Lie down with lions - Ken Follett [74]
“I know—I was there,” said Ellis. “Do you know how they did it?”
“One important factor, in my opinion, is that the Vietnamese were receiving from the Russians supplies of the most modern weapons, especially portable surface-to-air missiles. This is the only way guerrilla forces can fight back against aircraft and helicopters.”
“I agree,” said Ellis. “More important, the United States government agrees. We would like to help you get hold of better weapons. But we would need to see you make real progress against your enemy with those weapons. The American people like to see what they’re getting for their money. How soon do you think the Afghan resistance will be able to launch unified, countrywide assaults on the Russians, the way the Vietnamese did toward the end of the war?”
Masud shook his head dubiously. “The unification of the Resistance is at a very early stage.”
“What are the main obstacles?” Ellis held his breath, praying that Masud would give the expected answer.
“Mistrust between different fighting groups is the main obstacle.”
Ellis breathed a clandestine sigh of relief.
Masud went on: “We are different tribes, different nations, and we have different commanders. Other guerrilla groups ambush my convoys and steal my supplies.”
“Mistrust,” Ellis repeated. “What else?”
“Communications. We need a regular network of messengers. Eventually we must have radio contact, but that is far in the future.”
“Mistrust, and inadequate communications.” This was what Ellis had hoped to hear. “Let’s talk about something else.” He felt terribly tired: he had lost quite a lot of blood. He fought off a powerful desire to close his eyes. “You here in the Valley have developed the art of guerrilla warfare more successfully than they have anywhere else in Afghanistan. Other leaders still waste their resources defending lowland territory and attacking strong positions. We would like you to train men from other parts of the country in modern guerrilla tactics. Would you consider that?”
“Yes—and I think I see where you’re heading,” said Masud. “After a year or so there would be in each zone of the Resistance a small cadre of men who had been trained in the Five Lions Valley. They could form a communications net. They would understand one another—they would trust me. . . .” His voice tailed off, but Ellis could see from his face that he was still unwinding the implications in his head.
“All right,” said Ellis. He had run out of energy, but he was almost done. “Here’s the deal. If you can get the agreement of other commanders and set up that training program, the U.S. will supply you with RPG-7 rocket launchers, ground-to-air missiles and radio equipment. But there are two other commanders in particular who must be part of the agreement. They are Jahan Kamil, in the Pich Valley, and Amal Azizi, the commander of Faizabad.”
Masud grinned ruefully. “You picked the toughest.”
“I know,” said Ellis. “Can you do it?”
“Let me think about it,” said Masud.
“All right.” Exhausted, Ellis lay back on the cold ground and shut his eyes. A moment later he was asleep.
CHAPTER TEN
Jean-Pierre walked aimlessly through the moonlit fields in the depths of a black depression. A week ago he had been fulfilled and happy, master of the situation, doing useful work while he waited for his big chance. Now it was all over, and he felt worthless, a failure, a might-have-been.
There was no way out. He ran over the possibilities again and again, but he always ended up with the same conclusion: he had to leave Afghanistan.
His usefulness as a spy was over. He had no means of contacting Anatoly; and, even if Jane had not smashed the radio, he was unable to leave the village to meet Anatoly, for Jane would immediately know what he was doing and would tell Ellis. He might have been able to silence Jane somehow (Don’t think about it, don’t even think about it) but if anything happened to her Ellis would want to know why. It all came down to Ellis. I’d like to kill Ellis, he thought, if