Chapter 36: Videotape
In the press room of the Afghan Ministry of Defense, the summoned reporters filled the originally spacious hall. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ο½ο½ο½Uο½Eγ This time it was not a routine press conference, but a temporary request from the Ministry of National Defense, saying that there was major news to be announced.
The appetite of the reporters in the audience was hung up early, and everyone was talking about what was going on. If it weren't for the big news, the Afghan Ministry of Defense would not have held any press conference with great fanfare, and the current war is obviously not conducive to the government army. Holding a press conference at such a time is simply self-inflicted.
The clock on the wall was ten o'clock, and the scheduled press conference had arrived. The spokesman of the Afghan Ministry of Defense walked to the front desk with a smile on his face, he was wearing a gorgeous military uniform, and he was not in a hurry to sort out the manuscript in the hands of the people, and when everything was ready, the spokesman finally announced the start of the press conference.
The press spokesman standing on the stage first said two small things, and then got to the point. I saw him pick up the manuscript he had prepared in advance and read it word by word."
"It has now been confirmed that during an armed operation of the Soviet army not long ago, the figure of Hafizollah Kassem Wardak, the number one figure of the illegal armed forces who had been entrenched in the Paghman area, was discovered, and after a fierce exchange of fire between the two sides, Hafizzolla Kassem Wardak and his cronies were forced to jump off a cliff and die. Afghan government forces and Soviet forces have already begun work on the recovery of bodies in rivers near the area of the fireγγγγγγγ β
After the spokesman of the Afghan Ministry of Defense read out the long speech, many members of the media remembered that they had already raised their hands and were ready to ask him questions. Because of the unfavorable situation of the war, the spokesman rarely had such confidence, and he glanced at the reporters below, and he planned to give the opportunity to ask questions to a few usually unfriendly media outlets.
"That lady over there!"
He pointed to a well-dressed woman, a reporter for an American media outlet who was usually looking for trouble at press conferences. The microphone was passed to the female reporter, who stood up with a smile on her face and said politely to the press spokesman:
"Hello spokesman, I'm an AP reporter, and my question is, are you really sure that Hafizollah Qassem Wardak has been killed?"
The spokesman suddenly felt that something was wrong, what was going on, could it be that the information was wrong. Could it be Hafizzollah Kassymm Wardak's stand-in who died? No, no way! The Russians didn't have to do that. Although the spokesman thought so in his heart, his face remained unchanged, even if Hafizollah Qasim Wardak was really not dead, he must be dead, otherwise the Afghan government and the Afghan Ministry of Defense will lose face.
"We're sure he's dead!" The spokesman said categorically.
"Can you explain what this picture is about?" The female reporter, who had been smiling, suddenly took out a large photo from the folder, held it in her hand and held it above her head, showing it to the reporters around her.
The photo was clear, and the spokesman saw it at a glance. In the photo, Hafizzollah Qasim Wardak sits on the ground holding a newspaper with the date of the day and stretches out to the camera, the position of the date is circled by a red line, and it is clearly marked. The spokesman was already a little overwhelmed. The surrounding reporters found out that the press conference had changed, and they raised their cameras to record the unexpected situation at the scene.
"How do you explain this picture?" The female reporter saw that the spokesperson did not respond for a long time, and repeated the question again.
"I don't know the authenticity of the photo in your hand, I can only say that Hafizollah Kassem Wardak has a lot of stand-ins, and the person in the photo may be a stand-in." The spokesman vehemently denied it. In his heart, he had already scolded the Soviets for being bloody.
"If you don't think the picture in my hand convinces you, I also have a video of Hafizzollah Qassem Wardak, in which he personally proves that what you are saying is a lie." As she spoke, the female reporter took out a videotape from her bag and showed it to the reporters present.
For a while, the reporters sitting below were in an uproar, this is simply a slap in the face, the Afghan government and the Soviet Union have just announced their brilliant results, and in the blink of an eye, they were attacked by the Pagman forces on the spot, is there anything more dramatic than this?
Now the spokesman of the Afghan Ministry of Defense has nothing to say, and the other side has continuously burst out evidence in his hands, and he only knows that Hafizollah Qasim Wardak died on the cliff, but there is no evidence, it is simply dead without proof. Looking at the reporters in the audience who raised their hands excitedly to ask questions, the spokesman's heart could no longer bear it. Without saying a word, he turned and strode out of the press room. Seeing this, the reporters surrounded the spokesperson to prevent him from leaving, while the security personnel at the scene were desperately trying to stop the reporters, and the hall was suddenly in chaos.
In less than an hour, the farce of the press conference was in the news of the mainstream media around the world, and the content of the video began to be made public. In the videotape, Hafezzola confirmed that he was alive with several newspapers published that day. He admitted in the tape that he did suffer from the Soviet army, but he did not die, only a few wounds, and he also showed the wounds, and it could be seen that the bullet only hit the leg, not the bones, so it was fine. In the video, he called on the people of Afghanistan to unite against the Soviet aggressors.
This farce made Hafizzollah Kassim Wardak, who was already a little famous, suddenly a popular among the Sheng fighters, and in the days that followed, more and more small groups of Sheng fighters rushed to the Pughman area to ask to join Hafizzola's team. This was something Hafizzola had never imagined at the time.
Now the whole world is watching the jokes of the Soviets, and even in this case, the Afghan government and the Soviet government are still stubborn, refusing to admit the authenticity of the tape, insisting that it is just a stand-in for Hafizollah Qassem Wardak. Behind the scenes, however, Afghan President Babraq Karmal had already raised his profile to the general secretary of the CPSU, Leonid Brezhnev.
For a time, the 103rd Airborne Division became the target of this incident, and the Soviet Ministry of Defense and the Afghan Ministry of Defense vented all their anger on the division commander Semyon, if it wasn't for Semyon's backstage being hard enough, it is likely that the KGB would have rushed to Afghanistan by plane, rushed into his office and arrested him back for investigation.