The Road to Kabul
Suggested lead in:
This weekend Russians are commemorating the 20th anniversary of the end of the Soviet Union’s war in Afghanistan. 15 Thousand Soviet soldiers lost their lives during the 10 year failed attempt at defeating the Afghan Mujahedeen resistance.
Today, veterans of the Soviet Afghan war are warning the NATO forces currently fighting in Afghanistan: You will never win this war.
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December 27th 1979: The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan with over 80.000 soldiers.
The invasion followed repeated calls for aid by the Afghan communist government.
The Soviet army quickly encountered fierce resistance from Mujahedeen fighters.
Zalmay Weza
Fmr. General
The Democratic Republic of Afghanistan
This was a war between capitalism and socialism. We were only their tools, their weapons.
Unfortunately, all the mistakes made at that time are being repeated today by the United States and NATO. It’s the same mistakes made all over again.
Zalmay Weza was a general in the Afghan Army, heading the communist state’s elite fighting units.
Fighting together with the Soviet occupation force for years, Zalmay believed in the communists’ promises of equality for all in his poor nation.
When the Soviet Union pulled out of Afghanistan, February 15th, 1989, Weza along with thousands of other Afghan communists had no other choice but to leave Afghanistan for Russia.
Today he has no citizenship and lives in Moscow, trying to make a living as a jewellery salesman.
Zalmay Weza
Fmr. General
The Democratic Republic of Afghanistan
Russia doesn’t have laws grating us status as a refugee. We have no status here. No passport and no official documents. Without these we can’t legally work, get an education or rent an apartment here. It makes life very difficult for us and it is very expensive
Not without a certain bitterness, Zalmay Weza today reflects upon the choices he has made which landed him on the wrong side of the war.
Zalmay Weza
Fmr. General
The Democratic Republic of Afghanistan
I just exist here. I don’t feel like I’m really living.
It’s a late Monday evening and a group of middle aged men get together to play Ice hockey.
They’re veterans of the Afghanistan war. Many of them were badly injured in the campaign that their own government today would like to forget about.
The comradeship and shared memories are all they have left.
Andrey Kuzmin
Veteran of the Afghanistan war
It’s impossible to forget what we went through. It’ll stay in our hearts forever. We been though fire and water together and of that we’re proud.
Sergey Sokolov was a fighter pilot in Afghanistan.
In his SU-17 bomber he accomplished more than 100 missions against an enemy he has never met face to face.
Sergey Sokolov
Veteran of the Afghanistan war
I always felt that we were in fact, fighting against the West. The United States. The Afghans were receiving the money and weapons to fight us from abroad. It wasn’t the Afghan people who were our enemies, but America.
In April 1984 Sergey experienced a dramatic turning point in his life.
On his 120th mission he became one of the first Soviet pilots to become victim of the weapon many think decided the outcome of the war:
The American Stinger missile.
Sergey Sokolov
Veteran of the Afghanistan war
I remember seeing something that looked like a small cloud of smoke on the ground, down to my left. This was probably the exhaust of the missile. It most definitely was a Stinger because they have the signature characteristic of white exhaust smoke.
Sergey lost control of his aircraft and prepared for his end when he saw the ground quickly coming closer.
Sergey Sokolov
Veteran of the Afghanistan war
I glanced at my altimeter and knew I was already too low to eject. Nevertheless I decided to try and bail out. I landed in a dried out river bed, and that saved my life.
Unhurt but badly bruised, Sergey noticed a large group of guerrilla warriors coming down from the mountain to inspect the remains of his plane.
Sergey Sokolov
Veteran of the Afghanistan war
What I feared most, was being captured alive. They routinely killed their prisoners of war. At best they would exchange the dead bodies afterwards.
I counted around 60 soldiers closing in on my position. Suddenly one of them noticed me and pointed in my direction. They all took out their machine guns hidden underneath their robes, and the battle began. A really tough battle.
Armed with just a sub machine gun and a few hand grenades, the airman stood his ground for an hour. Then he ran out of ammunition. Sergey realised the battle was lost.
Sergey Sokolov
Veteran of the Afghanistan war
At this point I’d been wounded. I didn’t realise how seriously I was injured until I noticed that I was losing my strength. I’d lost a lot of blood and was starting to see unclearly.
The last thing Sergey remembered was a very familiar engine sound. Two Russian helicopters swept in low from the mountains. The rescuers managed to scatter the fighters and lift the badly injured pilot to safety.
