establish diplomatic relations with the young Soviet republic of the RSFSR, thereby confirming the independence of both countries and pledging not to conclude a military or political agreement to the detriment of a third power. In 1921, King Amanullah Khan signed the first Soviet-Afghan "Treaty of Friendship", and in 1926, the "Treaty of neutrality and mutual non-aggression." In connection with the appeal of the representatives of Amanullah Khan, the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) Stalin I.V. received a delegation in the Kremlin - Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Afghanistan Gulyam Sidik-khan Charkhi, Consul General of Afghanistan in the USSR Gulyam Nabi-khan and the USSR military attach; in Afghanistan Vitaly Primakov.
The appeal was a request for the formation in the Central Asian Military District of a special detachment from the Red Army and Afghan soldiers who left the country. It also reported that after this detachment crossed the Soviet-Afghan border, it would replenish with thousands of supporters of Amanullah Khan. Therefore, it was decided to carry out the operation to return the king to power in Kabul by the forces of a small cavalry detachment with the participation of the Afghan military and with the active support of the local population. Following the meeting, a secret order was issued, telegraphed from Moscow to Tashkent:
- In order to provide military assistance to the overthrown King Amanullah Khan, urgently form a special unit of the Red Army from among the Communists and Komsomol members in the Central Asian Military District to participate in a special operation in Afghanistan in April 1929.
It is important to note that the deposed king Amanullah Khan himself at this time, taking the treasury with him, fled to the south with a cohort of people loyal to himself - to the family nest in Kandahar. Meanwhile, the special operation was gaining momentum - on April 17, Vitmar's detachment captured the city of Khanabad, Balkh province, and on April 22 smashed the gates of the Mazar-i-Sharif fortress with direct fire of their artillery guns and broke into the city. The defenders of the captured garrison fled to the fortress of Deidadi and Tashkurgan. The losses of Afghans in Mazar-i-Sharif exceeded 3 thousand people, moreover, they were only a few in Vitmar's detachment. In a report sent to the SAVO Headquarters and Moscow, it was telegraphed: "Mazar is busy with Vitmar's detachment". The Soviet Consul General, who was in the city at the time of the assault by the detachment of Vitmar Mazar-i-Sharif, recalled: “The infantry, rushing into the city, forgot that they needed to play the role of Afghans, and went on the attack with the traditional Russian Hurray.
This statement was also confirmed by an illegal representative of the intelligence department in Mazar-i-Sharif Matveyev: “Despite the fact that the detachment was ordered not to speak Russian, after the occupation of Mazar-i-Sharif, Russian obscene language was often heard in the streets. Our airplanes in the most unceremonious way, without even painting the stars on their wings, flew daily in the enemy's area and dropped bombs".
During a week of hostilities, 500 local Hazaras joined Vitmar's detachment, deserting from Afghan military units in Balkh. Of these, a separate battalion was formed in Vitmar's detachment. Having usurped the royal throne on December 11, 1928 as a result of an armed uprising and overthrow of King Amanullah Khan, a Tajik named Khabibulla Kalakani, who called himself “the padishah of Afghanistan - Emir Khabibulla II” and the supreme clergy of the emirate who supported him, declared Vitihdam to invade Afghanistan. For the holy war under the green banner of Islam, the mobilization of the militia and the preparation of forces for a counteroffensive began. On April 24, the operation entered an active phase: Afghan tribal formations stationed in the Deidadi (Dehdadi) fortress located to the south made an attempt to dislodge Vitmar's detachment from Mazar-i-Sharif.
Large in number, but poorly organized, they resumed attacks in open areas, advancing in a dense formation against the oncoming gun and machine-gun fire of the Vitmarians. However, by nightfall, their attacks were drowned out. Desperate to seize Mazar-i-Sharif by storm, the Afghans took it into a tight ring and, blocking the ditches and aqueducts that fed the city with water, transferred it to a state of siege. With the aggravation of the situation, in the Afghan unit of the Vitmar detachment under the command of General Gulyam Nabi Khan, decadent moods arose and panic began. To support the besieged detachment of Vitmar on April 26, SAVO airplanes delivered additional weapons to Mazar-i-Sharif: 10 machine guns and 200 shells for artillery guns. Vitmar, in turn, telegraphed a report to Tashkent:
"Need help! The final solution to the problem lies in the mastery of Deidadi and Balkh. There is no manpower for this. Technique needed. The question would be resolved if I received 200 gas grenades stuffed with mustard gas for the guns (200 chlorine grenades are not enough). In addition, it is necessary to make the detachment more maneuverable, to give me a squadron of thugs ... I was denied a squadron, aviation, gas grenades. Refusal violates the main condition: take Mazar, then we will legally help. If the situation can be expected to change and we get help, I will defend the city. If you can't count on help, then I'll play all-in and go take Deidadi. If I take it, then we are the masters of the situation, no - we will turn to the gang and look for a way home".
In response to Vitmar's report, a squadron with machine guns was sent to support the special detachment the next day, but as it approached Mazar-i-Sharif, it faced an outnumbered Afghan army and returned to Soviet territory. And on May 5-6, SAVO aviation delivered massive bombing strikes against the positions of the besieging enemy. At the same time, crossing the Amu Darya and completing the two-day march, a squadron of the 2nd Turkmen cavalry regiment of the Turkmen brigade of 400 Red Army soldiers approached Mazar-i-Sharif, with 6 guns and 8 machine guns, also dressed in Afghan military uniform. It was commanded by the regiment commander Petrov I.E. with the Muslim name Zelim Khan. On the near approach to Mazar-i-Sharif, the squadron of Petrov I.E. met with the predominant forces of the Afghan formations, but in a matter of minutes swept them away with machine-gun fire. Having united, the detachments of Vitmar-Petrov threw back the besieging forces of the Afghans into the Deidadi fortress. On May 8, after massive air strikes and the onslaught of the Vitmar-Petrov detachment, the Deidadi fortress fell, leaving a lot of trophies: 50 guns, 20 machine guns and a large number of small arms with ammunition.

FROM THE RESEARCH DEPARTMENT OF THE CENTRAL ASIAN MILITARY DISTRICT, 1929:

“The Afghan Tajik Khabibulla Kalakani, nicknamed Bachai Sakao, who proclaimed himself the padishah of Afghanistan, was the son of a water carrier and was a gardener in his youth. After completing urgent military service, he was again drafted into the army, but already as a reservist. In the intervals between the stages of military service at the beginning of 1922, he participated in the uprising against Soviet power in Eastern Bukhara (southeastern part of modern Tajikistan) as part of a volunteer detachment from the Panjshir Gorge under the command of a Turkish officer and leader of the Basmachi Enver Pasha". 

Having regained strength, two days later Vitmar-Petrov's detachment continued to move south in several columns. Meanwhile, from two sides: from the east - from Kunduz and from the south - from Kabul, 3000 Basmachi of the Uzbek Kurbashi Ibrahim-bek and 1500 national guardsmen of Khabibullah II under the command of the Minister of War, General Seyid Hussein, moved to defeat the invading Red Army units. Over time, on May 11, on the way to the set target, Vitmar-Petrov's advance detachment of 350 Red Army men discovered the approaching formation of Ibrahim-bek and immediately put eight artillery pieces in the main direction. In addition to this, on both sides of the road at a distance of 200 meters, the Red Army men set up two machine guns each and took it under sights. Having let the cavalry of Ibrahim-bek at a distance of 500 meters, Vitmar-Petrov's detachment opened direct artillery fire on it. Three guns fired at the head of his column, three at the rear, and two at the center. From the shelters on the flanks, machine guns opened fire on the Basmachi.

FROM THE RESEARCH DEPARTMENT OF THE CENTRAL ASIAN MILITARY DISTRICT, 1929:

"It is known that Emir Khabibulla II has established close cooperation with the emir of Bukhara, Seyid Alim Khan, who is in exile in Kabul, and the largest leader of the Basmachi Kurbashi Ibrahim-bek, who were squeezed out by the Red Army units behind the Amu Darya to the northern regions of Afghanistan, helping in the preparation of a military campaign against Bukharu."

Basmachi of Ibrahim-bek put up fierce resistance to the detachment of Vitmar-Petrov. However, two hours later, the Kurbashi's cavalry, taken by surprise, was completely defeated. The Basmachi fleeing from the scene of the battle were overtaken and destroyed, and the few who were able to escape from the chase scattered across the area. Half an hour after the defeat of Ibrahim-bek's detachment, it became known that a large formation of the National Guard under the command of Seyid Hussein was advancing towards Vitmar-Petrov's detachment.
Evaluating the multiple superiority of the enemy forces, the regiment commander I.E. decided to have a psychological impact on his commander. He ordered to send three wounded prisoners from the detachment of Ibrahim-bek to Seyid Hussein, so that they inform him of the casualties suffered by the Basmachi in the clash with the Red Army, which amounted to 2,500 killed, 176 prisoners and 300 thrown into flight. The report depressed Seyid Hussein. He gave the order to his guardsmen to lay down their arms, and he himself fled. It is important to note that the total forces of the formations of Ibrahim-bek and Seyid Hussein outnumbered Vitmar-Petrov's detachment 12 times. Had they entered the battle at the same time, or had Seyid Hussein arrived with his formation even before the defeat of Ibrahim-bek's detachment, the outcome for the special detachment would have been different.
 
FROM THE RESEARCH DEPARTMENT OF THE CENTRAL ASIAN MILITARY DISTRICT, 1929:

“... At the stage of his military service, already a reservist, Khabibullah Kalakani was accused by the military commandant of Kabul of trying to embezzle monetary reward for the elimination of a wanted bandit. For this he was placed in the Puli-Charkhi prison, from which he fled and was recognized as a deserter. For a certain time, Kalakani was hiding from the authorities, but later, he joined the participants in the unrest in the province of Lagman - the Pashtuns and Tajiks, who opposed the reforms of King Amanullah Khan, who, on their conviction, led to a deviation from the canons of Islam. Thanks to his oratorical abilities, Khabibullah Kalakani led an armed uprising and, having expelled the Afghan monarch from Kabul, took his throne. "

In the course of further advance to the south, on May 12, the Vitmar-Petrov detachment captured the city of Balkh, and the next day - the city of Tashkurgan. Outraged On May 18, Vitmar received an order from Tashkent to urgently fly to Moscow by special flights. The command of the detachment was assumed by Alexander Cherepanov, who received the Afghan name "Ali Avzal Khan" during the operation. By order of Vitmar, Cherepanov A.I. continued the advance of the special detachment of the Red Army to the south, towards Kabul. Meanwhile, a gathering of elders, clergy and officials was being held in Kunduz in northeastern Afghanistan. The meeting was also attended by the residents of the British intelligence who took care of the Basmachs. As a result, the "Appeal to the Afghan people" was prepared: "... In connection with the attack on Mazar-i-Sharif and Katagan, end the strife and act as a united front against the kafirs in jihad." Meanwhile, at the headquarters of the SAVO, it was decided to carry out two strategic tasks by aviation strikes at once: interaction with the detachment of A.I. Cherepanov. and the elimination of the logistical support bodies of the Basmachi detachments that made regular armed sorties into Soviet territory. Fortunately, the region was the same. So, on May 23, 1929, bomb-assault strikes were carried out from the air at rear bases in the cities of Khanabad, Talukan, Khazrati-Imam, Aliabad and Andarab.

FROM THE RESEARCH DEPARTMENT OF THE CENTRAL ASIAN MILITARY DISTRICT, 1929:

“The policy launched by the government of Emir Habibullah II strengthens the forces hostile to the Soviet Union, posing a threat to stability on both sides of the border. There is a sharp increase in the activity of the Basmak forces forced out by the Red Army into northern Afghanistan, and the cases of their violation of the Soviet-Afghan border have become more frequent. "

At the stage of further actions of the Red Army detachment on the territory of Afghanistan, the division of the national guard under the command of Seyid Hussein, consisting of two infantry regiments and two cavalry squadrons, unexpectedly attacked and regained control of the city of Tashkurgan, depriving the detachment of A.I. Cherepanov. logistic support. This renewed panic in General Ghulam Nabi Khan's Afghan unit. The junior commanders, abandoning their weapons and their subordinates, fled to the Soviet border, and A.I. Cherepanov. with the detachment he returned back to regain control over Tashkurgan. On the morning of May 25, after air and artillery strikes, a special detachment of A.I. Cherepanov. broke into the city and got involved in fierce street fighting. For two days of confrontation, Tashkurgan passed from hand to hand three times. Having finally knocked out the enemy from Tashkurgan, the detachment of Cherepanov A.I. regained control of the city. In the battle for Tashkurgan, 10 commanders and Red Army men and 74 Hazaras were killed; 30 Red Army men and 117 Hazaras were wounded. Almost all of the ammunition was used up, most of the weapons were exhausted and became unusable.
 
FROM THE RESEARCH DEPARTMENT OF THE CENTRAL ASIAN MILITARY DISTRICT, 1929:

"Khabibullah II, who has been ruling Afghanistan for more than eight months, in case he loses supreme power in Kabul, plans, with the military support of Kurbashi Ibrahim-bek, to form a separate Tajik-Uzbek state in the north of Afghanistan."

Contrary to the assurances of General Gulyam Nabi-khan to the Soviet leadership about the general support of the autochthonous population awaiting a special detachment of the Red Army, everything happened exactly the opposite. He faced open hostility. In the states of Europe, Turkey and Persia, they suddenly learned about the invasion of the Red Army in Afghanistan. The flight of the deposed king Amanullah Khan after the defeat of his troops in the south near Kandahar deprived a special detachment of the Red Army of the legitimacy of staying in the adjacent territory and was regarded by the international community as a military aggression of the USSR against sovereign Afghanistan. In the current situation, on May 28, 1929, the leadership of the CPSU (b) gave an order to the SAVO headquarters to recall the special detachment to their homeland.

At this point, Bruno put off reading, stretched out his legs, threw his hands behind the back of his head and thought:
- Yes! The guys fought. The Spetsnaz of our generation never dreamed of. But everything described in the book, judging by the names of the settlements, happened exactly here - in Mazar-i-Sharif, Kelif, Deidadi, Tashkurgan, Kunduz, thought Bruno. From the flight of his thoughts, he was returned by the voice of the airfield officer on duty, who called to the exit to the helicopter waiting on the runway.

KUNDUZ. DISLOCATION POINT TF-47

The place of permanent deployment of Task Force-47, with the abbreviation TF-47, was located on the northwestern outskirts of the city of Kunduz. On a plot of more than two hectares, fenced off by a two-meter fence with barbed wire, the command headquarters, an autonomous helipad, a fleet of equipment, a shooting range, a sports town, buildings with quarters for two officers, a common recreation room, a fitness room and a sauna were laid out. The TF-47 was served by officers from the special operations forces, rapid reaction forces and army intelligence of the Bundeswehr in the number of over 200 people. The commander of the unit was Oberst Georg Jung - short, lean, laconic, apparently due to his Hamburg origin, with a piercing gaze, a third generation intelligence officer. He knew his business deeply, being able to develop an extensive network of agents and establish intelligence work in a short time. As soon as the armored personnel carrier with Bruno Thevs entered the territory of TF-47, Georg Jung, who knew almost everything about him by that time, came out to meet him on the porch of the headquarters. Fluttering out of the armor, Bruno approached properly and announced his arrival. Jung accepted the report and greeted with a smile:
- Welcome to Afghanistan! I read your personal file, the oberleutenant - a good start. Answer, just frankly, - interrogated the oberst, - your desire to be in TF-47, is somehow connected with the death of your father here?
Without giving Bruno an answer, he continued:
- I still want to believe that the sad event of many years ago will not harm the career of a promising young oberleutenant. By the way, where did this happen?
“In the province of Baghlan, Mr. Oberst,” Bruno replied with melancholy, specifying the details: their regiment was stationed here, in Kunduz.
“I see,” Jung said empathically, “for your information, Baghlan is also nearby - a neighboring province to the south. She, like Kunduz, Takhar and Badakhshan, is included in the historical region of Katagan, all this is our area of ;;responsibility "North". What are you reading now? - Oberst was curious when he saw in Bruno's hands a thick book in Russian.
“The Great Game of Afghanistan by Ilyas Daudi,” Bruno replied.
- I see, - said Jung, and looking suspiciously at Bruno, continued his questioning, - tell the oberleutenant, when and from what part of Germany did your ancestors move to Russia? Do you know about this?
- Yes sir! - Bruno reported statutory. - During the reign of the Prussian King Frederick II according to the Manifestos of the Russian Empress Catherine II - Princess Sofia Augusta Frederica of Angolt-Zerbst from 1762 and 1763. Among the first German families, they settled in the Volga region in the Saratov province. And they left for Russia from the south-west of Germany, the city of Freiburg, where they returned centuries later in 1989.
- Yes! 227 years is not a short period! Oberst Jung said thoughtfully. - You need to know the history of your family and people! Okay, first settle all the formalities at headquarters and then I'll introduce you to your group. Tomorrow at 9.00 am a meeting of the group commanders at the Central Bank of Ukraine - the Combat Control Center. Yes, and one more thing - choose a call sign and a fictitious name, it is so accepted here - we parted with these words.
In the morning in the CBU TF-47 - a room with a large number of telephones and military cards, on which the borders of provinces and counties were outlined, the names of settlements were marked, the command staff, led by Oberst Georg Jung, gathered. The plans of the leaders of the Taliban movement Moulawi Shamsuddin and Mullah Abdul Rahman, uncovered by the TF-47 agents, were discussed, connected with a series of attacks on convoys of German truck and armored vehicles, as well as with a terrorist attack on the Bundeswehr garrison in Kunduz. Following the meeting, TF-47 began developing a plan of operation, code-named "Joker".

OPERATION JOKER

During the preparation of the plan of operation, TF-47 officers carried out an operational collection of undercover and intelligence data. Is their coincidence and the analysis carried out, with a high degree of probability? pointed to the places of permanent residence and appearance of the Taliban leaders Shamsuddin and Abdul Rahman. The objects were monitored around the clock. Despite the lack of oberleutenant Bruno Thevs' practical experience in planning and participating in real special operations, in order to immerse himself in a combat environment as soon as possible, Oberst Jung included him in the circle of the developers of the plan for Operation Joker and at the stage of implementation it paid off.
Meanwhile, in a fresh intelligence report received by TF-47, it was reported: “Shamsuddin, who received the holy orders of Moulawi and the status of the leader of the Taliban in Kunduz province the day before, ordered the detachments under his control to attack the columns of German truck vehicles and seize large-capacity trucks. The Taliban hoped to fill them with large explosives and, through a suicide bomber who broke through the security cordons, send them inside the Bundeswehr garrison to the places of concentration of military personnel and residential buildings and blow them up there. It was planned to continue the attack with small arms and rocket-propelled fire, followed by mobile Taliban groups".
The next day, the TF-47 headquarters received a signal: an armed attack on the Bundeswehr column in the Aliabad region on the Kunduz-Baghlan highway was carried out. The Taliban threw the body of the driver of a large-capacity truck into a ditch, and the transport itself was hijacked in an unknown direction. The attack confirmed the accuracy of the agents' information. An ordinary Taliban who took part in the attack on the convoy was detained without delay. The testimony given to them revealed the leaders of the Taliban detachments of the middle and lower levels, and TF-47 took them into operational development. A few days later, at the beginning of September, the Bundeswehr column was attacked again, two 50-ton tankers were hijacked, filled to capacity with diesel fuel. In an effort to quickly leave the site of the attack on the busy highway, the Taliban began to drive the liquid drinks along a country road to the northwest in the direction of Chahar Dara.
While crossing the rapidly flowing river Kunduz, the liqueurs got stuck in the gravel and sandy soil. In order to get the equipment out of the nearby village of Umar-Kheil, the Taliban drove two Belarus tractors with cables, which were transferred by the government of the USSR to the DRA people in the 1980s, and at the same time sent a cry to local residents to replenish their personal supplies of solarium. In this way, the Taliban decided to rid the gross of the net and take out the stuck fillers. Half an hour later, on this occasion, a long queue of local farmers with cans and other containers accumulated at the cisterns. The commander of Operation Joker, Oberst Georg Jung, sent a request to the regional headquarters of the North zone in Mazar-i-Sharif to conduct aerial photography of the area with unmanned aerial vehicles and establish the exact location of the stolen equipment. Soon, on September 5, 2009, the Central Bank of Ukraine TF-47 received photographs from the location of the stuck fillers, surrounded by a crowd of civilians.

