A scene from the Red Army's withdrawal from Afghanistan through the Uzbek town of Termez.Photo from Radio Free Europe
Learning From the Soviets -- From Newsweek
Talk to Russian veterans of Afghanistan and it's hard not to think that they're rooting for the U.S. to lose. For these proud men, seeing NATO succeed at a job they botched would deepen the humiliation of defeat. Easier to affirm that if the Soviets couldn't win there, no one can. "We did not succeed and you will not either," says Gen. Victor Yermakov, who commanded Soviet forces in Afghanistan from 1982 to 1983. "They didn't trust us. They won't trust you." Ambassador Zamir Kabulov, who served in Afghanistan under the occupation and has just completed a four-year term as Russia's envoy in the country, is no more optimistic. "We tried to impose communism. You are trying to impose democracy," he says. "There is no mistake made by the Soviet Union that the international community has not repeated."
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My Comment: My uncle and two of my cousins served in the Soviet Army during their occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s. Their experiences were horrible, and what they saw (and experienced) was a Soviet Army unleashed with no rules of engagement or supervision. Fortunately for us .... their stories and experiences come no where near to what my contacts in the Canadian and British soldiers are telling me is happening in Afghanistan today .... not even close.
Michael Yon's recent piece on Afghanistan also gives hope that all is not lost .... that there is still a chance to reverse and stabilize the situation to a more acceptable. That even though the situation is very bad .... it is nowhere near what the situation was like when the Soviets were involved, and the horrible war strategy that they applied on the Afghan civilian population. With this perspective .... one can then have hope.
As for all of those former Soviet/Afghan veterans .... a great deal of bitterness still remains. My cousins have chosen to accept that this was an experience in which they were very lucky to get out of without being injured or crippled .... and they have left it at that. For my uncle .... his story was different. He was a senior officer in the military, and it is on the shoulders of men like him that the blame of losing this war was put on. He retired in 1990, and he passed away this year with alcoholism and bitter memories as his constant companions. Fortunately .... I was able to learn a lot from him, and it is from his education (and from my father who passed away in 2005) that many of my opinions and ideas come from for this blog.