The next few years Sergey spent in hospitals, paralysed in both legs and suffering from internal gunshot wounds.
Sergey Sokolov
Veteran of the Afghanistan war
The first year I went through five successive operations. One after the other. When I was finally released from hospital I weighed only 46 kg.
Due to his tremendous willpower, Sergey eventually managed to walk again. He also regained his pilot’s license.
Today he’s proud of the job he did in Afghanistan, but disappointed that he never got the chance to finish it.
Sergey Sokolov
Veteran of the Afghanistan war
We also did a lot of good things in Afghanistan. Therefore I don’t want to call the war a defeat. It was also not a victory. But we lived through it. And we learned our lesson. Unfortunately for them, the Americans, who pulled us into this war never learned a thing. Now they are in Afghanistan, and they’re much worse off than we ever were.
Almost 15.000 Soviet soldiers were killed in Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989. The military defeat was so devastating that it played a crucial role in the dissolution of the Communist state two years later. But in today’s Russia, the memorials are few and far between.
Only recently has the government decided to fund the only Russian museum dedicated to the Afghan war.
Igor Irin
Museum director
The museum is very modest because when the war ended, the Soviet Union was disintegrating. We had to pull out of the war and the government wasn’t very interested in paying remembrance to this. We who served in Afghanistan had to build this museum for ourselves.
-Do you think that today’s government also wants to forget about this war?
-It may well be that it wants to forget, but it can’t. Because the war in Afghanistan still goes on.
Gen. Ruslan Aushev
President of Afghanistan Vets’ Association
Our largest political mistake was that we came there and intended to make Afghanistan into something like the Soviet Union. The very idea to transform this society over night wasn’t just impossible, it was stupid.
As the number of killed and injured soldiers increased, the Soviet government increased its propaganda efforts to make its population believe that theirs were noble reasons to continue the war in Afghanistan
Vladimir Fadeyev
Correspondent for Soviet Television in Afghanistan
I never undestood what they meant with the term “International duty”. Still, everybody kept repeating this expression, like parrots:” We are there to fulfil our International Duty”.
In 1980 Vladimir Fadeyev had a career, he hosted his own radio programme on Soviet national radio.
However, Vladimir had seemingly one flaw: He loved jazz music.
The Soviet Director of Public Broadcasting didn’t share this love, and thought the music was harmful to young listeners.
The Director wanted him out of the way,
Vladimir Fadeyev
Correspondent for Soviet Television in Afghanistan
He said: “Get your stuff organized and packed. You’re making too much of a racket here. We’re sending you to Afghanistan.” And so I ended up in Afghanistan.
As a Soviet TV and radio correspondent, Vladimir had severe restrictions on what he could say and show. Russian losses, for instance, could only be mentioned on the air once a week.
Vladimir Fadeyev
Correspondent for Soviet Television in Afghanistan
We made stories about the building of new schools in villages; about our soldiers constructing irrigation plants for the farmers. Of course, this got pretty boring after a while. I don’t think our viewers and readers ever got the full picture of what was happening there, and why it took so much time.
The reality on the ground was completely different than what the television viewers back home got to see.
Just like today, Russian and Afghan civilians were under constant threat of attack from guerrilla fighters.
Terrorist bombings, assassinations and kidnappings were commonplace, even in the well defended capitol.
Vladimir Fadeyev
Correspondent for Soviet Television in Afghanistan
During the day, the Afghan government forces controlled the cities – with our help. But as soon as the sun set, the Resistance ruled the world. We called them “The Duchmans”. It’s an Afghan word which means “enemy”.
Just like today, the Soviet leadership was trying to put an end to terrorist attacks by winning the Afghans’ hearts and minds.
Thousands of Soviet aid workers, teachers and engineers were mobilised to go the there and help the Afghans rebuild their country.
Teacher Natalia Batrakova was tempted by the opportunity to make some real money.
Natalia Batrakova
Russian Language Teacher
To me, the ”International Solidarity” aspect was of no importance. My reasons for going were purely economic. I had to make more money to support my mother and my small son. So I applied to go to Afghanistan, literally with tears in my eyes.
Natalia and Vladimir met and fell in love in the besieged Soviet compound in Kabul.
Natalia Batrakova
Russian Language Teacher
He had blue eyes and was very attractive. But he was extremely poorly dressed.