CORRESPONDENT "DER SPIEGEL" OTTO GREENBERG

Three weeks earlier, Otto Greenberg, a correspondent for the German magazine Der Spiegel, had arrived in the city of Kunduz. He was an intelligent, well-educated and experienced journalist with experience. He was of medium height with a fair-skinned face and black wavy hair. His high forehead, crooked nose, and large black eyes revealed Greek or Jewish roots. Despite his forty years of age, due to constant and long business trips, Otto was single. At the same time, he looked after himself, was fit, regularly shaved smoothly and dressed tastefully. The duties of his service included sending materials to a publishing house in Hamburg about the events taking place in the north-east of Afghanistan. Along with this task, he was instructed to collect interviews for a detailed article in connection with the upcoming 20-year anniversary of the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan.
In search of material for the article, he traveled around dozens of settlements in the northeastern part of the country, which were in the combat zone of the Soviet contingent at a distance of over a hundred kilometers from Kunduz - in the counties of the Balkh, Samangan, Sari-pul, Takhar, Kunduz, Baghlan, Badakhshan provinces meeting with participants in those long-standing dramatic events - field commanders and ordinary mujahideen who have already retired or who continued to fight against the ISAF. So, on September 2, 2009, on one of the local business trips to the Khost-Va-Fereng county in the mountains in the northeast of Baghlan province, Otto met a former mujahid named Ismatullah, who fought in the detachment of field commander Mohammad Marzbon, better known by the nickname Kazi Kabir is an associate of Ahmad Shah Massoud in the Islamic Society of Afghanistan party in Takhar province. Ismatulla told Otto the story of one dramatic battle in June 1986 with Soviet landing groups that suffered significant losses in the Mugulan, Cholbakhir and Tali Gobang mountains. At the end of his story, Ismatulla handed Otto a notebook and two photographs in it that belonged to a Soviet soldier, found by him under the boulders - at the place where the shuravis put their dead and wounded. 

LUNCH in CHAIKHAN YAKUB-KHANA

On September 4, Otto returned from a trip to Khost-Va-Fereng very hungry and decided to go to a teahouse on the famous Kunduz circle - the central square of the city with many shops and dukans, snack bars, service points and everyday life. The teahouse, where he rented the room, was a stone's throw from the Spinzar Hotel, which belonged to the textile company of the same name, founded in Kunduz in the mid-1920s by Sher-Khan Nashir. During the two weeks of his stay in Kunduz, he has already become her regular guest. The owner of the establishment was Yakub Khan - a former Mujahid Pashtun-Gilzai, forty-five years old, in a black turban and with a black leather oval on his right eye, which he lost during the battles for Kunduz in August 1988. During the 1979-1989 Afghan war, Yakub Khan commanded a small detachment in the Shamsuddin group from the Islamic Party of Afghanistan, better known by the nickname Dr. Shams. Chaikhana Yakub-khan received a gift from Shams for loyalty and courage.
Despite many years of participation in battles, Yakub Khan was a goodwill and cordially greeted Otto at the entrance to the teahouse, winning the reciprocal favor of the German. So this time, seeing Otto, Yakub Khan broke into a smile and fervently put his hand to his heart. Otto, loudly greeted him and the visitors sitting at the entrance with the traditional "Assalamu Aleikum" and, having made an order on the way, proceeded deeper into the hall. His favorite place was a corner trestle bed, located under a cooling air conditioner. He took off his shoes and, climbing onto the felted ottoman, stretched out his legs. Otto, loudly greeted him and the visitors sitting at the entrance with the traditional "Assalamu Aleikum" and, having made an order on the way, proceeded deeper into the hall. His favorite place was a corner trestle bed, located under a cooling air conditioner. He took off his shoes and, climbing onto the felted ottoman, stretched out his legs. Otto was very tired that day. He looked around in the narrow elongated space of the hall and saw three fans blowing streams of air from the ceiling, slowly rotating their blades. On the trestle beds, peacefully talking, people in Afghan national clothes and traditional headdresses ate and drank tea. Behind all this worldly vanity, the smiling Ahmad Shah Massoud, who was with him, looked from a large portrait on the wall. The guests were served by the son of Yakub Khan - Zalmay.
Visibly, it was a controversial dark-skinned youth of thirteen, with an embroidered kandahari (a Pashtun skullcap with a dome-shaped slit in the front) on black wavy hair, wearing a patterned vest over a traditional Afghan Peruhan shirt. He did not make Otto wait long and immediately brought the whole order, abiye removed from the grill and continuing to grill - a kebab of mutton ribs with layers of fat tail fat with a slight smell of haze, a hot tandoor cake and a kettle of green tea. “Yes,” thought Otto, resting on a wide trestle bed from the unceasing noise of the street, contemplating on the hustle and bustle of medieval faces in traditional clothes, brisk market bargaining, donkey and horse-drawn carts, carts, carts and a caravan of giant two-humped camels loaded with huge bales that arrived from afar goods, - time stopped its course here, since the reign of Mohammad Murad-bek 1815-1842 from the Katagan clan - the ruler of the Kunduz Khanate 1800-1859 ”. Otto finished his meal and, leaning the back of his head against the wall, closed his eyes from fatigue. Through the slumber, he heard the measured creak of fan blades, the clink of dishes, the clatter of bones and the shuffling of shesh-besh checkers, the multilingual hubbub of interlocutors and the soulful song “Khuda Bowad Yarat” of the cult Afghan singer Ahmad Zahir, coming from the audio speaker.

AT THE SAME TIME. KUNDUZ CBU TF-47 - September 5, 2009.

After the discovery of the hijacked German nalivniki and receiving aerial photographs from their location, Oberst Georg Jung decided to strike at them with ISAF aircraft. As a result of the raid of the F-15ES fighter-bombers, according to various estimates, from one hundred to one hundred and sixty civilians who had accumulated in the equipment, including women and children, died.

ISAF AIRCRAFT AT UMAR HALE

Otto's slumber was interrupted by the loud noise of low-flying jet aircraft and heavy bombs falling nearby, shaking the ground. Five minutes later, the howl of a dozen ambulances was heard, racing along the main street past the teahouse at high speed. The alarmed Yakub Khan went out into the street, watched them go and, going back to the teahouse, tuned the radio to the news wave. He turned up the volume and listened to the special text. Within a few seconds, his face changed noticeably and turned pale.
Otto felt his twist and asked:
- What happened ?!
“It was reported that ISAF planes launched an air strike in the vicinity of the Umar-Kheil village on the border of Chahar-dara and Aliabad counties, which led to a large number of civilian casualties,” Yakub Khan said.
- Where is Umar-heil located ?! Otto asked forcefully.
- It's nearby! - answered Yakub Khan. - Kishlak Umar-kheil is located in Chahar-dara district. From Kunduz you need to drive two kilometers to the south, then turn west and drive about the same.
Otto left the money for the food and hurriedly left the establishment. He took a taxi on the Kunduz circle and soon arrived at the site of the airstrike. By that time, the area had already been cordoned off by police and Afghan ISAF assistance forces. Overturned burnt-out trucks with cisterns and fragments of human bodies scattered over hundreds of meters appeared. Otto took several photographs, but was unable to talk to any of the eyewitnesses. He decided to come to the place the next day in order to penetrate into the depths of the village of Umar-Kheil and ask the local population about the incident.
Otto returned to the hotel and learned from the news programs on German television that more than a hundred peaceful Afghans had died as a result of NATO air strikes in the Chahardara district of Kunduz province. ISAF said that seventy of them were Taliban and only thirty civilians - women and children. This number was significantly different from the data of Afghan and international human rights organizations.
 
The abduction of Otto Greenberg and Sultan Mukhadi

Early in the morning, Otto summoned Sultan Mukhadi, an interpreter who accompanied him on all his trips to the provinces, to the hotel, and, having sat with him in a taxi, headed to the place of yesterday's tragedy, in Umar-heil. Having reached the place soon, before getting out of the car, Otto instructed the driver:
- If we do not leave the village by 20.00, inform the administration of the Spinzar hotel about it.
Then Grinberg and Mukhadi got out of the car and disappeared into the depths of the village. Otto, who managed to become familiar with the Taliban in the villages of the Katagan provinces, was able to collect several interviews with local residents in Umar-Kheil. However, the Taliban, who had nothing against him personally because of his peaceful journalistic activities, but wanted revenge against the ISAF and the Bundeswehr for the tragedy in Chahar-dar, seized him along with the translator Muhadi, and no one knew about their whereabouts for some time. The taxi driver, not waiting for the exit from the village of Grinberg and Mukhadi, as he was instructed, reported what had happened upon arrival at "Spinzar".

NEW PHASE OF OPERATION "JOKER"

The tragedy in Umar-heil, which claimed the lives of dozens of Afghan citizens and caused a wide international outcry, did not cancel Operation TF-47 Joker. The elimination of the organizers of attacks on the columns of the Bundeswehr, Moulawi Shamsuddin and Mullah Abdul Rahman, who continued to hatch a plan to attack the Bundeswehr garrison in Kunduz, remained a priority for TF-47. The intelligence and intelligence data on the whereabouts of the Taliban leaders that flowed into the TF-47 Central Bank of Ukraine during the month varied constantly. However, one day, both sources gave similar information. Proceeding from them, the moulawi Shamsuddin, accompanied by twenty-five especially devoted Taliban, at the appointed time was to arrive in the village of Halazai, Chahar-dara district, Kunduz province. TF-47 urgently began to develop a new phase of Operation Joker.
It was decided to start the operation an hour before the adhan for fajr - the call of the muezzin to pre-dawn prayer, which made it possible to catch the Taliban by surprise. However, at the last moment it became clear that the point of arrival of Shamsuddin with the detachment in the village of Halazai coincided with the place of holding the hostages, including Otto Grinberg, a correspondent for the German magazine Der Spiegel, and Sultan Mukhadi, an Afghan translator. The task of the TF-47 special forces was significantly complicated by the fact that the elimination of Shamsuddin and his people had to be carried out without allowing the death of the hostages. Oberst Georg Jung decided to entrust its implementation to the group of oberleutenant Bruno Thevs. He called him to the Central Bank of Ukraine, and they bent over the map, starting to discuss in detail the plan of action, taking into account the likely change in the situation.
- The key to your success, - Oberst Jung explained, - lies in the factor of surprise and coherence of actions. After disembarkation, it is important to urgently and accurately establish in which premises the Taliban are located and where the hostages are being held. This will dictate the density of the fire to you. You need to work with jewelry. The first thing the Taliban will do when you break into the premises is to shoot the hostages, even if they did not plan to do so ahead of time, Oberst Jung warned.
- I understand you, Mr. Oberst! We will try to complete the task with jewelry! - accepted for execution by Bruno.
After completing the briefing, Oberst Jung and oberleutenant Thevs headed for the helipad. The hands on the clock passed the 02.15 mark, and it was already autumnal cool, but calm outside. At the departure site for the operation, two crews of NHI NH90 helicopters and two special forces groups - 20 fighters each were waiting with light excitement.
- Good luck, oberleutenant! Oberst Jung muttered, trying to be heard through the noise of the engines running and the rotating blades. - Take care of people!
- Yes sir! - answered Bruno and jumped into the helicopter, which began to rise, standing up and opening it with a raised palm, until the flight technician pushed it inside the side and slammed the door. The flight took several minutes.
In the village of Halazai, special forces came suddenly and acted with lightning speed. Thevs and his group kicked and knocked out doors with gun butts, burst into the premises of adobe buildings, opened fire on the Taliban, trying not to hook the hostages in the bustle, but received a fierce rebuff. The hostages darted to the side and huddled in corners, trying to hide from the crossfire. The battle lasted less than ten minutes, when the shooting stopped, Thevs ordered his subordinates to clarify the losses. And he himself, having taken a photograph from his breast pocket, began to look for the leader of Shamsuddin among the killed Taliban, but he was not there.
- Gone! hissed Bruno in annoyance.
After clarifying the losses, he contacted Jung:
- Mr. Oberst, finished! I have one killed and three wounded, with varying degrees. One of them is a correspondent for Der Spiegel ... - be it wrong!
There was a pause.
- What about Shamsuddin ?! Jung asked serenely.
- He is not among the dead. But nobody left the perimeter. I don’t understand how we missed it! - annoyed Bruno.
Silence fell on the air again. It was evident that the outcome of the operation upset Jung.
- Bad! Jung returned to the conversation. - Okay, after returning to base - debriefing. Now, to evacuate our deceased and wounded - they are in a helicopter and to Mazar-i-Sharif, and the correspondent of Der Spiegel is loaded onto an armored personnel carrier and taken to Kunduz to the MSF civilian hospital "Doctors Without Borders" - he has nothing to do in our military hospital, and so we broke the operation.
While Thevs reported to the command on the results of the operation, five ATF DINGO-2 armored personnel carriers were gathered to the place of its implementation. TF-47 special forces doctors immediately gave Otto Greenberg an anesthetic injection, and the thigh stitched with a bullet was tightened with a tourniquet and bandaged. In the report of oberleutenant Bruno Thevs to Oberst Jung about the losses in Operation Joker, the name of the Afghan translator Sultan Mukhadi, who was shot in the head in the shootout and died on the spot, was not mentioned. A visit to the village of Umar-Kheil for an interview cost him his life. Otto Greenberg blamed for his death exclusively on himself.
After waiting for the evacuation of the deceased and two wounded soldiers by helicopter to Mazar-i-Sharif, Bruno ordered two special forces from his group to load Otto Greenberg into an armored personnel carrier and accompany him to the MSF hospital in Kunduz. He sat in the front seat with the driver, while Greenberg and two commandos in the back. For some time on the way, staring with a glass gaze ahead, the frantic Bruno drove in silence, but when entering Kunduz, he turned sharply and fell on Otto Grinberg with loud curses:
- Why are you here? Why didn't you sit at home ?! You thwarted our operation! They lost a fighter because of you, two more were wounded, Shamsuddin was missed!
Pale from painful shock, blood loss and the action of an analgesic, Otto Greenberg resolutely replied:
- You do your job, and I do mine!
Having received a firm answer, Bruno cooled down.

HOSPITAL MSF "DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS"
 
An ATF-DINGO-2 armored personnel carrier with the wounded Otto Greenberg briskly drove into the yard of the MSF Doctors Without Borders hospital. The accompanying commandos helped him down and, putting him on a stretcher, brought him to the emergency room. Bruno entered after them.
- Yes! he thought. - After the heat of Kunduz, here is a real paradise - snow-white walls, coolness from air conditioners, staff in ironed clothes and a delicious smell from the dining room. Here it is an island of civilized Europe in a medieval country!
There was a commotion in the emergency room, the doctors came running, then they ran away again - no one seemed to care about the wounded Greenberg. Bruno was very nervous and looked with his eyes for someone to pass him on as soon as possible. Noticing that the correspondent's health was deteriorating, Bruno began to distract with everyday questions.
- Where do you live in Germany? He asked, already kinder.
“In Munich,” Otto replied, dropping the barrage of accusations.
- Great! And I'm from the south - from Freiburg! - shared Bruno.
- What are you doing in Afghanistan? Bruno asked.
- At the moment, I am collecting an interview for an article dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan.
- For the anniversary of the withdrawal of Soviet troops ?! - Bruno asked again, showing his interest in this topic, - OK! But the Soviet troops left twenty years ago, and how is this connected with the events in Umar-heil? How did the wind blow you there ?!
- I'm a journalist! My place is where things happen, ”Otto replied calmly.
Noticing that Bruno had thawed, Otto ventured to ask:
- Oberleutenant, forgive the tactlessness, can I ask you about one case?
- I hope this is not writing an article for you ?! - Bruno joked. - With all my desire to be useful to you, you must remember that I am a soldier of the ISAF group and I have a lot of responsibilities, somehow, an entrusted unit and demanding bosses.
- The request is simple - you need to go to the Spinzar hotel, where I rent a room, and pick up my large travel bag from there. It contains all my luggage: clothes and change of underwear, - Otto explained its essence, - the number has been paid for by the end of the month, so there will be no problems with access. And here's another thing: in the top drawer of the bedside table is an old, shabby notebook. Please put it in your bag.
Suddenly, from behind Bruno, a pleasant female voice in impeccable German was heard, asking to put the wounded Otto Greenberg on a gurney so that the orderly could take him to the operating room. Bruno turned curiously to see a tall, beautiful oriental girl in front of him. Her large dark brown eyes, long eyelashes and thick eyebrows against the background of a light-skinned face, as well as a thick black braid twisted into a ring, made an unforgettable impression on Bruno. She was noticeably not more than 25 years old. She clearly did not look like a typical German woman. Rather, it was an Afghan woman. However, her German language, with its characteristic Bavarian dialect, was indicative of a long period in Germany. Okay green medical suit - trousers and a jacket, to which the badge "Dr. Akhmadzai" was attached, emphasized the thin waist and other advantages of the female figure.
- Frau Ahmadzai, what a surprise - you speak excellent German ?! - noted the proficiency of the language enchanted Bruno.
- This is my second language, - the girl admitted.
- Strange, - Bruno was surprised, - and I was sure that the first.
- I was born, and until last year I lived in Germany - Munich. At that moment, an Afghan orderly appeared, rolling the gurney, unintentionally tucking it in Bruno's side. He pulled back slightly.
- Excuse me, I have to go, - the doctor explained.
She quietly commanded the orderly to dari to take the gurney to the operating room, while she walked beside her with a graceful, dignified gait. Leaping up with feelings, Bruno felt a rush of blood in his head.
- Oberleutenant! - distracted the numb, watching Dr. Ahmadzai Bruno, who was driving off on a gurney Otto. - So what is my request ?!
I must definitely return here! - Bruno promised to himself, admitting that Grinberg's request was probably God's providence that allowed him to be here again and, without taking his eyes off the captivating Afghan woman, immediately voted:
- Okay! Notify the hotel administration by phone call. I will try to do it one of these days.
From that moment on, Dr. Ahmadzai never left Bruno's mind. "Why didn't I ask her name?" He reproached himself. Having fulfilled the order of the command to evacuate Otto Greenberg, Bruno and the commandos accompanying him returned to the base. By this time, Oberst Jung had assembled the group commanders at TF-47 headquarters to summarize the results of Operation Joker. Oberleutenant Bruno Thevs reported in detail on the progress of the operation - the elimination of a handful of Taliban militants, the disappearance of Shamsuddin, as well as the release of Der Spiegel journalist Otto Grinberg. After the completion of the report, he remained in Oberst Jung's office and told about the beseeching of the wounded correspondent Otto Greenberg:
- Mr. Oberst! This journalist from Der Spiegel, Otto Greenberg, turned to me with an everyday request that requires, if you do not mind, two hours.
An ATF-DINGO-2 armored personnel carrier with the wounded Otto Greenberg briskly drove into the yard of the MSF Doctors Without Borders hospital. The accompanying commandos helped him down and, putting him on a stretcher, brought him to the emergency room. Bruno entered after them.
- Yes! he thought. - After the heat of Kunduz, here is a real paradise - snow-white walls, coolness from air conditioners, staff in ironed clothes and a delicious smell from the dining room. Here it is an island of civilized Europe in a medieval country!
There was a commotion in the emergency room, the doctors came running, then they ran away again - no one seemed to care about the wounded Greenberg. Bruno was very nervous and looked with his eyes for someone to pass him on as soon as possible. Noticing that the correspondent's health was deteriorating, Bruno began to distract with everyday questions.
- Where do you live in Germany? He asked, already kinder.
- In Munich, - Otto replied, dropping the barrage of accusations.
- Great! And I'm from the south - from Freiburg! - shared Bruno.
- What are you doing in Afghanistan? Bruno asked.
- At the moment, I am collecting an interview for an article dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan.
- For the anniversary of the withdrawal of Soviet troops ?! - Bruno asked again, showing his interest in this topic, - OK! But the Soviet troops left twenty years ago, and how is this connected with the events in Umar-heil? How did the wind blow you there ?!
- I'm a journalist! My place is where things happen, ”Otto replied calmly.
Noticing that Bruno had thawed, Otto ventured to ask:
- Oberleutenant, forgive the tactlessness, can I ask you about one case?
- I hope this is not writing an article for you ?! - Bruno joked. - With all my desire to be useful to you, you must remember that I am a soldier of the ISAF group and I have a lot of responsibilities, somehow, an entrusted unit and demanding bosses.
- The request is simple - you need to go to the Spinzar hotel, where I rent a room, and pick up my large travel bag from there. It contains all my luggage: clothes and change of underwear, - Otto explained its essence, - the number has been paid for by the end of the month, so there will be no problems with access. And here's another thing: in the top drawer of the bedside table is an old, shabby notebook. Please put it in your bag.
Suddenly, from behind Bruno, a pleasant female voice in impeccable German was heard, asking to put the wounded Otto Greenberg on a gurney so that the orderly could take him to the operating room. Bruno turned curiously to see a tall, beautiful oriental girl in front of him. Her large dark brown eyes, long eyelashes and thick eyebrows against the background of a light-skinned face, as well as a thick black braid twisted into a ring, made an unforgettable impression on Bruno. She was noticeably not more than 25 years old. She clearly did not look like a typical German woman. Rather, it was an Afghan woman. However, her German language, with its characteristic Bavarian dialect, was indicative of a long period in Germany. Okay green medical suit - trousers and a jacket, to which the badge "Dr. Akhmadzai" was attached, emphasized the thin waist and other advantages of the female figure.
- Frau Ahmadzai, what a surprise - you speak excellent German ?! - noted the proficiency of the language enchanted Bruno.
- This is my second language, - the girl admitted.
- Strange, - Bruno was surprised, - and I was sure that the first.
- I was born, and until last year I lived in Germany - Munich. At that moment, an Afghan orderly appeared, rolling the gurney, unintentionally tucking it in Bruno's side. He pulled back slightly.
“Excuse me, I have to go,” the doctor explained.
She quietly commanded the orderly to dari to take the gurney to the operating room, while she walked beside her with a graceful, dignified gait. Leaping up with feelings, Bruno felt a rush of blood in his head.
- Oberleutenant! - distracted the numb, watching Dr. Ahmadzai Bruno, who was driving off on a gurney Otto. - So what is my request ?!
I must definitely return here! - Bruno promised to himself, admitting that Grinberg's request was probably God's providence that allowed him to be here again and, without taking his eyes off the captivating Afghan woman, immediately voted:
- Okay! Notify the hotel administration by phone call. I will try to do it one of these days.
From that moment on, Dr. Ahmadzai never left Bruno's mind. "Why didn't I ask her name?" He reproached himself. Having fulfilled the order of the command to evacuate Otto Greenberg, Bruno and the commandos accompanying him returned to the base. By this time, Oberst Jung had assembled the group commanders at TF-47 headquarters to summarize the results of Operation Joker. Oberleutenant Bruno Thevs reported in detail on the progress of the operation - the elimination of a handful of Taliban militants, the disappearance of Shamsuddin, as well as the release of Der Spiegel journalist Otto Grinberg. After the completion of the report, he remained in Oberst Jung's office and told about the beseeching of the wounded correspondent Otto Greenberg:
- Mr. Oberst! This journalist from Der Spiegel, Otto Greenberg, turned to me with an everyday request that requires, if you do not mind, two hours.
- The correspondent of Der Spiegel can be very useful to us! - Oberst Jung admitted aloud and, thinking about something, without asking the essence of the request, added. - Okay! I rely on your responsibility as oberleutenant. You are free!
It was already late evening. In getting rid of the accumulated fatigue, Bruno went to the gym - ran on a treadmill, did bench presses and, having taken a shower, went into his cockpit. His roommate was the commanding officer of the TF-47 medical group, oberleutenant Helmut Zimmer. The day that was leaving was full of events - Operation Joker turned into the death of a special forces soldier, Shamsuddin's omission and acquaintance with the causative agent of these misfortunes, wounded by correspondent Otto Greenberg. At the same time, Bruno understood that if Otto had not arisen, he would not have met the beautiful Afghan woman, Dr. Ahmadzai, at the MSF Doctors Without Borders hospital. Overwhelmed with exhaustion, he collapsed on the bed, and in order to distract himself a little, took out the book "The Great Game in Afghanistan" from the nightstand and plunged into reading.

