Tim Nice But Dim
08-24-2005, 07:54 AM
Red Army's 'ghosts' of Afghanistan
By Tom Coghlan
BBC News, Baghlan province, northern Afghanistan
To the men of the Red Army who fought in Afghanistan, their elusive mujahideen enemy were always called simply the "Dukhi" - the ghosts.
But when their last tank rolled back across the Oxus river in February 1989, the Russians left behind some Cold War ghosts of their own.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40719000/jpg/_40719576_nikohands203.jpg
Nasratullah has built a new life in Afghanistan [Photos: Veronique de Vigeurie]
In the hills of northern Afghanistan, there are still men with pale skin who talk Russian when they are together.
Until 1981, Nasratullah was a soldier in the Red Army called Nikolai.
Together with two others, now known as Rahmatullah and Aminullah, he survives from a total of five Soviet soldiers known to have been captured and converted to Islam.
They went on to fight against their old comrades with the mujahideen....
Article (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4177312.stm)
By Tom Coghlan
BBC News, Baghlan province, northern Afghanistan
To the men of the Red Army who fought in Afghanistan, their elusive mujahideen enemy were always called simply the "Dukhi" - the ghosts.
But when their last tank rolled back across the Oxus river in February 1989, the Russians left behind some Cold War ghosts of their own.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40719000/jpg/_40719576_nikohands203.jpg
Nasratullah has built a new life in Afghanistan [Photos: Veronique de Vigeurie]
In the hills of northern Afghanistan, there are still men with pale skin who talk Russian when they are together.
Until 1981, Nasratullah was a soldier in the Red Army called Nikolai.
Together with two others, now known as Rahmatullah and Aminullah, he survives from a total of five Soviet soldiers known to have been captured and converted to Islam.
They went on to fight against their old comrades with the mujahideen....
Article (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4177312.stm)