{"podcast":{"title":"The War Office","slug":"the-war-office-7856798","podcast_index_feed_id":7856798,"rss_url":"https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/68909a8df3a75290d49db79b","website_url":"https://www.youtube.com/@TheWarOfficePodcast","image_url":"https://assets.pippa.io/shows/68909a8df3a75290d49db79b/1778080307669-efbfb77f-d37b-4317-902e-4daef1205ced.jpeg","author":"The Operations Room","episode_count":12,"summary":"From the team behind The Operations Room comes The War Office Podcast. Each episode deep dives into the most important military history events, battles, and people from the Second World War to the present day. Each episode features dramatic storytelling, expert guest historians, and atmospheric soundscapes. This is frontline detail like you’ve never heard before. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-14T14:18:37.707861+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-war-office-7856798"},"episode":{"title":"The Assassination That Started The Soviet-Afghan War","slug":"the-assassination-that-started-the-soviet-afghan-war","published_at":"2026-06-23T04:01:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-war-office-7856798/the-assassination-that-started-the-soviet-afghan-war","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-war-office-7856798","url":"https://shows.acast.com/history-stories/episodes/6a39608f77b7df8c66e9db05","audio_url":"https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68909a8df3a75290d49db79b/e/6a39608f77b7df8c66e9db05/media.mp3","summary":"On 27 December 1979, Soviet Spetsnaz commandos backed up by operatives from the KGB’s counterterror units Zenit and Grom attacked the Tajbeg Palace, the residence of Afghan President Hafizullah Amin.  After a protracted battle with troops of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan and Amin's personal bodyguards, Amin was killed. The exact details of his death are unclear but what is clear is that the attack led to increase Soviet control over Afghanistan's government and a long war saw the deaths of many Afghans and Soviets.  Thanks to:  Sir Rodric Braithwaite former British diplomat who served as the British ambassador to Russia from 1988 to 1992 and author of 'Afgantsy: The Russians in Afghanistan, 1979–89' Dr Tor Bukkvoll political scientist and a senior research fellow at the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment and author of 'Spetsnaz: A History of the Soviet and Russian Special Forces.' You can listen to The War Office on Spotify , Apple Podcasts , Amazon Music , or The War Office Podcast YouTube Channel .  New episodes will be released every Tuesday morning. If you enjoy the episodes, please help us grow the podcast by subscribing, liking, sharing, commenting, and listening to future releases. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","meta_description":"On 27 December 1979, Soviet Spetsnaz commandos backed up by operatives from the KGB’s counterterror units Zenit and Grom attacked the Tajbeg Palace, the r…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3401,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-war-office-7856798/episodes/the-assassination-that-started-the-soviet-afghan-war/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-war-office-7856798/the-assassination-that-started-the-soviet-afghan-war.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}