SOVIET-AFGHAN BORDER, JUNE 1930

A sweltering June night. + 31oC, a carpet of stars hung in the sky, and a shining crescent was reflected in the waters of the Amu Darya. On a pit near the border post Ayvaj, before the start of a military operation on the adjacent territory, the combined unit of the Turkmen cavalry brigade of the Red Army listened to the instructions of the brigade commander Yakov Melkumov with the Muslim name Yakub Tura. A colorful native of Transcaucasia with a clean-shaven head, a brush mustache and a pronounced Caucasian accent, he instructed the personnel of a special detachment of the Red Army on the principles of relations with the Afghan population during a special operation: and property - careful. In case they provide services or unintentional damage to their property, I warn everyone - the detachment is provided with government funds sufficient for settlements. "
The operation was coordinated with King Mohammad Nadir Shah, who came to power in Kabul more than half a year ago, in mid-October 1929, who overthrew the ruler Habibullah Kalakani.
The task of the detachment of Melkumov Ya.A. consisted in the elimination of rear bases and members of the Basmachi on the territory of northeastern Afghanistan. After the crossing of the Amu Darya River by floating means, the detachment of Melkumov Ya.A. stepped into Afghan territory. That same day, he went deeper for more than 70 kilometers, without encountering resistance from the regular army and the local population. Moreover, the autochthonous population of northeastern Afghanistan, dissatisfied with the influx of emigrants from the Soviet territory - members of the Basmach formations with their families, who had inadvertently organized their life and, in their opinion, took possession of the best allotments of land, willingly cooperated with Melkumov's detachment.

PREVIOUS EVENTS

The vast territory on both sides of the Amu Darya River, which became the Soviet-Afghan border strip, was part of the Bukhara Khanate (1500-1785) four centuries ago and since ancient times has been inhabited by related tribes that are part of the community of peoples - Uzbeks, Turkmens, Kazakhs, Kirgizs, Tajiks and Pamir peoples. With the accomplishment of the Great October Socialist Revolution of 1917 and the strengthening of Soviet power in Afghanistan from Central Asia - from the territory of the Soviet - Turkmen, Uzbek and Tajik - republics, a stream of refugees poured over more than half a million people. Numerous emigration settled life in the provinces of northern Afghanistan bordering the USSR - Herat, Badgis, Faryab, Dzhauzjan, Balkh, Sari-Pula, Samangan, Kunduz, Takhar, Badakhshan, Baghlan. The emir of Bukhara, Seyid Alim Khan, who had fled to Kabul, along with the treasury, numerous relatives and court servants, also received political asylum. Among those who crossed to the adjacent territory were a large number of members of the Basmach formations, defeated or driven out by the Red Army. They deployed their rear bases in northern Afghanistan and regularly raided Soviet territory. Since the reign of King Amanullah Khan (02/20/1919 - 01/14/1929), Moscow has repeatedly expressed claims to Kabul about the deployment of hostile forces on its territory. One of the largest Basmachi leaders (kurbashi) in Northern and Northeastern Afghanistan in the 1920s was the Uzbek Lokay Ibrahim-bek, other significant leaders of the Basmachi were the Turkmen kurbashis: Ishan Khalifa Kyzyl-ayak and Dzhunaid-khan.
In October 1929, after the overthrow of the eight-month-old ruler Khabibullah II (Kalakani), power in Kabul returned to the Barakzai Pashtun dynasty. Mohammad Nadir Shah, a former defense minister and a distant relative of the ousted emir Amanullah Khan, ascended the royal throne. As part of the demands of Moscow and his state interests, King Nadir Shah demanded that the Emir of Bukhara, Seyid Alim Khan, influence the Kurbashi Ibrahim Bek, who was in his past in his military service, so that he would not leave the Afghan capital. With such a measure, he decapitated the Basmak formations not under his control, destabilizing the situation in the north, and harming relations with the neighboring state. The combination of these and other reasons associated with the eternal conflict between the north and south led to an escalation of tension in the region. The provinces of Katagan and Badakhshan plunged into unrest - one village went to war on another, settling old scores. Nadirshah saw in Ibrahim-bek a real danger to the country's integrity. By his order to fight Ibrahim Bek in March 1930, the governor of the province of Katagan and Badakhshan, Mir Mohammad Safar Khan, carried out a wide mobilization into militia units in Andarab. Formed by Kurbashi Ibrahim-bek, the large and well-organized group actually adhered to separatist ideas and posed a threat of rejection of the northern territories. Basmachi from her units continued to make armed forays into Soviet territory, destabilized the situation in the republics of Soviet Central Asia and complicated interstate relations between Afghanistan and the USSR. Moscow has long hatched plans to eliminate them, along with their logistic support system, but waited for this to be a good moment.

In a series of events, in March 1930, by order of King Mohammad Nadir Shah, a meeting of elders was convened in Kunduz. At it the Prime Minister of Afghanistan Mohammad Hashim Khan made a speech:
- In the name of His Holiness Emir Mohammad Nadir Shah, I demand that Ibrahim Bek and the other kurbashis lay down all their weapons!
Ibrahim-bek, who came out with a response, looked around the representative composition of elders and prominent Turkmen and Uzbek kurbashis - Ishan Khalifu Kyzyl-ayak, Utan-bek, Mahmud-bek and others, - eloquently said:
- My weapon is not directed against Afghanistan. It is ours, we got it in battle!
After some time, the coincidence of the interests of the two powers prompted King Mohammad Nadir Shah to agree to conduct a special operation of the Red Army detachment in the north of Afghanistan. At the end of June 1930, a plan was developed at the headquarters of the SAVO troops to destroy the rear bases of the Basmachi and its members in the districts of Kunduz and Takhara. In the course of its implementation, the brigade commander Melkumov, who commanded the detachment, was faced with the need for guides with a deep knowledge of the area. Considering that the detachment had funds, these and other services to the autochthonous population were paid locally and in full. And damage to their property was generally avoided. For example, the Afghans assisted Melkumov's detachment in crossing the Khanabad River, then replenished food supplies for money.
Upon learning of the invasion of Afghanistan by a special detachment of the Red Army, Ibrahim-bek first clarified its forces, and then went to the naibul-khukum - the governor-general of the Katagano-Badakhshan province Mir Mohammad Safar-khan. He listened to Ibrahim-bek and, presenting to him a dispatch with the royal coat of arms received from Kabul the other day, said:
- His Holiness Emir Mohammad Nadir Shah demands that you, the venerable Ibrahim bey, immediately attack the kafirs with your detachment! After all, Afghanistan is now your land! When the Red Army crushed your troops, you found salvation beyond the Amu Darya. We welcomed your families, giving you shelter and land. It's time to repay the good!
- Esteemed Safar-khan, - Ibrahim-bey addressed, assuring, - we remember this and will never forget! - However, I would like to know why the infidels who violated the border did not meet resistance from regular troops and reached Kunduz without hindrance ?! In my opinion, everything is obvious! - Ibrahim-bey himself answered his own question. - Kabul had no plans to fight the kafirs! The Soviets were allowed to carry out an operation on Afghan territory to destroy us with their hands.
Without promising anything to Safar Khan, Ibrahim-bek decided to wait it out and hid with a detachment in the Khost-Va-Fereng mountains. Another Uzbek kurbashi Utan-bek followed his example.

FROM THE MATERIALS OF THE INTELLIGENT DEPARTMENT OF THE CENTRAL ASIAN MILITARY DISTRICT 1930:

“Kurbashi Ibrahim-bek, ousted by the Red Army units behind the Amu Darya in 1926, organized military activity in northeastern Afghanistan in a short time - he deployed rear bases and organized the mobilization of emigrants and the local population into his units. Its zone of influence is a vast area of ;;the northeastern part of the Afghan territory from Faryab to Badakhshan - from west to east and to Andarab in the south".

SHORT REFERENCE:

Kurbashi Ibrahim-bey. Full name is Mohammad Ibrahim-bek Chakabaev, a native of the Isan-Khoja clan of the Lokai tribe - a large Dashti-Kipchak tribe of Uzbeks. Before the revolution of 1917, he served in the Gissar bey with the rank of guard-bey - lieutenant. Basmak activity began in the detachment of his father-in-law Kayum Parvonachi. For a short time he served with the Bukhara Emir Seyid Alim Khan. He began his struggle against Soviet power in 1919 on the territory of Eastern Bukhara. After the flight of Emir Seyid Alim Khan to Afghanistan, he gathered a detachment of 500 fighters in Baljuvon and returned to Koktash, where he was proclaimed bek of Lokai. Until 1922 he was the de facto ruler of the Gissar Valley. In 1921-1925 he fought for the return to the throne of the deposed Emir of Bukhara Seyid Alim Khan. His units made regular raids on the Bukhara People's Socialist Republic (BNSR). The place of concentration of Ibrahim-bek's detachments in the USSR was the left bank of the Vakhsh River - the south of the Tajik SSR. In June 1926, his grouping in Soviet Central Asia was defeated, and he himself, with part of the surviving detachment, was squeezed out to Northeastern Afghanistan, where he located his rear bases. From there he continued his armed sorties on the territory of the Uzbek SSR and the Tajik SSR. The main headquarters in Afghanistan was originally located in Khanabad, then moved to Aliabad. Basmachi from his detachments with their families settled in Talukan, Khanabad, Chardar, Ak-Tyube, but to a greater extent in Aliabad, increasing its population to more than twenty thousand inhabitants and four thousand households.
He maintains close contact with the Emir of Bukhara, Seyid Alim Khan, who settled in Kabul. For the leadership of the Basmachi in the struggle against Soviet power and personal loyalty, the emir granted him a monthly pension of 1,500 rupees a month, another 500 rupees is paid by the Afghan government. He ignores the demands of King Amanullah Khan to stop raids on Soviet territory. After the overthrow of Amanullah Khan in 1929, he established close contact with the new ruler Khabibullah II, gaining wide freedom of action in the north of the country and in command - an army with 20 thousand Uzbeks. In Chakhar-dar, in the southwestern outskirts of Kunduz, he formed a detachment of 400 Turkmens, 500 Uzbeks-Kungrats, Uzbeks-Durmens and Uzbeks-Lokays.
 
During the military raid of Ya.A. Melkumov's detachment in the districts of Kunduz and Takhara in the summer of 1930, he did not meet organized resistance of the Basmach formations, destroying only a few small groups of 30-40 Basmachs guarding the homes and property of the Basmachs near Khanabad and Aliabad. The damage caused to the rear infrastructure of the Basmachi by the detachment of Y.A. Melkumov hit their combat effectiveness hard, however, hiding in the mountains, Ibrahim-bek was able to save the people.
The result of the special operation was the burning and destruction of all kishlaks and yurts inhabited by emigrants from beyond the Amu Darya: Uzbeks - Lokays, Durmens; Kungraders, Kazakhs, Konyrats; Turkmens; Kirghiz in the valley of the Kunduz-Darya River with a length of 35 kilometers. Their homes in the villages of Aliabad and Ak-Tepe were completely destroyed, but the Afghan ones were left untouched. The total losses of the Basmachi were 839 killed. An arsenal of 40 rifles and 17,000 rounds of ammunition was seized and detonated. The entire stock of Basmach bread was burned, cattle destroyed and partially stolen. Returning from the mission, the detachment of Melkumov Ya.A. brought with him 200 camels, 80 horses and 400 rams.
After finishing the chapter, Bruno put the book away and thought:
- This attractive Afghanistan! Here my Father laid his head, now I am at war. Why are we all drawn here ?!
With this difficult question, Bruno suddenly remembered about the beautiful Afghan girl - Dr. Ahmadzai, and with the hope of seeing her again, went to bed.

NOTEBOOK and OLD PHOTOS
 
The next day, as promised to Otto Greenberg, Bruno stopped at the Spinzar Hotel. Administrator, has already been warned. Bruno went up to the room, took out a large travel bag from the closet, put it on the bed and went to the nightstand for a notebook. Pulling on the handle of the drawer, he took out an old, brown leather-bound, frayed-edged notebook and tossed it casually into the bag. From a notebook that had fallen on top of things, the edges of two yellowed photographs with streaks of dried blood protruded. Bruno noticed a photo in these scraps, something very familiar, dear.
He opened his notebook and saw in one of the pictures his young mother, nee - Rosa Schmidt, in the other - six Soviet soldiers standing in an embrace. From the left, his father, Konstantin Thevs, who died in Afghanistan, looked smiling. A copy of this collective photo was framed on a sideboard in their home living room in Freiburg. Konstantin sent this picture in a letter home - to Dzhambul in early 1985, in the first month of his stay in Afghanistan. In the corner on the back of the photo was written obliquely: “To my beloved wife Rosa and our son, whom we will call Bruno, from the Pope. Kunduz. Afghanistan February 1985 ".
Bruno was amazed. Not remembering himself, he rushed to the hospital to Otto Greenberg to ask him where the notebook and photographs had come from. When he ran into the room, Otto was lying on the bed and having dinner peacefully. Bruno took a plate of soup from his hands and, taking photos from his pocket, said: "Where from ?!"
Otto was indignant:
- Do you know, Mr.oberleutenant, that rummaging in other people's things is indecent ?! - But, soon realizing that Bruno's frenzy was connected with the photographs from his notebook, which obviously had a direct bearing on him, answered sincerely: - From the Mujahideen!
- Get ready! Let's go ... and show the one who gave it to you, - Bruno self-directed.
“First, it’s impossible now,” Otto replied calmly, “because I cannot walk. Secondly, I never disclose my sources, this is professional ethics! He explained.
Bruno's speech, in high tones, frightened three civilian Afghans and medical staff lying on neighboring bunks. A minute later, the nurse on duty and the doctor Ahmadzai entered the room.
- What's happening? Ahmadzai asked in a firm voice.
Bruno, realizing that the situation was out of control and urgently needed to be normalized, reassured:
- It's all right, Frau, we were clarifying business matters.
- This is not a military hospital where they can conduct official investigations. I ask you to leave the ward now! Akhmadzai demanded, pointing her hand towards the exit.
Bruno realized that the situation was tense and it was better to leave:
- Okay, I'll leave.
With these words, he left the room and headed for the exit.
Otto connected Bruno's emotions with good reasons and, leaning on crutches, hurried to stop him. Stepping out of the chamber, he shouted after Bruno, who reached the end of the long corridor:
- Wait!
Bruno stopped. Together they went out into the hospital garden, sat down on a bench and started talking.
- These are the things of my dead Father, - Bruno said bitterly, - his eyes were filled with moisture.
- So, your father was a Soviet soldier and died in Khost-Va-Ferenga ?! - Otto was surprised.
- Yes! - answered Bruno. - After his death, when I was 4 years old, my mother and I moved to Germany.
- That's it! - comprehended Otto with empathy and immediately promised from the heart. - I promise you! As soon as I pass on the cane, we will certainly go with you to the kishlak in Khost-Va-Fereng to the Mujahideen who gave me these photos and a notebook. And now, as part of the implementation of my promise, I have two requests to you. First, you need to visit the brother of the deceased translator Sultan Mukhadi, Yahya, and give his family money from me, and at the same time offer him to work as an interpreter for the duration of our trip to Khost-Va-Fereng in the mountains. The second - I strongly ask you to change from military uniform to civilian during the trip. And even better in traditional Afghan clothing. My personal experience after the recent tragedy in Umar Kale has shown that it is not worth arousing anger in the Taliban and ordinary Afghans.
They returned to the ward, Otto explained where it would be possible to find the brother of the deceased translator, Yahya Muhadi, and, taking out a sealed envelope with money from his travel bag, handed it to Bruno.

