Thirty Years Later: Gorbachev’s Weakness Led to Collapse in Afghanistan and the World Order
Tired young lieutenants at Tashkent's railway stations, packed stuffy hotels and no tickets for the passing dusty trains. That's what warriors-internationalists remember about the developments that took place 30 years ago. On May 15th, 1988 the Soviet Union officially began to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan. Then, the Geneva Accords came into force, being actually agreements between pro-Soviet Afghanistan and pro-American Pakistan.
Alexander Evstigneev is reporting on how it was and how it is seen now.
Boris Gromov: "Happiness, of course. And desolation".
Hero of the Soviet Union, Boris Gromov remembers the moment of when the last convoy of Soviet troops left Afghanistan after nine years of someone else’s war.
"There are no Soviet soldiers, officers, or NCOs behind me".
This biting phrase became the symbol of the end of the Afghan campaign. But few remember this footage. It's the beginning of the withdrawal, 30 years ago.
"Our correspondent is reporting from Jalal-Abad. It's a solemn farewell march".
But nobody was eager to let them go. The US wanted the Soviet Union to bleed there for as long as possible. Afghanistan saw proxy warfare between the two superpowers. And the republic's leader, Najibullah Ahmadzai, understood that mujahideen, radical Islamists, would smash him after the Russians withdrew.
Boris Gromov, Hero of the Soviet Union: "Najibullah was a smart man, he did his best to either persuade the USSR to postpone the withdrawal or leave about 30,000 of our troops in Afghanistan".
They couldn’t simply withdraw from Afghanistan. Soviet diplomats, including Nikolai Kozyrev, had been negotiating in Geneva. On paper, it was Afghanistan and Pakistan that decided on their future. In fact, it was the Soviet Union vs the USA in a diplomatic duel for regional dominance.
Nikolai Kozyrev, ambassador-at-large (1982-1992): "The thesis was "Leave to stay." Meaning that we would withdraw our troops, but try to stay in Afghanistan in order to retain close cooperation and ties".
In April 1988, Eduard Shevardnadze signed the agreement papers. Moscow was given nine months to withdraw its troops. It's a historic photo. Though it doesn't show the sudden refusal of the Afghan delegation to sign the agreement, they were persuaded, and the late-night hysteria of foreign minister Abdul Vakil, who was calmed down. The USSR left Afghanistan with dignity. Most importantly, there would be no more losses of Soviet warriors-internationalists. Yet, Moscow retained its influence in Afghanistan in non-military fields.
Alexander Soluyanov, battalion commander (1982-1984): "We didn't only fight, but we protected, constructed, built infrastructure".
Afghans still use it and are still grateful.
Dzhan Kujai, professor at Kabul University: "The Russians are good people. They left us what they had brought here, they left us what they had built".
Nikolai Kozyrev: "The regime lasted for three years, only to fall because the Soviet Union collapsed. Then our policies changed, we recognized the mujahideen, stopped helping Najibullah".
Striving to convince the West in its open-mindedness, the new Russia deprived Kabul of weapons, money, everything; and the world entered the age of great upheavals. The Taliban took the power, Osama bin Laden, nurtured by the US, spun out of control and created Al-Qaeda, and the USA was quaked by the 9/11 terrorist act. Then, their troops got mired somewhere near Kandahar, while former mujahideen shake hands with former Shuravi, Russians, inviting them to return with peace.
Alexander Evstigneev, Ruben Mirobov, Tatyana Stepovaya and Ekaterina Frolova for Vesti.