Friday 28 September, 2001
Memories of fighting in Afghanistan
Once described as ‘Moscow’s Vietnam’, Soviet troops spent ten long years fighting in Afghanistan. It was a war that scarred a generation and cost a million lives.
As the United States and its allies build up their military presence around Afghanistan, Outlook talks to a veteran who was in the country with the Russian forces in the 1980s.
One group of people who have been watching the developments following the 11 September attacks on America with special interest, are the veterans of the decade-long campaign by the then Soviet Union in Afghanistan.
Soviet forces, trying to prop up the Communist regime, occupied the country in 1979. Ten years later, when they pulled out, they had 15, 000 dead and many thousands more wounded.
They left behind their weapons, ammunition and almost one million dead bodies.
Their enemies, the Mujahadeen, took over, until they in turn were driven out of Kabul in 1996 by the Taleban forces.
Weapons
During the Soviet campaign a propaganda war was being waged between the Soviet Union and the United States, with the Americans backing the Muhjahadeen in what was seen as a battle against communism.
Fuelling the fight with weapons, several veterans now recognise the bitter irony that the devices once provided by the US could now be used against them.
Speaking to the Boston Globe newspaper one former soviet soldier commented:
‘We were being killed from American weapons, now Americans will have to fight against their own weapons.’
Twelve years after Soviet troops withdrew from Afghanistan, the US crisis has stirred up old memories for Russia. Former soldiers have repeatedly recalled the difficulties of fighting in the rugged, mountainous terrain.
Time and time again the battle weary have remembered how the guerillas would lead Soviet troops into the hills and trap them in a gorge or ravine.
One surviving member of the Russian army has commented:
| ‘We would bomb them for a day, but when we would enter the village, it would be empty. They would just seep out through the cracks.’ | |
Weather
A former military man, with vivid memories of the Soviet campaign, is Yevgeny Kruschov, who was an intelligence officer working on counter propaganda.
Today, he is deputy chairman of the Russian War Veterans Union. He recalls how the treacherous weather conditions in Afghanistan hampered operations:
| ‘I didn’t expect the terrain and the weather conditions to be as ragged as they turned out to be. Blistering heat in the daylight, even in winter and then it’s freezing cold as soon as the sun goes behind the mountain slopes.’ | |
‘For the soldiers, as opposed to the officers, there is a mixture of feeling bewilderment, surprise and cultural ignorance.’
People
Today, the nature of the Afghan terrain is complicated further by ethnic diversity, making any land invasion fraught with difficulty.
Pashtus, the largest ethnic group, among whom the Taleban have their strongest support, currently make up almost 40% of the total population.
But Tajiks form a quarter and many of them are loyal to the opposition northern alliance - as are the Shiite Hazaras in the centre of the country, who form almost 20% of the population, and the Uzbeks, with over 5%.
Although the Taleban are widely disliked in Afghanistan, their supporters are extremely loyal and their military draws its strength from the passion of its fighting men.
Back in the 1982 when Yevgeny Kruschov was sent to fight in Afghanistan, he was also struck by how emotionally tough the enemy were. He comments:
‘Most of them in Kabul were totally immune to the Soviet propaganda. They are not eager to listen to anybody, whether they are Soviets, Americans or moderate Muslims for that matter.’
Caution
Today, when Kruschov talks of a military attack against Afghanistan he adopts a cautionary tone. Aware of the country’s increase in arms since he fought there, his advice to America is to be wary of the men, not the machine. He explains:
‘The Taleban should be considered as the major challenge not because they have this or that weaponry, but because of their attitude; a mindset, which boils down to their total and utter intransigence because they are totally unreceptive to any type of dialogue.’
In the event of any military strike against targets in Afghanistan Russia has now granted US planes Soviet airspace. Furthermore President Putin has said that American planes can operate out of air bases in former Soviet states in central Asia.
However, he has said little about what assistance he would offer in the event of military action. This may be because Russia’s wounds, like the events in the minds of it veterans, are still too fresh to bear.
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| Landmine warnings |
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Landmine Action, a British-based campaign, has warned that Afghanistan still has one million landmines scattered throughout its land.
A legacy of the Soviet forces, the area around Kabul is believed to be the most densely populated mine area.
Activists have said that they fear that they pose a bigger threat to those fleeing the country, than to the US military who have the necessary equipment to identify mines. |
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