TRIP TO HOST-VA-FERING

Otto's wound began to heal, and he could already move, leaning on a cane. Fulfilling the promise given to Bruno, on the agreed day, as soon as dawn broke, they took a taxi and, having stopped for the translator Yahya Muhadi, headed east from Kunduz to Talukan. From there we turned south to the mountainous region of the Khost-Va-Fereng county. Without difficulty, having found in one of the adobe dwellings of the village of Yakhchan-Khurd, Ismatulla - short, lean with a shaved head, red-bearded Tajik, visibly 45 years old, Otto introduced Bruno to him as the son of one of the Shuravi who died in the battle, about whom he told him. Ismatullah looked sympathetically into the eyes of Bruno and, putting his right hand to his heart, bowing his head, greeted: "Assalamu Aleikum." The left sleeve of his peruhan was tied with a ribbon, at the level above the missing elbow. Translator Muhadi prepared to translate.
- Sincerely my condolences, - Ismatulla said empathizingly, - many soldiers died in that battle - both Mujahideen and Shuravi. See! - Ismatulla, demonstratively stretched out the stump of his left hand, - in that war I got a hard hit.
When Ismatulla was worn out, she was surrounded by a gang of children aged from seven to eleven years. Three of them - two boys and a younger girl, took him in the belt in a tight embrace.
- Yours ?! - asked Bruno.
- Al-Hamdu li-Llyahi, these are the younger ones! - thanked the Takhmid of the Almighty, Ismatulla.
Bruno took three hundredth euro bills from his pocket and handed them to each. The children took the money, but immediately gave it to their father. "Good education!" - thought Bruno to himself.
- Tashakur! - thanked the touched Ismatulla, saying embarrassedly, - it was not at all necessary.
Then he invited the guests to go to the courtyard of his house. Seeing strangers men, women, all as one fell into their own half. The host and guests took off their shoes and sat down on the colorful shirdak. One of the sons brought a teapot of tea, and when it was poured into bowls, Ismatullah began his narration:
- It was mid-June 1986. Shuravi pulled the columns from Kunduz to Faizabad. Our spiritual leader Burhanuddin Rabbani and Gulbeddin Hekmatyar then came to an agreement that during the Shuravi operation, the strife between the Islamic Society of Afghanistan and the Islamic Party of Afghanistan would be temporarily stopped and a united front. The general leadership of the actions of the Mujahideen was led by the major Panjshir commander Ahmad Shah Massoud. By that time, a large number of detachments that participated in the mine war and the attack on the columns were concentrated along the Kunduz-Faizabad highway. Our detachment under the command of Qazi Kabir - Mohammad Marzbon was located south of the highway in the mountainous region of Mugulan, Cholbakhir and Tali-Gobang - on the border of Khost-Va-Fereng, Burka and Ishkamysh counties of Baghlan and Takhar provinces, directly in the base area. Weapons and ammunition from the local warehouses were transported to the plain to the detachments fighting along the Khanabad-Talukan route. Our detachment was waiting for the order of the commander Kazi Kabir, if necessary, to descend from the mountains and reinforce them with additional manpower.
In the early morning of June 16, 1986, we heard the sound of approaching helicopters and saw the landing troops. The place of landing by the pilots, obviously, was chosen by mistake, since the shuravi were on the site, which was under the full control of our firing points. We opened targeted fire and in a short period of time burned two of their helicopters. The initiative was in our hands, the battle lasted all day and resumed at night. There were killed and wounded on both sides. But the shuravi had a lot of them. Our snipers hit several of their commanders, who gave orders in battle, and disabled the radio station. At night, the shuravi organized a raid on the summit, from which we hit them with fire during the day. Then I just took over on guard duty - I was a sentry. In the darkness, I heard a crumbling of small stones and saw a tall, strong guy creeping from below, and immediately fired a burst of automatic weapons at him, striking out on the spot. - Bruno listened attentively to the story of the Mujahid, trying to catch the details in episodes that could reveal the circumstances of his father's death. “Our entire detachment woke up and took up arms,” Ismatulla continued, “starting to shoot at the lowland where the shuravis were. But they were advancing from different directions, and we were no longer able to stop them. One shuravi, similar in face to our Hazaras, ran to the top and was also struck by me with a short burst. While we were hitting those who were rising from the saddle, we suddenly saw several shuravi behind us, who had entered our rear from where we were not expecting them. They began to throw grenades at us and hit us with machine-gun fire. One of the grenades exploded and cut off my hand. She hung on tendons. But, despite the injury, with outside help, I was lucky enough to escape with a handful of mujahideen. 
In the morning, helicopters arrived, and then planes, they began to bomb all the heights and our mujahideen left the area. After two months of treatment in Pakistan, I returned to the unit. This coincided with the time when the Mujahideen were rebuilding the destroyed base. At the place where the shuravis were putting their dead and wounded - under the boulders, I found a notebook that had fallen out of the pocket of one of the shuravis and two photographs enclosed in it - six, standing in the arms of a shuravi and a beautiful Russian girl. The notebook was covered in blood. On the day when your friend came to Yakhchan-Khurd, promising to write the truth about the Afghan war, I told him about that dramatic battle and handed over these relics. The Russians were brave warriors, not that these boyaguzes are from ISAF.
Otto and Bruno exchanged glances.
- Can we get to that place ?! Bruno asked.
- Yes! It's not far from here, ”Ismatullah replied. He lifted a beige pack from his sweaty forehead and agreed - if, of course, you are ready to spend the night in the mountains.
- We are ready! - answered for all Bruno.
They settled down for the night in the courtyard of Ismatulla's house. In the morning dawn, leaving Otto in Yakhchan-Khurda, Ismatulla, Bruno and the translator Yahya Mukhadi, having loaded two donkeys with felt mat, blankets, taking food with them - water in leather bales, dried fruits and flat cakes - set off. They walked several kilometers to the south along a deep gorge, squeezed by mountain ranges at the mouths of narrow, rapidly flowing rivers - first Yavur, then Jarav past the village of Mirkheil and went to the village of Dekhmiran. It spreads out in a valley at the foot of the southern slope of the mountain with an elevation of 2781, backed up by a gentle saddle. By this time it was dusk. The expedition settled in a bivouac. Ismatulla lit a fire and, after sitting for a short time drinking tea, everyone went to bed. As the sun rose, Ismatulla led the group up the mountain. Having ascended the summit and descended into the saddle lying between two mountains, he stopped:
- This is where the shuravi landed and here we burned two of their helicopters.
Bruno saw the surviving evidence of the battle - rusted fragments of burned Soviet helicopters, used up machine-gun belts and shell casings. Like a sophisticated tourist guide, Ismatullah meticulously conveyed the episodes of the battle that remained in his memory. Bruno listened attentively to the simultaneous translation of Yahya Mukhadi and felt an increase in the pulsation in his temples. Dismissed by the detailed story of the participant in the battle, Bruno thought about June 1986. He felt like an eyewitness to the confrontation, looking at the helicopters flying up to the site, how they hovered before the landing, and grenade launchers hit them from enemy positions, how the shuravi jumped out of the flames of the rotorcraft and immediately entered the battle. Through the crackle of bursts and the rumble of explosions, Bruno heard the orders of the commanders and their reports on the radio to the command center. He saw how the number of killed and wounded grew, and selflessly beat his father's machine gun, saving the lives of his comrades. This whole video sequence ran before Bruno's eyes.
- At the top of this slope, our firing points were located, - Ismatulla continued, - We were shooting from them all the nearest space. - With these words, he turned to face one of the peaks, covering his eyes with his palm from the sun blinding from the edge of the mountain. - And here, in the night, that strong shuravi appeared before me, as powerful as you. - He stamped on the spot where the Soviet soldier stood.
The automatic burst that cut off the soldier's life with a mountain echo in the night echoed in Bruno's heart, in his chest it sank heavily. An inner feeling suggested that it was most likely his father. Bruno saw how the next day his lifeless, head-covered body, along with other dead and wounded, was loaded aboard the Mi-8MT and sent to the rear. Ismatullah finished. Bruno stood silently, breathing deeply in the mountain air, and mentally communicated with his father. Before leaving, he collected a large handful of earth from the place where the Soviet soldier was shot and put it in his backpack. By the time Ismatulla, Bruno and Yahya Mukhadi returned to Yakhchan-Khurd, it was already getting dark. It's time to say goodbye. Ismatullah with a repentant look extended his hand to Bruno to shake hands and said:
- Forgive us and do not be angry. The years that have passed since the departure of the shuravi have opened our eyes to many things. Insight, even if it comes decades later, makes sense.
Ismatulla went out to accompany the guests outside the gate with all his children and handed Bruno a package of gifts with persimmon and dried dried apricots. When the guests set off, he remained standing by the road for a long time, thinking about something and waving after the departing taxi, until it completely disappeared on the horizon.

SITA AHMADZAY

The return from the trip to Khost-Va-Fereng took place at midnight. The taxi first left at Yahya Muhadi's house, then headed to MSF hospital to pick up Otto. Upon arrival at MSF, Bruno undertook to help the limping Otto bring Ismatulla's gifts to the ward, at the same time with the opportunity to meet with the enchanting doctor Ahmadzai. In order to avoid complaints for a late visit from the medical staff, he silently made his way along the narrow corridor, until he ran into face to face with Ahmadzai, who was on duty at night, at the staff room. Blown by a breath of subtle notes of vanilla, lily of the valley and sandalwood, Bruno froze for a moment, but immediately pulled himself together and said:
- Frau Ahmadzai, how glad I am to see you! Since our previous meeting, I reproach myself for not asking your name. I want to correct this error.
With these words, Bruno smiled, and the girl accepted them without emotion.
- My name is Sita! - she introduced herself.
- A beautiful name - Sita! - repeated Bruno.
- Are your parents from Kunduz? Bruno asked.
- Yes, from Imam-Sahib, a district north of Kunduz.
- You yourself, Tajik? - continued questioning Bruno
- No, I am a Pashtun of the Gilzai tribe. My roots are from the southeast - Paktia. Our ancestors moved to Kunduz during the time of Emir Amanullah Khan in 1925, then there was a state policy of Pashtunization of the northern territories. The peoples of the north - Tajiks, Uzbeks, Hazaras - moved to the south and southeast - to Kandahar, Ghazni, Jalalabad - to the places of traditional residence of the Pashtun tribes, and the Pashtuns Gilzai and Karlani - to the northeast to Katagan, - Sita explained.
- How did you end up in Germany? - asked Bruno
- In 1980, after the introduction of Soviet troops, my parents and their young older brothers moved to Munich, where, a few years later, I was born,” Sita said.
Bruno was indescribably glad to start a conversation with her and, despite the distracting patients and the medical staff in the corridor, to create a favorable environment for communication, in order to have time to ask about many things, he pulled Sita with the tips of his fingers by the elbow to stand against the wall. But she instantly pulled her hand away and rebuked Bruno:
- It is not accepted in Afghanistan! This is not Germany!
- Sorry, Sita! - realized his bad manners.
She omitted this incident and continued:
- After school I graduated from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Munich. And in 2008, after passing an interview, she was hired by the medical humanitarian organization MSF "Doctors Without Borders". This is all that I am now ready to tell about myself. And now I have to go, - Sita summed up, smiling, and went into one of the chambers.
- This is the best day of my life, - thought Bruno, returning to the unit's location. From that day on, thoughts of Sita did not leave him. Their meetings became regular, forging a deep relationship.

END OF OPERATION JOKER

A month has passed. The search for Moulawi Shamsuddin and Mullah Abdul Rahman, who had reached the status of the shadow governor of Kunduz province by that time, did not bring any results. Raging on the CBU TF-47 through intelligence channels, information was received that on the night of October 18-19, a meeting of the Taliban leadership will be held in the Gundai village of Chahar-dara district, Kunduz province, chaired by Abdul Rahman. It was planned to discuss the establishment of interaction between the Taliban units in the attack on the forces of the German ISAF contingent. In the shortest possible time, a plan of operation was developed at TF-47 headquarters. According to him, the special forces group of oberleutenant Bruno Thevs flew in NHI NH90 helicopters to the area of ;;operation to the Gundai village and, hanging over the building where the Taliban leaders were meeting, began to destroy them with fire from onboard machine guns. Having suppressed active centers of resistance, Thevs's group landed and, having surrounded the premises, proceeded to liquidate those who preferred not to surrender to the Taliban. Mullah Abdul Rahman was among those who chose a different outcome. He and other survivors of the Taliban were put on NHI NH90 helicopters and transported to TF-47 base.

AIR IMPACT ON A MEDRACE IN KISHLAK DAFTANI 

Otto Greenberg's cure went on as usual. He refused the offer of the DER SPIEGEL management to return to Germany. Despite the limited mobility, he actively worked from the hospital - he made appointments in his inner garden and quickly traveled outside. And now, in anticipation of a rendezvous with Yahya Mukhadi, Otto went out into the garden in advance to breathe fresh autumn air. The sun was not so hot anymore, but it was warm + 35C. Autumn in Kunduz is a great time, Otto thought. His thoughts were interrupted by a phone call from Hamburg.
The publishing house was interested in the state of his health and the course of treatment. As soon as Otto finished the conversation, suddenly a loud sound was heard and two attack helicopters with the image of the national flag of Afghanistan flew low over the ground. This was soon followed by the thunder of heavy explosions. With a brisk limp, leaning on a cane, Otto walked to the middle of the hospital corridor, where the nurse on duty was located, to inquire about what had happened. Nobody knew anything yet, but the presentiments were not happy. The first thing that came to Otto's mind was the analogy of the tragedy in Umar-heil. A few minutes later, the alarm bells rang, and a commotion began.
The medical staff ran down the hospital corridor to the exit, loaded into ambulances and, having turned on loud sirens, hastily left for the call. As before, there was no one to ask about what had happened. It remained to wait for the official news. Soon, local TV news reported that at about 11:00 am, Afghan military aviation, supported by ISAF forces, launched an air strike on the village of Daftani, Dashti-e-Archi district, northeast of the city of Kunduz. It was also reported that at the time of the airstrike in the Daftani madrasah, festivities were held on the occasion of the results of the competition of the Koran reciters - hafiz among children from 6-13 years old. In a solemn atmosphere, they were awarded diplomas and gifts. Otto began to hastily think how he could get to the scene of the tragedy in the village of Daftani and interview local residents - eyewitnesses and victims of the airstrike. It is pointless to count on the truthfulness of the information from the heralds of the ISAF and Afghan official sources, Otto thought, especially considering that the Dashti-e-Archi district is entirely controlled by the Taliban. The only right decision, Bruno believed, is to get in touch with them. " Suddenly it dawned on him, he remembered the one-eyed Yakub Khan - the owner of the teahouse in the Kunduz circle, who in the 1980s commanded one of the detachments in Shamsuddin's group.
- This must be the surest move! - Otto admitted, deciding through him to establish contact with the Taliban and get their sanctions for journalistic investigation. At that moment, Yahya Mukhadi drove up to the hospital and they immediately went to the teahouse of Yakub Khan.
- Do not misunderstand me, - Yakub Khan was sincere, - in many respects I condemn the policies and actions of the Taliban movement and do not agree with the venerable Shamsuddin himself in everything, which is why I stay away from them. I would also recommend that you take into account, - reminded Yakub-khan, - that when the hostages were released in the village of Halazai, including you, Mr. Otto, Shamsuddin's people died. And he himself, it is important to note, miraculously survived. Therefore, they are unlikely to be happy to see you alive.
- And you explain to them that I am a journalist, - Otto taught, - and my job is to collect genuine material. I only ask them to admit me to the autochthonous population of Daftani, to the victims who have lost their children, - he begged.
- Okay. I will try, - promised Yakub Khan. However, by the expression on his face, it was hard to believe in the prospect of this venture.
Otto Naopak, on the other hand, gave himself a directive not to leave the teahouse until he got contact with the Taliban. While Yakub Khan was making an appointment with someone by phone, Otto walked with Yahya Mukhadi into the depths of the teahouse and, occupying the usual trestle bed, made an order for Zalmay. Nazirkom watching Yakub Khan who remained at the entrance and the visitors who entered the teahouse, Otto and Yahya slowly ate mutton kebab, flatbread and drank tea.
In the long run, a gray-bearded man in a blue perukhan and a light turban, apparently about 50, approached the Yakub Khan's teahouse. Yakub Khan led him to the trestle-bed where Otto and Yahya were sitting and, pointing his palm at the guest, quietly said: "This is the one you need." Otto and Yahya politely left the trestle bed and invited the guest to sit down. Yakub Khan ordered a kettle of tea for his son-Zalmay for the guest and returned to the entrance. The guest silently took off his shoes and climbed onto the trestle bed, sitting down in a corner.
- I am a correspondent for the German magazine Der Spiegel Otto Greenberg, - he introduced himself to the guest, - and this is my translator Yahya Muhadi. His brother Sultan Mukhadi was one of the hostages in the Khalazai village. He died on release. Yahya translated Otto's words for sure and without hesitation. The guest nodded his head and, devoutly putting his palm to his heart, expressed his condolences to Yahya, after which he introduced himself: "I am Halfutdin."
- What would you like? He asked dryly.
- I ask to be admitted to the village of Daftani, so that I can interview the local residents, and if I succeed, then the families of the victims, - Otto expressed his aspiration.
- Okay! We will take you to Daftani and are even ready to ensure your safety, - Halfutdin admitted, - in return, we must receive a truthful coverage of this atrocity, without distortion. Exactly the way it is.
- I promise you to shoot the reportage on a photo and video camera and send it to the editorial office along with the written material, greatly complicating this attempt at falsification,” Otto promised.
On this and agreed. Khalfutdin urgently appointed the place and time of the meeting on the southern outskirts of the Daftani village at 6.00. Leaving the teahouse, cheered up, Otto warmly thanked Yakub Khan for organizing the meeting and, clapping his hands gratefully, left several hundred euros in his palm. Then he got into a taxi called by Zalmay and headed to the MSF hospital. By the time Otto arrived at MSF, his courtyard was filled with ambulances and over a hundred Afghans. There was a male hubbub and female sobs. MSF M;decins Sans Fronti;res Hospital and two other hospitals in Kunduz were filled with children from Daftani. Having waited tensely for the onset of the morning, dejected by the mass tragedy, Otto and Yahya Mukhadi at the appointed hour drove up to the southern outskirts of Daftani by taxi. Halfutdin was already there. He greeted impassively and, looking piercingly into Otto's eyes, asked:
- Do you confirm the fulfillment of our requirements ?!
- I confirm! - Otto answered with conviction and Halfutdin led them with Yahya along the narrow streets of Daftani. Passing in a male, they came to the building of an old mosque. Its facade was riddled with a thousand bomb fragments. Suddenly we saw the rickety frame of the tent erected on the occasion of the festivities, the roof torn off by the explosion and heaps of pairs of children's shoes left after the tragedy of the last day. Otto took a camera out of his bag and, setting the current time on the screen, began to shoot everything. The place where the children were during the celebrations was profusely covered with blood. Scattered around were scraps of clothing and small fragments of human bodies. Otto moved the camera smoothly, trying not to miss anything. By this time, a large kagal of men had already gathered at the mosque, who fervently discussed yesterday's tragedy. Halfutdin brought Otto and Yahya to them and, before allowing them to collect interviews, covered his face with a piece of turban, leaving only his eyes and made a heartfelt speech to the camera:
- Corrupt government officials said that the Afghan Air Force launched a targeted airstrike on the village of Daftani in Kunduz province, destroying the Taliban training center and thirty of its militants, including Taliban leader Mullah Beriani, who had arrived from Quetta Shura, and nine field commanders. It was also noted that none of the civilians were injured in the airstrike. You will see for yourself that it was a mass murder of children.
Halfutdin was followed by a resident of Daftani, the lanky Mohammad Ishan, dressed in a brown Peruhan and beige pakol:
- When the helicopters appeared in the sky, the children got scared and began to shout: They will drop bombs on us! They will drop bombs on us! "And the adults reassured them: This will not happen! Do not be afraid! However, it happened! - Mohammad Ishan said emotively, wiping his tears with the sleeves of his Peruhan. - The ceremony was attended by over two hundred children. Most of them were 11 and 12 years old, and a little older. Thanks to the fact that I stood a little further away, I miraculously managed to survive. After Mohammad Ishan, with a tremor in his voice and grief in his eyes, a bony farmer living near the madrasah by the name of Haji Gulyam, who was holding a gray donkey with fascins by the bridle, spoke out. Taking a few more interviews at the site of the fall of the bombs, Halfutdin led Otto and Yahya further along narrow streets past the houses of the village of Daftani. From every courtyard came women's groaning and crying. Parents and relatives said goodbye to the deceased children before taking them to the cemetery. Entering the courtyards, in order to avoid the lynching, Halfutdin raised his hand, letting the inhabitants of Daftani understand that the infidels Otto and Yahya were his people. Otto was serene and continued to film everything that appeared in front of him.
- My son was only 13 years old! - said Abdul Khalid, a blacksmith of the village of Daftani, who was sitting by the body of his son, wiping tears from his eyes with cracked, twisted fingers. - He learned the Quran by heart and was invited to the ceremony of awarding the Hafiz reciters. On that day he was festively dressed and especially happy.
- My two sons have learned the Quran by heart. Finally, the long-awaited day of their awarding with diplomas and participation in the ceremony of tying a turban came, - the mother of two dead brothers, dressed in a burgundy veil, told about her lack of freedom. The day before, they brought home two flower wreaths, which I was supposed to wear on them when I returned from the celebrations. I went out to meet them on the street, holding in my hands the wreaths they had prepared, but they were not there. Suddenly, two helicopters flew low in the sky, and I heard four loud explosions, followed by screams. After a short time, their father returned, carrying the bodies of our two sons on his shoulders. Entering the house, he told me: "Our sons have learned the book of the Almighty by heart and immediately went to meet him".
In conclusion, Halfutdin again covered his face with a piece of turban and spoke to the camera:
- Among those killed in the air strike in Daftani, one hundred and one children died, more than a hundred were injured. Thirty-seven children will be buried in Daftani today. The bodies of children from other villages have already been taken by their parents for burial in other places. I draw the attention of everyone! - he raised his index finger. - Among the dead and wounded during the air strike in Daftani, there was not a single Taliban fighter, but only civilians.
With this, Otto and Yahya Muhadi completed their mission in Daftani. They returned depressed and devastated. At the same time, Otto felt a deep sense of satisfaction that he was able to do his job. He was overcome by two questions: from whom did the information about the presence of Taliban leaders in Daftani come? And who gave the order to launch an air strike on the Afghan Air Force ?!

