Wednesday, 15 February 2023, marks the 34th anniversary of the withdrawal of the former Soviet forces from Afghanistan.
Many of the survivors of the Soviet attacks said that Russian soldiers in Afghanistan committed mass killings.
One of the survivors of the former Soviet Union’s attack on the nation, Toryali, said that the attack resulted in the deaths of five members of his family, including his father.
“My grandfather had seven sons, six of them have been killed, my father was one of them, and it is a bitter and unforgettable memory for our family,” Toryali said.
“They committed mass murders, they forced 10 or 15 individuals to gather in the garden and then killed them,” said Sayed Ahmad, a witness of the Soviet era.
“We pulled 40 individuals from the rubble. There was a time when our friends were killed after their wedding party in the morning,” said Sher Ahmad, another eyewitness from the Soviet era.
The Islamic Emirate marks this day as a public holiday.
Although the former Soviet Union’s nine-year presence in Afghanistan led to the collapse of the former Soviet Union, these wars killed nearly two million Afghans and made many more disabled.
In addition, 14,000 former Soviet troops were killed in this war, which had a negative political and economic impact on the former Soviet Union.
“The defeat of the Russians was very obvious. If we look at the defeat of the Americans, it is not very clear compared to the defeat of the Russians. The defeat of the Russians was obvious because all the nations that were under Russian rule were freed,” said Sayed Akbar Agha, a political analyst.
When Soviet forces invaded Afghanistan, the UN immediately took action. A resolution adopted by the general assembly of the organization in January 1980 called for the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of these soldiers from Afghanistan.
“Russia, which came as support in accordance with the decision of Article 51 of the United Nations Security Council, was forced to leave Afghanistan because of the pressure of the international community and the pressure of the West, and Afghanistan went into isolation just like today,” said Rahmatullah Bizhanpor, a university lecturer.
“The presence of the Russians in Afghanistan has had both positive and negative aspects. For instance, if the Russians had stayed, there would not have been a war, the West would not have supported the opposition and would not have supplied weapons, and the situation in Afghanistan today would not be worse than the situation in Central Asian countries,” said Assadullah Nadim, a military analyst.
In 1989, thirty-fours years ago today, the former Soviet Union announced its complete withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, ending a nine-year war that claimed the lives of millions of Afghans.