Vladimir Fadeyev
Correspondent for Soviet Television in Afghanistan
I’m a fairly good dancer, and a talker as well. I tried to put my hand on the soft spot between her should blades. When she didn’t pull away I knew that I had her.
During their journeys through the war torn Afghanistan, the couple constantly found themselves in dangerous situations.
Before a trip to the North of the country, terrorists had planted a bomb in Vladimir’s plane.
Vladimir Fadeyev
Correspondent for Soviet Television in Afghanistan
Just before take off, the door of the air craft suddenly opened and a group of Afghan soldiers barged in with a mine detector. They search the whole cabin. Suddenly they pull out a big box from under the seat of my cameraman. The box was dragged outside, and it turned out that it was a powerful bomb with several kilos of explosives.
-In your plane?
-Yes, in our plane. With a timing device. We were supposed to be blown up in mid-air.
Natalia and Vladimir’s passionate love affair eventually attracted the attention of the Soviet authorities.
They were accused of immorality and spoiling the reputation of the Soviet occupation force and sent home.
The expulsion probably saved Natalias life. Having returned to Moscow she received a phone call from the Director of the institute where she worked:
Natalia Batrakova
Russian Language Teacher
She told me: “It’s a good thing you’re no longer here. Today there was an explosion in the classroom where you used to work. Someone had planted a bomb inside the heater. It was a good thing after all that I sent you home.”
Despite their overwhelming military force, the Soviets never managed to control more than 20 per cent of Afghanistan.
February 15th 1989 the last Soviet tank left the country. Thousands of Soviet mothers and fathers greeted the withdrawal with immense joy.
Natalia Batrakova
Russian Language Teacher
I cried when I watched on TV how our boys were leaving. Because so much blood had been shed in such a short time. So many young lives. And for what?
Vladimir Fadeyev
Correspondent for Soviet Television in Afghanistan
Since the Americans weren’t capable of learing anything from our bitter experience in Afghanistan, I say, let them continue to sacrifice their young soldiers there.
At the peak of the occupation, more 110 thousand Soviet soldiers were in Afghanistan.
Russian military experts have estimated they would have needed three times as many troops to seal off the border with Pakistan and destroy the supply routes of the Mujahedeen.
Today, NATO has at little over 50.000 troops in Afghanistan, to fight a Taliban which just keeps getting stronger.
Again, the illegal heroin production is rising, and again, the borders to the South have proven impossible to seal.
According to new statistics 15 thousand Russians die every year from Afghan heroin. That’s exactly how many Russian troops were killed during ten years of fighting in Afghanistan.
Many Russians today believe that the mistakes of 80-ies now have come back to haunt them.
Vladimir Fadeyev
Correspondent for Soviet Television in Afghanistan
I’m certain that it was necessary for us to invade Afghanistan. I’m even more certain it was wrong of us to leavebecause we never finished the job that we were there to do.
Gen. Ruslan Aushev
President of Afghanistan Vets’ Association
The same mistakes are made all over again. Again they’re trying to force the Afghans into another way of life. But the Afghans are living their lives, just as they were when they defeated us. It’s the same thing all over again.
Vladimir Fadeyev
Correspondent for Soviet Television in Afghanistan
I must admit a certain schadenfreude seeing what happens there todaybecause the West will never be able to get out Afghanistan in a good way. It’s impossible to defeat the Afghans.
General Zalmay Wesa carefully follows the news coming out of his home country. The Exile believes strongly that the West’s mistakes in Afghanistan are ever more serious the Soviet Union’s mistakes.
Zalmay Weza
Fmr. General
The Democratic Republic of Afghanistan
They don’t care about our traditions. They treat people badly. They know nothing about our culture and on top of that, they keep betraying their own allies; all the people who believed in them.
Wesa still hopes that one day he will be forgiven for fighting with the Soviets and be welcomed back to Afghanistan.
Zalmay Weza
Fmr. General
The Democratic Republic of Afghanistan
I love my country more than anything. For 20 years I have been living here in Moscow, hoping to be able to return to Afghanistan. In fact, I never wanted to leave.
But today, the way I analyze the situation it has gotten worse. And it will still get worse.
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14.427 Soviet soldiers died in Afghanistan between 1979 and 1989.
Since 2001 more than 1000 western soldiers have lost their lives there.
The war in Afghanistan continues.