ONE WEEK LATER. HQ TF-47
 
The telephone rang in Oberst Georg Jung's office. On the return link was the city of Calw, Germany, the KSK operational headquarters, Brigadier General Markus Neumann.
- Hello, Mr. Brigadier General,” Oberst Jung preceded in greeting.
- Hello, Oberst! - greeted Neumann and immediately asked a question. - Tell me, which of the German journalists is hanging around there at the moment? Otto Krueger from Der Spiegel, is there ?!
- Otto Greenberg! Jung corrected, anticipating the problem.
- We rescued him from captivity ?! Neumann asked.
- That's right, Mr. Brigadier General, him! Jung confirmed.
“His article in Der Spiegel on the Daftani airstrike made a lot of noise. In the Bundestag, ISAF, Pentagon, Bundeswehr - everyone is very nervous, - said Neumann.
- He was wounded, as far as I remember? - remembered Neumann.
- That's right, Mr. Brigadier General, was! Jung said.
- And what is he still doing there ?! - asked Neumann.
- Undergoing treatment at MSF Hospital, Mr. Brigadier General, - Jung reported.
- So send him to hell in Germany, - commanded, Neumann raising his tone.
- I can’t, Mr. Brigadier General. MSF Hospital is an international civilian institution. And to Greenberg I am not the boss. He has his own leadership in Hamburg. And in general, I propose to think about whether we should quarrel with Der Spiegel, - Jung admonished, funding the vote, - journalists are scandalous people, it is better not to grapple with them. Otherwise, they will start to follow on their heels, sniffing out the fried, destroying the network of agents built over the years.
- Well, - agreed Neumann, - then block their access to the scene and the local population to collect malicious information, - ordered Neumann.
- This is impossible, Mr. Brigadier General, - Tolmil Jung, - unfortunately, they have their own sources of information and they are free to move.
- Unfortunately! - angry Neumann was annoyed, but we free them from captivity and, often, sacrificing our people!
- I’ll think about it, - Jung promised, - and try to do something, Mr. Brigadier General.
- Okay, Oberst! - Neumann hoped, ordering at last, - Keep me informed.
Oberst Jung hung up and immediately called the assistant.
- Urgently call the oberleutenant Thevs.
Five minutes later, there was a knock on Jung's office.
- Mr. Oberst, oberleutenant Thevs has arrived at your order! - earnestly reported Bruno.
- Oberleutenant! - Oberst Jung, who came out from behind a large work table, began, inviting Bruno to sit down vis-a-vis a pair of leather chairs at the coffee table with a gesture. - As far as I know, do you keep in touch with journalist Otto Greenberg?
- Yes, yes, Mr. Oberst, I support!
- Where is he at the moment? Oberst Jung asked.
- Still undergoing treatment at MSF Doctors Without Borders, - Bruno said.
- This Greenberg, with his material on the Daftani airstrike, caused a great stir in society. Some time ago my big bosses phoned me from Kalw, they are extremely indignant at the publication of his article in Der Spiegel. I consider it necessary, ”Jung claimed,“ that you should immediately go to this Greenberg at the MSF Doctors Without Borders hospital and, as he risked his own life and the lives of his subordinates in the name of saving him, insist that he leave Afghanistan without delay.
- Yes, Mr. Oberst! - accepted Bruno for execution, not knowing how to approach the solution of this problem.
In addition to Oberst Jung's sound arguments, given in a telephone conversation to Brigadier General Neumann, Bruno and Otto had already established good relations and some moral obligations. Indeed, thanks to the appearance of Otto, Bruno received relics - photographs and a notebook of his Father, transmitted by the Mujahideen Ismatulla, who told about the circumstances of the fatal battle of a group of Soviet scouts in the Khost-Va-Fereng mountains. The wonderful Afghan woman Sita Ahmadzai, who stunned Bruno at first sight, also appeared in Bruno's life due to the appearance of Otto. However, half an hour later he was sitting opposite Otto Greenberg in his room at MSF Hospital.
- Otto, we managed to make good friends with you. I sincerely do not want to spoil relations with you, but they expect results from me, - explained Bruno.
At this time, Sita Ahmadzai looked into the room, like a ray of the sun, looking tired and depressed.
- Sita! - Bruno was delighted and got up.
- Frau Ahmadzai! Otto perked up. - How welcome! Do you have a separate room where the three of us can retire for a while?
Bruno was somewhat discouraged by the strange request. Sita became thoughtful and soon remembered the head nurse's room. While she went to get the keys, Otto asked Bruno to take his video camera, and they walked through a narrow passage of a hospital corridor filled with many beds with injured children from Daftani and their loved ones. As they walked along the corridor, they noticed a young Afghan woman with a blue veil thrown back, standing at the door to the operating room. A European doctor came to her and, removing the mask, through the transfer of the nurse to Dari, said that her son had died. The silence in the corridor was broken by the cry of an unhappy mother, which turned into heart-rending sobs. When Otto and Bruno approached the head nurse's room, Sita pulled herself up. She opened the room and turned on the light. Noticing that Sita was about to leave, Otto asked:
- Sita, please stay a little longer. - And he invited her to sit down.
Sita chose not to sit down and, glancing at her watch, warned:
- Well, just a little.
Otto took the video camera from Bruno's hands, put it on the table and turned it on. On a small screen, with the shooting date continuously flashing in the lower corner, the village of Daftani appeared: the facade of the local mosque damaged by the explosion, the rickety structure of a festive tent with a torn off roof, a blood-soaked area with a large number of pairs of children's shoes left in place after the tragedy of the previous day, and small fragments of human bodies. This footage was followed by interviews with local residents gathered at the mosque, parents who were sitting at the bodies of their dead children. Otto did not comment on anything. Bruno stared at the screen, not looking away. Sita was leaning against the wall and silently wiping away her tears.
- Bruno! Otto said. - The ISAF coalition prefers to hide this inhuman crime - everything is clear with them. What do you personally think about this cynical air strike ?! You also think that such crimes are permissible in XXI, ”Otto asked emotionally. - How do they differ from the fascists of the Third Reich, who wiped out thousands of cities and villages in your homeland, the USSR, exterminating twenty-six million people who branded the German people with curses and eternal guilt before humanity ?!
Bruno was silent. The footage of children's shoes and the farewell of parents to their children shocked him. He no longer thought that he would report to Oberst Jung.
- Otto, how long do you plan to stay in Kunduz? - Bruno asked angrily, intuitively feeling the threat to his life. - You should seriously think about personal safety. With your journalistic activities, you have become objectionable not only to ISAF, but also to the Afghan government. Eliminating you with the hands of ISAF specialists or bribed Taliban is an easy task.
- I have to finish collecting material about the presence of Soviet troops, - Otto explained, admitting, - I suppose it will take another month.
Bruno took note of this, but he strongly doubted Otto's readiness to leave Afghanistan. He accompanied him to the ward and invited Sita to sit for a short while in the hospital garden.
- Were you born in the Soviet Union? Sita asked unexpectedly.
- Yes, in Kazakhstan, - Bruno answered. - In the city of Dzhambul. We are Germans. My ancestors moved to Russia from Germany in 1762, and we returned in 1989.
- Is it true that your father died in Afghanistan? Sita asked sympathetically. - Mr. Greenberg informed me about it.
- True, - Bruno confirmed.
- And where did it happen? Sita asked.
- Not far away, in the Khost-Va-Ferenga mountains. - clarified Bruno.
- I am very sorry, - Sita condoled and, wishing to change the subject, continued, - I can imagine the amazed faces of my relatives, learning about the courtship of my son Shuravi.
- Will this aggravate the situation after I am an ISAF soldier? - Bruno brought with a smile.
- You know, the attitude of Afghans to the shuravi is different, ambiguous. - Sita began to explain, - Yes, the war in the 1980s badly spoiled him. But there were also many good things. Parents said that the Soviet Union, before the war in Afghanistan, used its own funds to build factories, plants, combines, a large hydroelectric power plant Naglu, founded a polytechnic institute in Kabul, and built a tunnel on Salang.
- So I still have facilitating circumstances? - Bruno relied with a smile.
There was a pause. Bruno took Sita's hard-wired hands in his protruding veins and gazed into her eyes. She felt awkward, looked down and, removing her hands, drew attention to the time on Bruno's clock.
- Oh, it's time for me to run, - Sita announced the alarm bell and, having reached the hospital door with Bruno, disappeared into the crowd of the corridor.
Bruno arrived at the location late in the evening. The officer on duty told him that in the morning Oberst Jung had come to visit his son Alfred, a cadet at the Munich Military Medical Academy. Bruno was delighted at this circumstance, considering it a reason to postpone the report concerning Otto's departure to Germany. He went into the cockpit, pulled out the drawer, took out the book "The Great Game in Afghanistan" and continued reading it.
Bruno arrived at the location late in the evening. The officer on duty told him that in the morning Oberst Jung had come to visit his son Alfred, a cadet at the Munich Military Medical Academy. Bruno was delighted at this circumstance, considering it a reason to postpone the report concerning Otto's departure to Germany. He went into the cockpit, pulled out the drawer, took out the book "The Great Game in Afghanistan" and continued reading it.

NORTH-EASTERN AFGHANISTAN 1930-1931

FROM THE MATERIALS OF THE INTELLIGENT DEPARTMENT OF THE CENTRAL ASIAN MILITARY DISTRICT 1930:
"On the territory of the south of Soviet Central Asia and the north-east of Afghanistan, Kurbashi Ibrahim-bey plans to create an independent Uzbek-Tajik state headed by the ousted Emir of Bukhara Seid Alim Khan. To this end, in early June 1930, in the Afghan provinces of Katagan and Badakhshan, Ibrahim-bek raised a popular uprising, creating his own administration in the regions under his control".

Spurred by the interest of the governments of Afghanistan and the USSR - the raid of the combined detachment of the Red Army under the command of brigade commander Ya.A. Melkumov. deep into Afghan territory at the end of June 1930, led to the destruction of the Basmachi's rear infrastructure left defenseless, but not themselves. Ibrahim-bek, in order to save his people, hid from the disastrous clash in the mountains. Therefore, in the fall of 1930, Emir Mohammad Nadir Shah, who retained the reason to defeat the detachments of the obstinate Lokay, sent parts of the regular army to the northeast under the command of the Minister of War Shah Mahmud Khan. The fighting of the Afghans and Basmachi covered a wide front from Meimene to Rustak. The first defeat from the detachments of Ibrahim-bek, the government troops under the command of Safar-khan, the governor of Katagan and Badakhshan, suffered near Khazarbag. In the second, they lost up to 2.5 thousand dead. Afghan Uzbeks and Tajiks sided with Ibrahim-bek and poured twenty militia units into his army with a total number of about 2.5 thousand soldiers - 2,150 Uzbeks and 300 Tajiks. The local population allocated 45 rupees to each member of Ibrahim-bek's formations as a monthly allowance. The most active resistance to the Kabul authorities, from among the local population, came from the Uzbeks-Katagans.
Ibrahim Bek, meanwhile, continued to build on his success. Losses of government troops in the clash near Khanabad amounted to 700 dead, and in Aliabad - 280. In the areas taken under control: in Rustak, Chahi-Aba, Talukan, Imam-Sahib, Ibrahim-bek appointed his governors - beks. A detachment from the village of Bangui, staffed by Afghan Uzbeks and Tajiks, as well as the allied formations of Kurbashi Kugan-bek, Mullo Holdor, Mullo Jura Dahan, allied to Ibrahim-bek, captured the villages of Yangi-kala and Dzhulchu, also besieging the fortress of the Rustak garrison and Talukan. Along the entire battlefield, stretching from Kunduz to Faizabad, Ibrahim-bey outplayed Mahmud-khan in a maneuver, attacking suddenly. At the stage of these events, the Emir of Bukhara, Seyid Alim Khan, under pressure from the assistants of Nadir Shah, sent an angry letter to Ibrahim-bek demanding to stop the struggle, surrender weapons and appear in Kabul. But Kurbashi regarded this order as a personal insult and luring into a trap. The next message to Ibrahim Bek came from King Mohammad Nadir Shah, it was in an underlined polite tone. In it, Nadir Shah called on Ibrahim-bek to disarm his troops and arrive in Kabul without protection. If these conditions are met, Ibrahim-bek was offered the post of deputy governor of the provinces of Katagan and Badakhshan. After consulting with his fellow tribesmen and allied Turkmen kurbashi, Ibrahim-bek rejected the proposal of the Afghan ruler.
In order to increase its influence over King Mohammad Nadir Shah, England reasonably decided to support the defeated government troops by providing the Afghan monarchy with borrowed funds and a large batch of weapons. So, to help the government troops, in December 1930, the Minister of War Shah Mahmud Khan pulled together additional forces, made up of the militias of the Pashtun tribes: braziers, masuds, vazirs, dauras, jadrans from the southeast of the country. In the course of the battles, they were joined by formations of local Hazaras. The Uzbeks, Tajiks, Turkmens who came from the Soviet territory, who settled life in the northern territories, as well as their Afghan tribesmen, to the same extent experienced the cruelty of government troops and Pashtun tribal formations. The victims and destruction they inflicted, violence and robbery have significantly aggravated the interethnic conflict between the north and south, rallying around Ibrahim-bek the main population of Katagan and Badakhshan. Meanwhile, the authorities in Kabul figured out how to split the cohesion of the Basmachi detachments and deprive them of the support of the autochthonous population. She bribed a number of kurbashis dissatisfied with the one-man command of Ibrahim-bek, bestowing upon them the titles of beks. Hungry for enrichment, the pro-Kabul beks began to rob and oppress the population, destroying sympathy for the Basmachis.
By early March 1931, Minister of War Shah Mahmud Khan strengthened the government grouping and on March 6, in the Talukan area, dealt a crushing blow to a large detachment of Ibrahim Bek, which suffered 315 casualties. Pushing the forces of Ibrahim-bek from Khanabad to the border zone, Mahmud-khan restored central power in the rebellious region. As a consequence, on March 16 in Khanabad, 35 prisoners of Ibrahim-bek's Basmachi were publicly executed. At the same time, his detachment was treacherously attacked by the cavalry of one of the Turkmen kurbashi, bribed by the Afghan government. By mid-March 1931, government troops and Pashtun tribal formations pursued Ibrahim Bek's troops throughout the north, preventing them from recuperating. The population of Afghan Turkestan and the tribesmen of Ibrahim-bek, who participated in the battles with government troops, were tired of the war, the reserves of the Basmachi were running out. Meanwhile, Ibrahim-bek himself, who considered the territory of the Central Asian republics as an additional bridgehead, followed the socio-political situation in the course of continuous collectivization and was aware of the escalation of tensions in individual regions.
Compressed by Afghan government troops, Ibrahim-bek hoped to receive the support of the population in his homeland and on March 30, 1931, with his detachment, according to some estimates, from 600-800 to 1500 people, crossed the Amu Darya and invaded Soviet territory. While trying to go deeper, he was pushed aside by the Soviet border guards to the border strip. A detachment of Kurbashi Utan-bek - 250 horsemen came to his aid from Afghanistan. However, met with fire by border guards, the Basmachi retreated with losses. Despite the setbacks, Ibrahim-bey still did not abandon the revanchist plans of a campaign in the USSR. Therefore, in early May 1931, at his headquarters in Aliabad, he met with the leader of the Turkmen emigration, the allied kurbashi Ishan Khalifa Kyzyl-ayak, who confirmed his intentions to cooperate. However, the further course of events made its own adjustments. In a June letter to Ibrahim-bek, Ishan Khalifa Kyzyl-ayak wrote:
- You cannot stay in Afghanistan, you have to go to Iran. In support of his words, in the middle of the summer of 1931, having promised Kabul not to strengthen Bole Ibrahim-bek, Kyzyl-Ayak received the right to retreat with an army to Iran. By that time, most of the detachments friendly to Ibrahim-bek had already been disarmed. Some went into the service of Emir Nadir Shah, and those who refused to lay down their arms were destroyed. At the beginning of June 1931, Kabul demanded that Ibrahim bey certify to Mohammad Nadir Shah the fullness of his royal power and dissolve his 1.5 thousand army, leaving only 200 soldiers. Kurbashi obeyed, but did not abandon the plan to create an independent Uzbek-Tajik state in the north.
Meanwhile, interstate relations between Afghanistan and the USSR were strengthening. On June 24, 1931, an agreement was signed to prevent armed formations and organizations hostile to the other side on its territory. According to him, the states developed interaction, suppressing the remnants of the Basmachi detachments on Afghan territory. As part of its commitment, the Afghan government has deployed additional military forces to the northern territories. In the summer of 1931, government troops continued to inflict damage on the formations of Ibrahim-bek. By the beginning of June 1931, in battles with the troops of the Red Army, Kurbashi lost 1224 Basmachs killed, 75 were taken prisoner, 314 people voluntarily laid down their arms. The aid to the war-tired autochthonous population and the wealthy Central Asian emigration has been significantly reduced. Ibrahim-bek suffered one defeat after another and was squeezed out by Afghan government forces beyond the Amu Darya. As a result, he made a decision, together with a detachment of loyal Lokai, to cross the state border of the USSR and break into the region of the Kafirnigan River valley.
To counter the formation of Ibrahim-bek, the Red Army formed a grouping of the 3rd Turkestan Infantry Division, 7th Turkestan Cavalry Brigade, 8th Turkestan Cavalry Brigade, Uzbek Cavalry Brigade, 83rd Cavalry Regiment, Tajik Infantry Battalion, Kyrgyz Cavalry Division , 35th separate squadron and other units. The combat area of ;;the Red Army and Ibrahim-bek detachments in the Kafirnigan River valley covered areas of the Baysuntog, Aktau (Aktag), Babatag mountain range. The outcome of the battle near Derbent on June 23, 1931, 30 kilometers west of Baysun, was the defeat of a special detachment of the OGPU under the command of Mukum Sultanov of the Ibrahim-bek formation. According to some sources, Kurbashi Ibrahim-bek himself was captured by the collective farmer Gyul-Khoja Nazar in the area of ;;the Bulbulon village while crossing to the right bank of the Kafirnigan River. After being escorted to the village of Lyaur, by plane Junkers F-13, he was escorted to the city of Stalinabad - Dushanbe, and from there to Tashkent. There Ibrahim-bek was brought to trial and on April 13, 1932, he was sentenced to capital punishment - execution. Many Basmachi from the detachments of Ibrahim-bek, even after the execution of their kurbashi, continued their armed struggle against Soviet power.
Servicemen of the regular units of the Afghan army and members of the Pashtun tribal formations who participated in the northeastern military campaign against the detachments of Ibrahim-bek were awarded the medal “For the defeat of the rebels of Katagan and Badakhshan”, specially established by the Afghan government, and were awarded with cash. It is not known for certain whether Ibrahim-bek actually said them, but the following words are attributed to him:
- Wherever we go, everywhere we are required to surrender our weapons, the best direction for us is Soviet territory. There, in our native places, we will hand over our weapons to the Soviet regime ... Let the Bolsheviks kill me better than the Afghans.
Bruno read the book "The Great Game in Afghanistan" and came across many names of well-known settlements in the Kunduz province: Chardara, Khanabad, Aliabad, Talukan, Bangui, Umar-heil and others. He thought, how little, almost a century later, has changed here. Meanwhile, the Taliban, like TF-47, closely followed the developments in the enemy camp. The arrival of the younger Jung in Kunduz immediately became known to the Taliban leader Moulawi Shamsuddin. He started looking for an opportunity to kidnap him. And soon, he introduced himself to him. The Taliban, who are constantly monitoring the TF-47 garrison from the immediate vicinity, recorded the departure of the ATF-DINGO-2 armored personnel carrier with Alfred Jung and two special forces accompanying him, setting up surveillance on vehicles with radio communication. Taking advantage of an armored vehicle stop at the Kunduz circle - a square in the city center for the younger Jung to buy souvenirs, the Taliban launched a fire raid from both sides with a small group. First, they shot the commandos, and then pushed the younger Jung into an inconspicuous car and drove away in an unknown direction. The whereabouts of Alfred Jung were unknown. Oberst Georg Jung fell in despair. He spent the whole night in his office, not closing his eyes, waiting for at least some news about his son. After the morning divorce, empathic Bruno knocked on the Oberst's office:
- Allow me to enter, Mr. Oberst ?!
- Come in, oberleutenant, - Jung replied summarily.
- Remember the scandalous article about the air strike on Daftani in Der Spiegel, which caused an international public outcry? - Immediately went to the case of Bruno.
- I remember how not to remember, - replied the oberst to Bruno, who, as he believed, was bothering him with an untimely question.
- So, - continued Bruno, - I think it would have been impossible for its author - correspondent Otto Greenberg to collect material without the help of the Taliban. I am more than confident that Greenberg has contacts with the Taliban.
- Think reasonably, oberleutenant, - the Oberst cheered up, - this card in the deck came in handy for us.
- May I go to MSF hospital and persuade him to bring in his contacts to find your son? - Bruno addressed.
- Of course, oberleutenant! Jung agreed. - I will be sincerely grateful to you!
Dressed in civilian clothes, Bruno was at the MSF hospital. He did not find Otto in the ward and, at the tip of the nurse on duty, found him in the hospital cafeteria.
- Otto! - Bruno turned, sitting down at the table during his meal. - Yesterday in Kunduz, the Taliban shot two of our special forces and captured the son of Oberst Jung - Alfred.
- I heard about it, - Otto said sympathetically, “an unpleasant story.
- After the air strike on the village of Daftani, you went to the place and made a voluminous report ?! - continued Bruno.
- I am a journalist, this is my job! - declared Otto. - So what?!
- After all, this could not have been done without the assistance of the Taliban, right ?! - interrogated Bruno, and, moving his face close to the hot Otto, he began to speak under sardine. - Who else, if not the Taliban, took you to the village, ensured your personal safety and provided you with the opportunity to shoot everything? - Bruno reasonably stated.
- Well, let's say,- Otto said.
- Please, Otto, - Bruno addressed, - raise your contacts, find out about the location of the younger Jung and the conditions of his release.
- I won't do it! - without thinking he rejected Otto's request. - Oberst Jung is responsible for the deaths of more than a hundred peaceful Afghans, I'm not even talking about the Taliban.
Bruno leaned back in his chair and, turning half-turned, looked desperately out of the window.
- By the way, the operation to free you in Halazai was carried out under the command of Oberst Jung, in which he lost two of his subordinates,” Bruno summed up emotively.
There was a pause.
- Okay! Otto agreed reluctantly. - I'll try. But I warn you right away: I promise nothing!
- Thank you, Otto! - Bruno was heartily delighted, I was sure that you will not remain indifferent. While you are getting ready, I will run a short run to Sita and in 15 minutes I will be waiting for you at the exit.
In euphoria, Bruno left the dining room and went to look for Sita. During this time, Otto changed his clothes, called a taxi and, having called the translator Yahya Mukhadi, asked him to come to the teahouse of Yakub Khan. There, together with Bruno, he advanced himself. The travel time flew by quickly. The taxi stopped on the opposite side of the road opposite the teahouse. Yakub Khan, as usual, stood at the entrance. Seeing Otto and a friend getting out of the taxi, he waved his hand in joy. They missed the signaling traffic and crossed the road. Yahya Muhadi also came to this minute.
- To Assalam Aleikum! Otto greeted.
In response, Yakub Khan nodded his head with a smile and put his hand to his heart. After Otto Greenberg's article in the world's largest publication with genuine coverage of the tragedy in Daftani, he became a man of his word for the Taliban and Yakub Khan. Yakub Khan also remembered the personal monetary reward from Otto for his connection with the Taliban. He accompanied the guests to the usual Otto trestle bed and, calling his son Zalmai, took their order.
- Yakub Khan! - turned to the owner of the teahouse, Otto, who was standing by the trestle bed. - You probably know that the Bundeswehr armored personnel carrier was attacked the other day in Kunduz? Two soldiers were killed and the son of Commander Jung from TF-47, a young man of 20 years old, was kidnapped ?!
Yahya Muhadi translated Otto's words. Yakub Khan nodded his head sympathetically. Otto continued:
- I have a request to you: contact Shamsutdin's people, they probably know who did it. We will pass on their terms to TF-47, - Otto nodded at the hitherto unknown Bruno, - I believe that the parties will be able to find a compromise.
- I cannot promise anything, - Yakub Khan said cheerfully, - I propose to meet tomorrow at the same time. Perhaps I can clarify something.
The conversation was interrupted by the agile Zalmay, who brought the ordered dishes to the guests: a large lyagan pilaf, mutton shashlik and hot cakes. The guests postponed the discussion and, while listening to the soulful song “Dast az talab nadara” by the glorious Afghan singer Ahmad Zahir, sounded from the speakers and began a meal. Upon its completion, Otto called on Yahya Mukhadi to come to the teahouse at the specified time, and he himself, taking a taxi on the Kunduz circle, together with Bruno moved to the MSF hospital. Arriving at the place, he landed, and Bruno moved on. Bruno returned to the TF-47 base in the evening. First of all, he went to Oberst Jung and reported on the past and upcoming meeting with the Taliban representative. The next day, at the appointed hour, Otto, Bruno and Yahya Muhadi again arrived at the teahouse. At the entrance they were met by the eternally friendly Yakub Khan. They went into the hall and climbed onto the familiar trestle bed. Outraged, they saw how an old acquaintance of Otto and Yakhi Muhadi, the Taliban emissary Halfutdin, approached Yakub Khan. Yakub Khan accompanied him to the trestle-bed where the guests were sitting. Seeing an unfamiliar European, Halfutdin asked without polices:
- Who is it?!
Yakub Khan looked inquiringly at Otto, and he, through Muhadi's translation, explained:
“This is a Bundeswehr officer, Oberst Jung's commissioner.
Halfutdin looked at Bruno unkindly and demanded:
- Let him wait while we talk.
Muhadi translated the insistence, and Otto heeded him. In order to build a constructive conversation, he asked Bruno to wait for tea while he and Yahya talked with Halfutdin. At the suggestion of Yakub Khan, the four of them retired to the office. Bruno remained on the trestle bed and contemplated with curiosity the bustle of the street. “Once upon a time the streets of Kunduz amazed my Father with their archaism,” thought Bruno. Zalmai appeared worn out and deftly brought a teapot of green tea. Bruno poured it twice from the bowl back into the kettle and, half full, took a sip. While he was waiting for the end of the conversation between Otto and Halfutdin, a typical dark-skinned Afghan in a white turban and beige peruhan came down from the trestle bed opposite. He came closer and, standing sideways, without taking his eyes off the door to the office, said in good Russian:
- I advise you to avoid personal involvement in the exchange of Jung's son for Taliban leaders. And one more thing: the Taliban know about your close relationship with Shamsuddin's niece, a doctor at the MSF Doctors Without Borders hospital, Sita Ahmadzai. This is dangerous!
- Who you are?! - was amazed at the Russian speech of Bruno.
The stranger missed the question and hurriedly went to Zalmay, who replaced Father at the entrance, and, thrusting a bill into him on the way, disappeared into the stream of passers-by. Meanwhile, in a conversation in the office, Halfutdin reported:
- The son of Commander Jung is with Shamsutdin. The raid and abduction of an armored vehicle was the answer for the deaths of children in the village of Daftani. The young man is treated normally - they give him water and food.
- What are Shamsutdin's plans for him ?! Otto asked.
- He doesn't exclude the option of an exchange, - Halfutdin admitted borrowingly.
- Whom does he want in return ?! Otto asked.
- Shamsutdin is ready to exchange the son of Commander Jung for Mullah Abdul Rahman, captured in the Gundai village and five Taliban leaders from Kunduz, Baglan, Takhar and Badakhshan, arrested by TF-47! - brought the proposal of Shamsutdin Halfutdin. - The list of names is written here!
He handed Otto a folded sheet of paper and continued:
- The date and place where the exchange should be carried out is also indicated there.
Otto opened the crumpled sheet and saw the text in clumsy type in German. After the list of surnames and names of the Taliban, the date, time and place were written: a week later, at 6.00 am at the exit from the Kunduz-Baghlan highway in the wasteland of the outskirts of the city of Aliabad.
- The security of the exchange, - continued Halfutdin, - at the request of Shamsutdin, must be guaranteed by your life and someone from the close associates of Oberst Jung. You and someone else from Commander Jung will be taken hostage during the exchange. This is dictated by the fact that the exchange request came from you. In conclusion, I am instructed to convey that there is no need to take any steps to find the younger Jung! His life entirely depends on the will of Shamsutdin.
The conversation was over. The four of them went out into the hall, Yakub Khan went to escort Halfutdin to the exit, and Otto and Yahya Mukhadi joined Bruno, and after retelling the conversation they began to drink tea.
- These are the conditions, Bruno! - summed up Otto, describing the demands of the Taliban.
- I think it is wrong to involve you in this business! - expressed the opinion of Bruno. - I and the officer from TF-47.
- The conditions in this case are set by the Taliban, - Otto recalled.
Bruno could not object to this. When he returned to the location of TF-47, he immediately went into the office of Oberst Jung and recounted the conversation with Halfutdin in detail, giving him a sheet of paper with a list of Taliban, place and time of exchange. From there Bruno went to his cabin and, to distract himself a little, took out the book "The Great Game in Afghanistan" from the nightstand and began to read:

