So Tom Frost, an iRobot engineer at the scene, built a makeshift network of radio repeaters by scavenging old Soviet trucks that littered Bagram Air Base.
At the time the West was spending millions spreading anti-Soviet propaganda, and America was bankrolling newspapers and broadcasters like Radio Free Europe.
The next morning, a friend called Katz to say he heard Kennedy on the Voice of America radio network listing the names of people leaving the Soviet Union.