KUNDUZ. NORTH-EASTERN AFGHANISTAN 1941-1942

FROM THE REPORT OF THE MIDDLE EASTERN DEPARTMENT OF THE PEOPLE'S COMMISSARIAT FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS dated April 4, 1942:
 
“A group of Afghan soldiers led by the pro-German prince Mohammad Daoud has developed a plan for an attack on the Soviet Union. Kabul considers the transfer of Red Army units from the Soviet-Afghan border to the fronts of the Great Patriotic War to be a matter of the near future. According to M. Daud, this will allow the emirate of Afghanistan, with the forces of one division, formed from the Basmach formations in the north of the country, to seize Khiva and Bukhara. To this end, King Zahir Shah concluded a secret agreement with the ousted Emir of Bukhara Seyid Alim Khan, who was in exile in Kabul. "

With the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War in June 1941, Abwehr created the anti-Soviet and anti-allied intelligence and sabotage organization "Union" in Afghanistan. Its purpose was to collect secret information about the military-political situation in the republics of Soviet Central Asia and to prepare the Basmach formations in the north of Afghanistan for an attack on the Central Asian republics of the USSR. By the summer of 1941, the German and Japanese diplomatic missions had established close contact with all the major kurbashi of the Central Asian Basmachi. Abwehr residents D. Witzel and K. Rasmus, who were members of the German diplomatic mission in Kabul, guaranteed them money, weapons and horses. The entire spectrum of interaction between the Abwehr and the Basmachi leaders took place with the tacit consent of the Afghan government and was not stopped in any way.

THE SOUTH REGION OF KUNDUZ, September 15, 1941.
 
It was evening + 28C. An Uzbek kurbashi Mahmud-bek and employees of the German diplomatic mission in Kabul, in fact Abwehr agents K. Rasmus and D. Witzel, met in the house of a wealthy Afghan.
- Dear Mahmud-bey! - Witzel began with pathos. - We appreciate your long-term stubborn struggle against the Soviet regime, your large detachment of your own and authority among the kurbashi of the Uzbek and Turkmen Basmachi. But to a greater extent at this stage, your extensive agent network in the republics of Central Asia and northern Afghanistan is important for us. Three months have passed since the "Center" approved your candidacy for the head of the Union organization in September 1941. If you remember: at our previous meeting, did we set out to you a list of the main tasks of the first stage of the Union's activities? There were four of them:
1. Expansion of the agent network in the southern regions of the republics of Central Asia - the Turkmen SSR, the Tajik SSR and the Uzbek SSR.
2. Establishment of the true number of Basmach formations in northern Afghanistan according to their nationality, their place of deployment, the level of influence on the local population on both sides of the Amu Darya River, the names of their kurbashi.
3. Creation of a strong point near Kunduz for German sabotage groups for the purpose of transferring to the territory of the USSR.
4. Preparation of sabotage groups from among the Basmachi.
To what has been said, it is appropriate to add that you received a tranche of 40 thousand afghanis for these purposes, and that in addition to us, you are successfully providing secret intelligence to our Axis allies - Italy and Japan and amassed a decent fortune on this.
Mahmud-bek calmly listened to his patrons and began in an oriental way with a pretentious eyeliner:
- The attack of Nazi Germany on the USSR in the Central Asian emigre environment in the north of Afghanistan and in the capital Kabul was greeted with enthusiasm. The Mujahideen, all as one, at the call of their hearts are ready to march for the Amu Darya against the Red Army in order to step onto their native firmament and return our shrines Bukhara, Samarkand, Khiva and Fergana! Further, with regard to the task of expanding the agent network and the funds I received for this, I would like to inform you that the base of our agents in the three Central Asian republics has grown significantly. In addition to torny farmers, it included figures of the executive and state power of the Soviets, military personnel from the national formations of the Central Asian Military District of the Red Army, of various levels. With regard to the claims regarding my contacts with the Axis countries' intelligence services: as far as I know, this August, the German Ambassador to Kabul Hans Pilger, not without your esteemed Messrs. Witzel and Rasmus, organized a meeting between the Japanese attorney Katsubi and the Bukhara Emir Seyid Alim Khan ?! Outwardly observing the commitment to King Zahir Shah and his policy of neutrality, Emir Seyid Alim Khan declined the proposed cooperation at this meeting.
However, the intelligence agents of Japan, Italy, Turkey, soon awkwardly established contact with his inner circle and agreed on monetary and military assistance. Their personalities are well known to everyone, they are the son of the emir Seyid Umar Khan, the personal representative of Haji Vafa, matchmaker Seid Mubashir Khan Tirazi, as well as a number of Uzbek and Turkmen kurbashis - Ishan Khalifa Kyzyl-ayak, Seyid Kudratulla, Nurmamad, Salah and Abad , Mukhitdin Khan Tura, Abdullah Kerim Minbashi, Abdurahman Maksum, Mulla Klych Agha, Kushut-bai and Davlet Serdar. For my part, I consider it useful to remind you that at the stage of organizing the Union, I was approved by you as the commander-in-chief of the Basmachi units in Afghanistan. There is also an agreement between us that all assistance to the Basmachi will be carried out through me. But the precedent with the Emir of Bukhara suggests otherwise. My plans are transparent and everyone knows - this is the seizure of the territories of the Bukhara Emirate and the Khiva Khanate and the return of deposed rulers to their thrones!
Now about the report on the funds for the creation of a stronghold in Kunduz for the sabotage forces of the Third Reich: instead of one, I created two. The second is in Baghlan. Until your approval, a former officer of the Afghan army, Hamra Gul-bek, who is under my control, has been temporarily appointed as their leader. The next question is about the true number of Basmach formations in northern Afghanistan: based on the data collected from the Kurbashi on ten Afghan cities and their regions, it was 22.300 - twenty two thousand three hundred Basmachs, of which only 15 thousand are properly armed. After the announcement of these data, Mahmud-bey interrupted K. Rasmus's question:
- But the data of the Turkmen kurbashi Ishan Khalifa Kyzyl-Ayak, which he cited in his letter to Afghan Prime Minister Mohammed Hashim Khan in August of this year, differ significantly from yours! Kyzyl-ayak writes about its readiness to put under arms the 40 thousandth group of Turkmens. The same amount, according to him, will pour in in the event that we supply additional weapons and money. However, according to our data, Kyzyl-ayak has an army not exceeding 11 thousand Basmachi. In order to get more help, he deliberately overestimates the figure by 4 times.
- This is one of the pernicious consequences of my one-man rule destroyed by you! - complained Mahmud-bey. - According to my information, the total number of Turkmen formations based on the left bank of the Amu Darya from the beginning of 1939 to the fall of 1941 doubled. It should be borne in mind that the Turkmen emigration is the most numerous, which is why its detachments are large. Regarding the preparation of sabotage groups from among the Basmachi: we have determined a list of the most efficient detachments, from where it will be possible to conduct a selection in a short time. Their number and skill depend solely on your funds! In conclusion, I would like to note: the supreme power in Kabul is watching the events on the fronts of World War II, expecting the capture of Moscow, Leningrad by the Wehrmacht and the beginning of the fall of the USSR. If, or when, this happens, they will not miss a historical occasion, with bayonets of the invading Basmachi, to establish power over the territories of the Bukhara Emirate and the Khiva Khanate. Therefore, King Zahir Shah is forced to endure our many thousands of troops in his northern territories, without taking steps to establish control over them. Unlike the Kabul government, the Basmachi have no other choice but to "put" on the Reich. Only with him can we return to our homes! We are strangers here in Afghanistan! Kabul uses us all: you are like a money bag, we are like cannon fodder!
Having finished the report, having understood the immediate tasks and having received the next tranche, Mahmud-bek left. After he left, Vitzel, who was in no hurry to hit the road to Kabul, poured green tea brought by the owner of the house into bowls, took out a smoking pipe a six-sided "bulldog" Bruyere garantie, filled it with BREMARIA tobacco from the Bremen firm BRINKMANN and lit it.
- Dietrich, but Mahmud-bey is right! - remarked Witzel Rasmus. - I do not believe their king Zahir Shah and all his camarilla from the Barakzai dynasty - they are the eternal creature of the British. I fully agree with Reich Minister Ribbentrop, who considers his replacement by the exiled Emir Amanullah Khan to be urgent. In exchange for joining the Axis countries in the war, they demand from Germany a guarantee of the transfer of the territories of the republics of Soviet Central Asia to them, and in the south - access to the Indian Ocean to the port city of Karachi. In addition to this, the supply of a large number of military aircraft, artillery pieces and tanks. Isn't that too much ?! For me, their greed has no limit!
Did you know, oberleutenant, - asked Rasmus Witzel, - that by April 1941 the Chief of the General Staff of the Wehrmacht Franz Halder, on the orders of the Fuehrer, had developed a plan for Operation Amanullah ?! According to him, four thousand paratroopers must capture Kabul and change the regime of King Zahir Shah. Then the troops of the Wehrmacht will go to the borders of British India and, with the support of the rebellious Pashtun tribes, will capture it. To implement this task, it is planned to involve the forces of seventeen divisions: six mountain rifle, four infantry, four motorized and three other mobile formations. And the base we have created in Afghanistan will be used as a springboard for an offensive against India. To adapt personnel to an operation in a country with a hot climate in Greece, a special Wehrmacht strike unit was formed - "Formation F". The above-mentioned divisions will be joined by a Turkic division formed from among Soviet Muslim prisoners of war, natives of Central Asia. In Poland, near the city of Wroclaw, there is a secret training base called "Forest Camp SS-20" or "Main Camp Turkestan". Saboteurs are trained on it. For indoctrination in the units, consisting of Muslims, military mullahs were specially selected. The sabotage groups, manned by soldiers and officers of the Turkestan Legion from the strong points we have created in Baghlan and Kunduz, will be transferred to the Central Asian Soviet republics. Weapons and ammunition for them will be delivered by Luftwaffe aircraft to northern Afghanistan.
Bruno finished the chapter and, putting the book down, thought:
- Yes, history is returning to normal! Could these officers of the Abwehr, back in 1942, have assumed that in more than two years, in May 1945, Soviet troops would enter Berlin and Nazi Germany would sign an act of surrender? That after almost 60 years - in December 2001, the Bundeswehr, unlike the Wehrmacht, will be able to enter and gain a foothold in Afghanistan? That his zone of responsibility within the united forces of the western ISAF coalition will be the northeastern part of the country - the provinces of Kunduz, Baghlan, Takhar, Badakhshan, where the Basmachi formations that interacted with the Abwehr were once based? That special reconnaissance unit TF-47 will be deployed in Kunduz?
Bruno comprehended the centuries-old course of Afghan history, but in between, he constantly returned to the dear Sita. On every opportunity, he came to MSF's Doctors Without Borders Hospital to recharge her warmth. Their meetings were fits and starts, but they were eagerly awaited. In a short period of time, Bruno completely possessed the heart of Sita. She was imbued with the sincerity of his feelings and sent a letter to her family in Munich, also enclosing his photo in the envelope. In the letter, she said that the young man in the photo is a German Bruno Thevs, a Bundeswehr officer from the ISAF. That he has deep feelings for her and asks them for her hand. In a letter received the day before, Sita's father allowed her to meet with Bruno and plan a wedding, under the indisputable condition of observing the primordial traditions that do not allow physical intimacy before the young enter into marriage. When Sita informed Bruno of this, he was infinitely happy. He immediately went to Otto's room to share this good news. After informing where and how he and Sita planned to hold the wedding celebration, Bruno made a firm promise from Otto to attend. In addition, he agreed with him on a joint trip to Russia in order to find his friends at the addresses and a collective photo from his father's notebook.

AIRCRAFT on MSF HOSPITAL "DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS"

It was September. In Kunduz, the sun warmed up in summer + 36C, it was dry and windless. Six days were left until the date appointed by Moulawi Shamsutdin to exchange Alfred Jung for Taliban leaders. On the morning of the next day, by order of the commander of the North grouping, Brigadier General Hans Struck, all TF-47 group commanders were transferred by NHI NH90 helicopters to the central headquarters in Mazar-i-Sharif for briefing on security measures during a short-term visit of the German Defense Minister to Afghanistan. Meanwhile, the situation in Kunduz has deteriorated sharply. Despite the fact that the province was not part of the US zone of responsibility, its units began to conduct raids here in search of members of the Taliban underground. Given their proximity to residential and public places, in order to avoid getting MSF hospital "M;decins sans Frontieres" in the area of fire, on September 29, its leadership prudently presented its GPS data to the Americans. However, without heeding this warning, on October 2, US aviation from the combined forces of the Western coalition ISAF attacked it at a time when there were 89 doctors and over a hundred patients in it. The first blow set fire to the main building of the hospital, the second hit the building where the hospital wards were located. The chance to escape was not presented to many, a large number of patients were burned to death. Being at that time on a bandage, Otto urgently evacuated in the interval between airstrikes to a hospital bunker, but could not contact anyone from there. The news of the airstrike on the MSF hospital instantly spread throughout the area. Soon Bruno, who was in Mazar-i-Sharif, learned about the event. Dumbfounded, he incessantly began to call Sita in Kunduz. But the number of the nurse on duty and other phones of the hospital did not answer. Then he contacted the MSF headquarters of M;decins sans Fronti;res in Geneva.
- Good evening! - answered a pleasant female voice. - Office of the international medical organization "Doctors Without Borders". How can I help you?!
- Hello! - Bruno greeted and said emotively. “I can't get through to my fianc;e, your employee at MSF Kunduz Hospital. Her name is Sita Ahmadzai. I would like to make sure she's okay.
- Please stay on the line, - the MSF employee asked and put the call on hold. Three minutes later, she returned to contact with Bruno. - Thanks for waiting! At the moment, the names of the victims are being specified. Try to call us in two hours. I hope that by this time the situation will have cleared up, - she suggested, and hung up.
Two hours later, Bruno iterated the call. The same employee answered the receiver, she immediately recognized Bruno's voice. - she kindly asked.
- Ahmadzai! Sita Ahmadzai! - Bruno said clearly.
- Please stay on the line, - she said, and again put the call on hold. She returned to the conversation in an extinguished voice, saying with regret: - I'm sorry, but I have bad news for you. Dr. Sita Ahmadzai is listed on the death toll.... - Sita Ahmadzai is listed in the list of the dead ... - echoed in the ears of the dumbfounded Bruno.
- Please leave your contact phone number, - asked the girl, - we will certainly call you.
But these words Bruno did not hear. He was crushed and hung up.
After a while, Otto got in touch with Bruno:
- Bruno, you already know ?! He asked mournfully.
- How did it happen?! Bruno asked tightly.
- When the raid began, Sita was in the main building at the meeting. The bomb exploded right under their window. The explosion knocked out all the windows. Bomb fragments struck everyone who was there. No one survived! - said Otto. - I express my condolences to you, Bruno!
According to conservative official estimates, forty-two people were killed by US Air Force bombs, and another thirty-seven were injured. The next day, the Ahmadzai family - Sita's parents and older brothers flew from Munich to Mazar-i-Sharif. Upon arrival in Kunduz, they received Sita's body at MSF hospital without any formalities. They decided to give it to the land in the Imam-Sahib district of the Kunduz province at the cemetery near the mausoleum "Baba Hatim Ziyarat" next to their ancestors and relatives. By the hands of kindred women, they bathed at night and wrapped the body in a shroud. Barely dawn, Bruno and Otto drove up to the open gates of a large house in the Imam Sahib. There was already a large crowd of people, and cars drove up continuously, dropping armed men. Lining up, they entered the courtyard and expressed their condolences to the Ahmadzai family. Halfutdin was among them. He walked past Bruno and Otto who had approached, pretending to be unfamiliar with them. Then Bruno outragedly recalled the words of a swarthy stranger in a white turban and beige perukhan in the teahouse of Yakub Khan, who reported in Russian that the Taliban knew about his relationship with Shamsutdin's niece Sita Ahmadzai, and it was dangerous.
- So that's why there are so many armed people here, - Bruno said, - Shamsutdin, obviously, is also here.
Bruno and Otto stood at the gate of the house, drawing upon themselves the stern looks of the men and the curses of the moaning women, not daring to go inside the courtyard. In the eyes of the mourned Afghans, the Germans Bruno and Otto, in solidarity with the ISAF, were guilty of the deaths of Sita Ahmadzai and other Afghans in airstrikes. The situation was heating up. Sita's father, Ayub Ahmadzai, went out from the courtyard outside the gates of the house to escort the group of elders. He was heartbroken. Seeing the Europeans, he recognized from the photograph sent by Sita, her fianc; Bruno Thevs. Ayub Ahmadzai approached him and Otto, and delicately asked in German:
- It will be better if you leave now!
Bruno and Otto nodded in understanding and left the Imam Sahib. After half an hour, Bruno transported Otto with his personal belongings from the destroyed MSF hospital to the Spinzar Hotel, while he himself headed to the TF-47 base. His soul was bad. In addition to the grief that he experienced after the loss of his beloved Sita, he was filled with a sense of guilt for the grief and suffering of the Afghan people from the actions of the ISAF international military mission, forcing them to overestimate. Be that as it may, according to the terms of Moulawi Shamsutdin, in the coming days, he and Otto were to participate in the exchange of Taliban leaders for Alfred Jung.

EXCHANGE ALFRED JUNG
 
It was early morning + 24C. It was foggy. At the agreed time, a taxi drove up to a vacant lot on the outskirts of the county center Aliabad, located south of Kunduz, from which Bruno Thevs and Otto Greenberg got off. They were immediately approached by three armed Taliban in accordance with the terms of exchange established by Shamsutdin. They tied their hands and eyes behind their backs and led them behind the nearest adobe buildings. Soon a column of five German armored vehicles appeared on the horizon: four ATF DINGO-2 armored cars with special forces groups, an armored MUNGO truck was driving in the middle. In his back was Mullah Abdul Rahman, with him five leaders of the Taliban movement and the guard of TF-47. The column gracefully left the track and stood in anticipation of Alfred Jung's approach. Oberst Georg Jung and two officers from the TF-47 high command dismounted from the head armored car. Spetsnaz surrounded their commanders. The fog had already cleared by that time. Oberst Jung was tense. After a short time, three Afghans with radio stations drove up to the meeting place on two motorcycles. Their task was to identify the captured Taliban and report this to the commander. Oberst Jung made a gesture to lower the awning on the MUNGO body so that the motorcyclists could be sure of the prisoners. They exchanged a few phrases among themselves and, reporting to their superiors by radio that everything was in order, they left. After a short period of time, Halfutdin came out to the wasteland because of the adobe building, where Bruno and Otto had been taken. Again, according to Shamsutdin's terms, he took Abdul Rahman and five prisoners of the Taliban with him. They disappeared behind the building, from where Alfred Jung immediately appeared. He was dressed in traditional Afghan clothing - brown Peruhan and beige pakol. He saw the Father and, beaming with a smile, walked quickly towards him. Bruno and Otto walked sedately behind him, lagging behind. Suddenly, EC-665 Tiger HAP attack helicopters appeared in the sky and began to hit the buildings, behind which the Taliban had barely disappeared. Return fire from the buildings opened at helicopters and, at the same time, at Bruno and Otto. They bent down and started running, trying to leave the firing zone as soon as possible. But a long burst of machine-gun fire from the Taliban struck Otto in the back. His legs buckled and he fell. When Bruno ran up, Otto was still alive. He gathered his last strength and said with difficulty:
- You couldn't trust Jung!
Bruno called a special forces medic, but it was too late. He bent over Otto's body and, throwing his head up to the sky, shouted in a frenzy:
- Why ?!
The helicopters flew to the base. Bruno still remained sitting next to the deceased Otto, until the special forces of his group loaded the body into the MUNGO's body and took him away. When Bruno returned to the TF-47 location, he went straight to Oberst Jung's office. Without knocking on the door, he unceremoniously proceeded to the back of the office and, leaning close to the Oberst sitting at the table, asked in a raised tone:
- Why did you send aviation ?!
- Calm down, oberleutenant! It was not my decision! Jung apologized guiltily. - We are at war, and there are commanders above me!
- Otto Greenberg saved your son's life! Why did he pay for this with his own ?! Bruno asked with pressure. - The cynicism and inhumanity of the ISAF has no boundaries! You, Mr. Oberst, are the personal culprit of numerous civilian casualties in Umar-Kheil, and the command of the American forces and the army of the corrupt Afghan government is at the MSF Doctors Without Borders hospital and children in the village of Daftani!
With these words, Bruno slammed the door loudly and left Oberst Jung's office. Obviously, this is the end of my service! - thought Bruno, not regretting his demarche. - Yes, and to hell with him!
However, a number of circumstances that took place - the leading role of Bruno in the release of Alfred Jung, the tragic death of Sita, and most importantly, the beginning of the investigation by the parliamentary commission of the Bundestag and the Minister of Defense of the Federal Republic of Germany of the mass death of the population in Umar-heil, refrained Oberst Georg Jung from castling him to Germany. Then he was not at all up to the rebellious oberleutenant Thevs.

ARRIVAL OF BRUNO TO MOSCOW
 
Time passed. Bruno's mental wound gradually healed. He served in Afghanistan for the prescribed period and on his return to Germany retired from the Army. After spending a week at home in Freiburg, Bruno, as he marked it out, flew to his homeland in Dzhambul. While still in Afghanistan, he tried to visit the graves of his ancestors, and pour a handful of Afghan soil collected from the place of the fatal battle on his father's. After completing business, he bought a plane ticket and flew to Moscow. The day before, he called the phone numbers from his father's notebook - Sidor, Kostr and Rust, but they only answered Rust's number. Relatives who lived in his father's house in Tatarstan reported that he visits his homeland on a regular basis, but lives permanently in the capital and gave him his phone number.

MOSCOW 2011. October. Mainly cloudy. + 4оС, drizzle.

A telephone call rang in an apartment on Kutuzovsky Prospekt. A woman approached the machine.
- I'm listening!
- Hello! - heard a man's voice. - My name is Bruno Thevs. I need Rustam Tukaev.
- Hello, - the woman greeted, - Rustam lives in another place, this is his mother, Risa Akhmadullovna. What shall I tell to him?
- Tell me, please, - the man with a slight Western European accent asked, “that the call was made by the son of his friend Konstantin Thevs, who died in Afghanistan, Bruno. I am now in Moscow and would be glad to see him.
Risa Akhmadullovna perked up:
- Of course I will! But I'm ready to give you his number. If he suddenly does not answer, this happens when he is at some meeting, then come here to Kutuzovsky Prospect. And he will take you away from here to him. Rustam talked a lot about your father Kostya. He will be very happy about your arrival.
Risa Akhmadullovna dictated Rust's phone number and address. Rust really did not answer, and Bruno from the airport went to Kutuzovsky Prospect. He went up to the top floor and rang an apartment with a solid metal door. Risa Akhmadullovna opened it to him.
- Hello Bruno! - she greeted warmly. - Come on in.
Bruno went into the bright room and, seeing a familiar photograph on the chest of drawers in a frame, briefly held his gaze.
- Go to the kitchen, - invited Risa Akhmadullovna. She made tea and served it along with the golden chak-chak. Is this your first time in Moscow? She asked Bruno.
- You can say that when I was four years old my mother and I flew to Germany for permanent residence and made a transplant in Moscow.
- ABOUT! - Risa Akhmadullovna was amazed. - How did you keep good knowledge of the language?
- Through the efforts of my mother, who read Russian fairy tales to me as a child, - Bruno answered. - Having matured, I read the books of all Russian classics: Pushkin, Lermontov, Tolstoy, Chekhov, Dostoevsky, Gogol and others. In order not to lose our speaking skills, my relatives and I try to communicate in Russian. True, the German language is actively replacing it. He dominates, because we live in Germany, - Bruno smiled. “I called from Dzhambul to all the phone numbers from my father’s notebook,” Bruno changed the subject, “but none of them answered, with the exception of one in Tatarstan. According to him, one of your relatives kindly dictated to me the number by which I contacted you.
- You probably don't know? - Risa Akhmadullovna admitted summarily. - Vanechka Kostrov died in October 1993 at the House of Soviets, Seryozha Sidorenko is serving time in a colony and, we hope, will be released one of these days.
- It's great that I will be able to see him too, - Bruno was delighted. “You know,” he said openly, “I also served in Afghanistan. But it was part of the forces of the western coalition ISAF - in the grouping of the NATO bloc. Now I have retired from military service. I flew home to Dzhambul. I saw the houses where my parents were born and lived, went to my father's grave, poured on it a handful of earth collected from the scene of the battle in which he, Mongol and Strela died.
Risa Akhmadullovna's eyes filled with tears:
- Did you serve in Afghanistan ?! She wondered. - How did your mother let you go there?
Suddenly, the conversation was interrupted by a phone call. It was Rust.
- Rustic, where are you ?! Risa Akhmadullovna asked loudly. - Do you know who came to us ?! Bruno is the son of Kostya Thevs!
There was amazement in the receiver. Rust asked his mother to hand him the phone:
- Guten Abend! - Rust greeted in German.
- Guten Abend! - mirrored Bruno.
- What are the destinies ?! - asked Rust.
- I wanted to see my father's friends, - admitted Bruno.
- It is commendable! - approved Rust - Now my driver will come for you, and we will have dinner in the city. Give the phone to your mom.
- Rustic! How so, - Risa Akhmadullovna was upset, - I have already rolled out the dough for kystyby. Why not dine at home?
- Mom, I'm sorry, please! We will sit at the Black Cat. More people will drive up to us. Bruno will stay with me.
With these words Rust ended the conversation.
After some time, Rust's driver drove Bruno to the Black Cat tavern, which was located next to the Taganskaya metro station. At the door of the institution, stylized in the 1940s, Rust met him, along with a long-bearded in uniform, a typical cloakroom attendant. He hugged Bruno tightly and invited him in.
- Visually, the tavern is divided into two zones, - inspired Rust began his excursion from the entrance to the thematic institution, - on the left flank "gangster raspberry", on the right "Petrovka 38". "Malina" is designed in the likeness of a city dwelling in Moscow in 1930-1940, where various criminal elements gathered. "Petrovka 38", as it were, consists of the offices of the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department of the MUR.
Bruno saw on the walls of the "raspberries" vintage tapestries, wall cuckoo clocks, frames, inside of which all thieves' improvised tools were presented behind the glass: crowbars, drills, sharpeners, lock picks, coins with sharpened welts, cutting bags and pockets, and many fastened in rows, old-fashioned pocket watch-bulbs with working mechanisms, picturesquely designed sketches of thieves' tattoos with semantics and a dictionary of criminal terms "on the hair dryer". The vaulted ceiling was scattered with catchphrases from the Weiner brothers' novel "The Era of Mercy", based on which Stanislav Govorukhin shot the famous feature film "The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed".
In the opposite zone "Petrovka 38" on the walls within frames were hung group photos of MUR officers of 1920-1940, service instructions, propaganda posters, maps of the city of Moscow, leather pistol holsters, harnesses, obliquely fastened German accordion and typewriters. Its space was illuminated by the original Art Nouveau chandeliers hanging low and equidistant, with green shades, office table lamps.
- The iconic place of 38 Petrovka Street is the office of MUR operatives Gleb Zheglov and Vladimir Sharapov, - Rust continued to enthusiastically tell, - they are the main characters of the film - The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed. 
Authenticity to the atmosphere of the 1940s was added by the costumed sotudu nimble waiters and a trio of perky musicians with balalaika-double bass, violin and guitar, who performed similarly long-standing popular songs and tango: "At the Black Sea", "Katyusha", "Black Eyes", "Autumn, transparent morning”, “My bonfire”,“Blue eyes”,“The night is bright”,“The moon is shining”,“The moon was painted with crimson” and others, fieryly sung by Soviet artists: Georgy Vinogradov, Valentina Batishcheva, Mark Bernes, Leonid Utyosov, Vadim Kozin, Klavdia Shulzhenko, Petr Leshchenko, Lidia Ruslanova, Solomon Khromchenko and others. A welcoming atmosphere reigned in the tavern. Rust led Bruno to the set table, on which cold snacks had already been served: beef jelly, lightly salted salmon, hot smoked sturgeon, fatty herring with blue onions and boiled potatoes, Stolichny salad, Borodino bread, decanters of fruit drink, kvass and other drinks, but did not offer to sit down. It was felt that he was waiting for someone else.
- Well, let me have a look at you, - Rust admired as Bruno introduced himself, - he looks like Father! The same! Is mom okay? - asked Rust?
- Things are good! - answered Bruno. - After the death of her father, she did not want to arrange life with another person.
Rust nodded his head in understanding.
- You know, you are just in time, - he changed the topic of the conversation, - a friend of your father's and mine, of course, - Sidor has to join our slender ranks one of these days. I plan to go to meet him. Would you like to keep me company?
- Where do you need to go? Bruno asked.
- Not far! - answered Rust. - To the Arkhangelsk region.
- I have a plane in a week, - Bruno said, - will we have time to turn around?
- I guess so! - admitted smiling Rust.
A minute later, two lean men with a military bearing entered the inn and, seeing Rust with an unfamiliar young man, went to them.
- Meet Bruno! - loudly, so that it could be heard through the sounding "Bessarabyanka" roared Rust. - Our company commander in Afghanistan Sereda Grigory Semyonovich and our regiment's translator from the Dari language Abdullo Kodirov.
After introducing the guests to each other, Rust invited everyone to the table. It suddenly seemed to Bruno that he had already met Abdullo Kodirov, a newly presented dark-skinned Asian, somewhere and tried to remember. At this time, a flower girl with an armful of bouquets of white and scarlet roses was briskly floating between the tables of the inn. Rust called her and, having bought one of them, asked the waitress to place it in a vase of water.
- But your father saved my life! - Abdullo Kodirov told the pensive Bruno with cordiality. - In June 1985 in the Panjshir Gorge we were ambushed. I was wounded then and remained lying in the firing zone, and Kostya Thevs came back for me and dragged a decent distance to the shelter under the bullets. There he provided me with first aid and defended for a long time.
Abdullo's voice and characteristic accent also struck Bruno as familiar. Where did I hear it? - he carefully recalled.
- I know about that case, - distracted from Bruno's thoughts. When my father died, his friends Sidor, Rust and Koster wrote to us about it. Mom still keeps all the letters.
- Thevs was a good soldier! - Grigory Sereda said proudly. - We all left a particle of ourselves, our souls in Afghanistan. War is the only thing we have - good and bad.
- It's right! - agreed Rust. - Grigory Semyonovich and Abdullo continue to serve our Motherland. And Colonel Kodirov, - he emphasized Abdullo, - is invariable in the Afghan direction. As they were in intelligence, they stayed in it!
These words dawned on Bruno. Abdullo with rage reminded him of that dark-skinned Afghan in a white turban and beige perukhan with one-eyed Yakub Khan who approached him in the teahouse and advised him in Russian to avoid personal participation in the exchange of Alfred Jung for Mullah Abdul Rahman and five regional leaders courting the niece of Moulawi Shamsutdin - Sita Ahmadzai, as it is dangerous.
- Well, from intelligence we will say not only we, - returned Bruno from the stream of thoughts, the positive Abdullo, who focused on him a look, - as far as I know, the Thevs family is already a dynasty!
- I remembered you! - exulted Bruno. - In the teahouse of Yakub Khan, it was you!
- Maybe! - Abdullo admitted with a smile. - So, is TF-47 able to solve current tasks in Afghanistan ?!
- In general, yes! - admitted Bruno, reporting. “But I no longer serve in this unit.
In the tavern, the musicians began to play again, starting to perform the tango "Blue Eyes":
 
Blue eyes, you captivated me
Amid the silence of the night
Alluring with a bright shine.
Blue eyes, you have so much fire
You attract, blue eyes,
Passion and tenderness melting.
Blue eyes, turquoise is burning in you
And your gaze is blue
Like the sky in spring.
Blue eyes, so much passion and fire
In those wonderful eyes.
Blue eyes won me over.

When the tango was nearing completion, a young, tall, beautiful girl entered the hall and began looking for someone with her eyes. She abiye drew the gaze of all the men present in the hall. Her slender figure, loose long blond hair and large blue eyes made an impression. Seeing her, Rust got up from the table, took out flowers from a vase and went to meet her. He brought the girl to the table and, having seated the vis-a-vis Bruno, introduced the guests:
- Meet! This is Masha Kostrova - the daughter of our dear Kostyor. She is a student of the Faculty of Journalism of Moscow State University. But in the near future with a high probability - the head of ITAR TASS.
Masha blushed with Rust's pathetic performance.
- Masha, - the acquaintance Rust addressed, - and this strong man, the son of equally dear to us Kostya Thevs - Bruno.
Bruno immediately got up and nodded his head politely.
- One feels the breed, gallant like a father, - noted Sereda, lit up with a smile, leaning back in his chair.
- Bruno lives in Germany. He served in Afghanistan for two years. In the same zone as we used to be, - said Rust with a smile and, looking at Abdullo, asked, - did I understand correctly ?!
Abdullo nodded his head smilingly.
- You can’t say anything, Russian military intelligence is working well! - said Bruno. - Indeed, the Bundeswehr's area of ;;responsibility is Kunduz, Baghlan, Takhar, Badakhshan, Samangan and Balkh. And the unit in which I served directly is in Kunduz.
- And what prompted you to serve in the army, and even more so to send to Afghanistan? - Sereda asked intelligently with seriousness. - After all, for your family, your father's service across the river turned into a tragedy.
- Firstly, my paternal great-grandfather, in whose honor my father gave me a name, was a colonel in the Soviet army, - he told about the heroic ancestor of Bruno. - He fought in Spain, on Khalkhin Gol, on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War and crowned his combat path with the capture of Vienna. He was wounded more than once, burned in a tank. His awards are kept in our home in Freiburg as relics. When his father was 18 years old, he persuaded grandfather Bruno, who had won honor from the city military commissar for his military deeds, to ask him to be included in a group heading to Afghanistan after school. As you know, the Germans deported to Kazakhstan and Siberia were not sent to Soviet military contingents abroad - they did not trust them. Bruno's great-grandfather, fortunately, did not find out about the death of his grandson in Afghanistan. He died six months before his death. The wounds received in the battles made themselves felt. Secondly, Bruno continued to interpret. “My father proudly wrote in his letters from Afghanistan that he was serving in military intelligence and was carrying out important government tasks. When I began to grow up, not wanting to upset my mother with difficult memories, I secretly took out and re-read letters from my father and his friends. At a certain moment, I firmly decided that I wanted to become a military intelligence officer, like my father. When I reached draft age, I was drafted into the airborne brigade in Zweibruecken. At the final stage of the service, he entered the officer's courses, after graduating from them, he passed the selection to the special intelligence unit KSK. After serving for some time in Germany, I asked the command to send me to serve in Afghanistan in TF-47 - the unit that Abdullo mentioned. That's all. But all this is already in the past, - summed up Bruno with a slight smile and sadness.
- What are your future plans? - Sereda got interested.
- I haven't decided yet, - Bruno replied.
- Or maybe ... to us ?! - joked Abdullo.
- Leave the guy alone! - stopped the irony of Sered and, standing up, eloquently proclaimed a toast: - To our Soviet Motherland! Whether it is the USSR or Russia is the same for us! For those who served and serves this state.
When it was the turn of the third toast, everyone stood up in silence, and Sereda spoke out loudly again:
- Dear military friends and children of our fallen comrades! The feeling of guilt for the fact that we are alive, and your Fathers are not with us, will always oppress us. We firmly believed in what we were doing and that the sacrifices were not in vain. Such brave warriors as Thevs, Streltsov, Badmaev and Kostrov are the guardian angels of Russia!
After draining their glasses, the guests sat down.
- I, by chance, have two tickets to the "Bolshoi" for "Giselle", - Rust translated the topic of conversation with rage, - Masha, would you mind Bruno's intention to take you to the theater? Time to get out, my driver will take you to your place.
Masha was embarrassed, Bruno stood up resolutely and, with a glance at the girl, confirmed this proposal. When the young people left, Sereda, Abdullo and Rust, after sitting for a while, parted. In the morning, as agreed, Rust and Bruno sat down at the Yaroslavl station in the NE train "Moscow-Arkhangelsk" and moved to meet Sidor, who was being released from prison.

TRAIN MOSCOW-ARKHANGELSK

The capital was already behind, and the fast train, picking up speed, moved strictly to the north. The conductor brought tea, and under the measured sound of wheels Bruno asked Rust:
- And what happened to Sidor that he sat down for so long?
- Costs of Russian business in the 1990s! - Rust interpreted, starting a long story. - Sidor's story began with the fact that upon returning to the Union, the three of us - he, I and Koster went to Leningrad to visit the mother of Strela's deceased friend - Lyudmila Vasilyevna. This promise in case we return home alive, we five gave ourselves back in Afghanistan. Following Arrow, on the night of that day, your father and Mongol died. So there are three of us left. Strela's home address is only fragmentary in my memory. That is why during the trip we faced ups and downs. Having overcome them, we found Lyudmila Vasilyevna's apartment, went in the afternoon, as planned, to the grave of Strela, and in the evening, having sincerely remembered, had a sincere conversation. Suddenly, screams were heard from the apartment on the floor above. We went upstairs and, having penetrated inside, saw how three rogue men were torturing a middle-aged man and a young handsome lady with a hot iron. Deliverance from oppression served as our acquaintance with them. The man turned out to be Yakov Ilyich Itkin, the director of two out-of-box stores "Birch", and the lady was his companion Kira. Subsequently, Sidor struck up a business relationship with Yakov Ilyich and began to disappear for weeks in Leningrad. According to the scheme proposed by Itkin and through his extensive connections, they attracted large borrowed funds into circulation.
Exchanging them from the shadow holders of foreign sales checks, they bought up consignments of imported household, video, audio equipment and branded clothes and sold them to dealers from big cities, as well as to Siberia and the Caucasus. Exemplary reporting was a significant factor in the Itkin-Sidor scheme. Buyers of goods in Berezok stores must have had documents confirming the legality of possession of foreign consignment checks. The War Veteran and War Invalid cards were ideal for this. In the 1980s, only the military who served outside the USSR - in Afghanistan, Angola, Mozambique, Ethiopia, had such certificates, which means they received monthly checks. Afghan veterans had an overwhelming majority among them. Moreover, the certificate of a disabled person had an advantage over the veteran emergency service. Sidor was directly involved in the provision of the necessary amount of personal data from the actually existing privileged certificates. Being himself a war invalid of the II group, he established contact with those who consistently provided him with such data from the archives of the district military registration and enlistment offices in Moscow and Leningrad. Having received them, he offered each veteran or disabled person for the use of his privileged certificate half of their salary with Itkin. This was an indispensable condition for Sidor Itkin. In my opinion, honest and dignified. The remuneration for the veterans was a decent amount for that time.
At the beginning of 1988, the Government of the USSR liquidated the Beryozka trading system and the business partners had exhausted themselves. Yakov Ilyich sold the residential real estate he had in Leningrad and moved to Moscow. In 1991, the great and mighty USSR collapsed. By that time Sidor was already a graduate of Moscow State University and was fully integrated into the business environment. During the political crisis in October 1993, each of us, according to his political convictions and moral obligations, chose his side of the conflict. Sidor is the Supreme Soviet, I am President Yeltsin. We were both hurt. Our comrade Koster in those days with his special forces carried out tasks at the House of Soviets and pulled out the wounded Sidor from the burning building, thereby saving his life. Two hours later, while carrying the wounded soldier out of the fire, Koster died. He has a one-year-old daughter, Masha. In the spring of 1994, after many months of recovery, Sidor resumed joint activities with Yakov Itkin, starting to build a diamond business.

EVENTS AT THE SAME TIME 14 YEARS AGO

ANTWERP BELGIUM. DIAMOND QUARTER - May 1997. Friday night was approaching, and with it the holy Shabbat. The owner of a large cutting company, a Soviet ;migr; of the early 1970s, Shmuel Brandwein, wanting to be in time for his wife to light Shabbat candles, removed the precious stones that the craftsmen were working with in the safe room and released them early. Before leaving, he walked around all the workshops, set the office on the alarm and, closing the thick armored door with a code, merged with the stream of Pelikaanstraat. He walked at a brisk pace. Behind him, trying not to lose sight of him, in a beige raincoat with long blond hair was followed by a man of about 30. On reaching Brandwein, he took out a pistol and, calling his name, fired point-blank. After completing the elimination with a control in the head, the man disappeared into the galavera.

MOSCOW. INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT Sheremetyevo-2. May day. It was warm, the approach of summer was felt in the capital. The departure hall is not crowded. Former Soviet citizen - American Naum Nudel was waiting for the announcement of registration for the Moscow-New York flight. Four men in dark coats with stern faces approached him in anger. They showed Nudel their service certificates and, taking him by the arms, led him to the black Volga GAZ-3102 waiting outside. Klatsnuv doors and briskly jumped off, they left the airport. For a long time, the whereabouts of Naum Nudel were unknown. Relatives filed him on the wanted list. Three months later, they were summoned by the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department and taken to the morgue for identification. In the body of a man raised from the bottom of the Yauza, unfortunately, they recognized Naum Nudel.

MOSCOW. LAST LAND, building 1. Unknown people called the apartment on the top floor of the Stalinist building, which belonged to businessman Yakov Ilyich Itkin. Presumably there were three of them. The door was opened by Itkin's wife, Kira. She led the guests into the hall to her husband, who was sitting in an armchair and watching TV, and she herself retired to the kitchen. The visitors sat down and started talking. At some point, one of them got up, walked around Itkin from behind and fired a pistol with a silencer in the back of his head. After that, the criminals entered the kitchen and shot his wife Kira.

TRAIN MOSCOW-ARKHANGELSK

Rust went on to tell Bruno Sidor's story:
- Thanks to the flair and commercial vein of Itkin and Sidor, they opened the country's first Russian-American, Belgian and Dutch joint ventures, began to import precious stones - diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires. Sidor, already in the Army, was not indifferent to them. And here is a global scale, gigantic amounts. We must pay tribute to him, he received professional knowledge in gemology in a short time, became a qualified specialist in cutting and cabochon. He was absent from Russia for a long time, being on business trips in Angola, Namibia, South Africa, Madagascar, New York, London, Antwerp, Amsterdam and other places. Big money did not spoil Sidor, however, over time, people with a very specific worldview began to surround him. The last time for him was the case when he smuggled a solid consignment of diamonds from a mine near Cullinan in South Africa to his partners in Antwerp. They were engaged in cutting them. In return from them, according to the worked-out model, the Sidor-Itkin company was supposed to receive an agreed amount of cut diamonds in the amount of $ 100 million.
It is known for sure that they received the raw materials in Antwerp. However, the owner of the cutting company Shmuel Brandwein, who transported the diamonds of the Itkina-Sidor company to Russia, was shot on the eve while returning from work in front of an amazed public on the square of four diamond exchanges in the very center of Antwerp. In a short period of time, three more misadventures occurred: at the Sheremetyevo-2 international airport, four people in civilian clothes, posing as security officers, were taken out of the departure hall and taken away in an unknown direction by another business partner of Itkin-Sidor - Naum Nudel, a former Soviet an emigrant citizen of the United States. He attracted into the trade turnover of a Russian-American enterprise joint with Itkin and Sidor, multi-million dollar funds of large foreign investors. After three months of searching, Nudel's body was recovered from the Yauza River. During the days of Nudel's disappearance, a double murder was committed in an apartment in the Last Lane in Moscow - Yakov Ilyich and his wife Kira Vaisman. Sidor, to his annoyance, went to their house a few hours before the murder. They discussed the death of Brandwein in Antwerp, the abduction of Nudel from Sheremetyevo-2, the fate of the missing stones and, trying to link these events into a logical chain, they were looking for an explanation. But for Sidor, these were not all evil.
Late in the evening of that day, not yet aware of the death of the Itkins, Sidor was returning home from the theater with his wife Nina Polyushkevich, who was in a position. She served as a nurse in a Kabul hospital during our recovery with Sidor. When the couple went up to their staircase, Sidor began to open the door to the apartment. At this time, the beat of the steps of a man descending the stairs and approaching a married couple was heard from above. Nina, covering Sidor, turned to the noise and saw a pistol with a silencer in the man's outstretched hand. Their eyes met and Nina got a good look at his face. The criminal in a moment decided to eliminate the witness for a convenient shot at the "object" and fired the first shot at Nina. Sidor turned sharply and, grabbing Nina, who was falling on her back, slowly lowered her to the floor. Now, the conditions for the elimination of Sidor were exhaustive. The perpetrator coolly aimed the barrel of the pistol on his forehead and pulled the trigger. But instead of a shot, a click sounded, the pistol misfired. Sidor, without hesitation, rushed to the criminal, grabbed his neck and unclenched his fingers when he was already frozen. Then he immediately returned to Nina, but she was no longer breathing. She and their unborn child died overnight. Sidor was detained for a month. During this time, operatives were actively looking for evidence to prove his involvement in the murders of Yakov Itkin and Kira Vaisman in Moscow, in Antwerp of Shmuel Brandwein and the kidnapping of Naum Nudel from Sheremetyevo-2 airport, but they did not find them. After the seizure of valuable minerals worth several million dollars during a search in the company's office, undeclared during the passage of Russian customs, Sidor was convicted under the article for illegal trafficking in precious stones on an especially large scale and sentenced to an extremely long term.
The train, meanwhile, continued its movement, approaching its destination. The booths of country cottages and private houses were already visible outside the windows. Suddenly there was a knock on the door of the SV, in which Rust and Bruno were traveling.
- Will you order tea or coffee? - Asked the young woman in uniform. - And then in half an hour our train arrives at the station of Arkhangelsk.
Rust looked at Bruno. Both desires for tea were not expressed and thanked the conductor.
- How was your trip to the Bolshoi Theater with Masha? - Rust suddenly asked Bruno. - I already began to worry about your prolonged disappearance. I didn't call you. You are already an adult. I thought you could figure it out yourself in Moscow.
- Wonderful! - answered Bruno. - After the performance, we walked around Moscow all night. Finally, my childhood dream came true - I visited Red Square. It’s a pity, but it was not possible to get to Lenin. We went to a restaurant in GUM. During the meal, they sincerely told each other about themselves.
After these words, Bruno paused and continued: 
- As soon as I saw Masha in the "Black Cat", I lost my head. Fell in love at first sight. You will probably consider my act unacceptable, but in the morning I proposed to Masha and we went to her mother Natalya Konstantinovna to ask for her blessing.
Rust was amazed:
- This is happiness, guy! He exclaimed. - How glad I am that it happened! Let's meet Sidor and the organization of the wedding, as a close friend of your father, I'll take it upon myself!
At this time, the platform and the people meeting the arriving train appeared in the windows of the SV.
Rust and Bruno got off the train and, getting into a black large-sized jeep driven by the driver Munir from Moscow, went to Kotlas. There was a strict regime colony where Sidor was serving his sentence. Having reached the place at the appointed hour, they drove up to the site in front of the area fenced with barbed wire. Soldiers with dogs armed with machine guns stood at the checkpoint. Out of the gate, a bald-haired man with a trunk came out in a tracksuit and a leather jacket. It was Sidor. Rust and Bruno jumped out of the car and went to meet him.
- From call to call! - Rust, who approached him, exclaimed bravuraly.
- I have been to the war, apparently, and it was written to go through the prison! Sidor remarked philosophically, slightly embarrassed by the presence of an unfamiliar young man.
- Fatalist! - Rust grinned and, wanting to remove the embarrassment, asked:
- Doesn't remind anyone ?!
Sidor peered.
- I am the son of Konstantin Thevs! - Bruno's house made it easier for him.
- But he looks like Kostyan, and Rust ?! - Sidor rejoiced.
- Son, - smiled Rust, - how not to be like the Father ?! But that's not all the good news! - Rust intrigued with joy. - In the near future he will marry Masha Kostrova!
- Wow! - Sidor was surprised. - This is truly good news! It’s a pity, your fathers did not live to see this good day - Sidor said with nasol.
There was a short silence.
- Well, what are we sitting down? - Rust suggested and, getting into the car, the friends drove back to Arkhangelsk. On the way, Sidor talked about how he sat and what he would do in the wild. Having worn out their jeep at high speed began to overtake the rumbling beeping wedding procession. From the open windows of four white executive foreign cars, young people who had hung themselves drunk waved their hands. Sharing their blissful enthusiasm, the friends waved back in unison. After covering a short journey, their jeep drove up to a railway crossing on the outskirts of a small village. The barrier on it was down by that time. The first, close to him, was the wedding procession. On the roof of the last limousine, two decorative golden rings of different sizes were fixed. Inside, in the back leather seat, there are happy newlyweds: a bumpy young guy in a black tuxedo with a bow tie and a pretty girl in a fluffy wedding dress with a veil. Behind them stood KamAZ, filled with sand-concrete bags. He was followed by the jeep Rust: with the driver, himself, Sidor and Bruno. Taking advantage of the forced stop, festively dressed young people loudly poured out of the cars of the motorcade. The guys opened bottles of champagne, deafeningly shooting up the corks and spraying foam on the squealing girls with glasses. During this activity, they indiscriminately danced to the well-remembered Rust and Sidora from the Herat operation in Afghanistan, which sounded from the car, the song "We wish you happiness":
 
… We wish you happiness,
Happiness in this big world
Like the sun in the morning
Let it go into the house.

We wish you happiness,
And it should be like this
When you are happy yourself
Share your happiness with others.

The friends looked at each other and smiled silently. For Bruno, this evoked associations with his upcoming wedding with Masha. But when he was worn out, he remembered his Afghan fianc;e Sita Ahmadzai, who was killed in an airstrike by the American forces of the Western coalition ISAF on the MSF “Doctors Without Borders” hospital in Kunduz. Bruno suddenly felt a tightness in his soul, blaming himself in front of her memory.
- Nothing! - perked up, looking at the fun Rust. - Soon our street will host such a significant event. Really, Bruno ?!
Bruno hid the twist and smiled in return. Some time passed - there was still no train. The drivers of the wedding convoy, obviously tired of waiting, urgently urged all passengers to sit down and, one by one, began to move, bypassing the barrier and crossing the railway track. Seeing this, a lively attendant in an orange uniform jumped out of the booth. She screamed and waved her wand. Just at this time, a passenger train rushing at high speed appeared in the distance. At this time, the second car of the motorcade in the tail of the first barely overcame the crossing. All four men in Rust's jeep, who were watching what was happening, simultaneously jumped out of the car. Anticipating the inevitable drama, the driver said:
- Crazy! They will be killed!
The train, which was rapidly approaching the crossing, began to emit shrill beeps. At this time, after the second car of the motorcade, a third was moving. A limousine with the newlyweds drove behind her, going around the gate. But as soon as he drove onto the wooden flooring for the track, he stalled and became motionless. There was a rattle of metal as the trains retreated. Seeing this, Sidor rushed to the KamAZ standing in front, abruptly opened the cab door, threw the driver who was sitting in it and, taking his place, gasped, ramming the car with the newlyweds from the railway track. The train sliding along the braking distance hit KamAZ in the side of the body and turned it over. When the train stopped, on the other side of the railway track Rust, Bruno and Munir saw on the side of the road a limousine with rings with a flattened trunk and a KamAZ truck with a crumpled cab that had dropped its load. Bruno and Munir removed Sidor, who had been smashed by broken glass, and took him to the emergency room of the regional hospital. Police officers soon arrived there to clarify the circumstances of the emergency. By that time, the doctor had already examined Sidor's wounds and, not finding serious injuries, released him after dressing. Observing all the formalities and signing the interrogation protocol, a limping Sidor came out to the friends who were waiting in the waiting room:
- You’ll have to lend me money from your holdings, - he said not jokingly to Rust, - so that I would compensate the kamazist.
- Let's solve it somehow! - Rust promised with a smile.
Friends got into a black SUV and continued on to Arkhangelsk, and from there on a train to Moscow.