ejaz007
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Russians are back in Afghanistan after 20 years
OVERLOOKING KABUL: Twenty years since the last Soviet soldier left Afghanistan, the Russians are back again. This time in NATO uniforms.
Crammed in the back of a French patrol vehicle rumbling down a dusty road, Alexei grins as he explains why he left his native Russia and came to fight in Afghanistan. My father was here in the 1980s, he says cheerfully as he recalls his childhood years at the height of the Soviet war in Afghanistan. My father fought in Kandahar.
But why is he here? The answer is the French Foreign Legion, a unit of the French army largely consisting of foreign volunteers like Alexei who, clad in uniforms adorned with NATO insignia, fight around the world alongside the French. About 800 legionnaires are stationed in Afghanistan as part of NATO efforts to contain the Taliban insurgency. Because of the Soviet experience here, for many of the Russians who serve under the French flag alongside Brazilians, Chinese and Poles, history seems to be repeating itself in a twisted and confusing way.
Glancing over Kabuls hazy skyline from a hilltop observation outpost, the French tricolour stitched to his sleeve, Igor tosses out a cigarette butt as he launches into his Afghan war stories. Its strange being here, said Igor who like others, could not give his surname under the Legions strict anonymity rules.
For example, we once went to this village which was bombed by the Russians back then. All the elderly people there kind of said: We are waging jihad against the Russians. He adds grimly: So I was asked not to tell anyone Im Russian. While memories are still fresh among Afghans of Moscows brutal occupation of their nation, working for NATO is also something that many Russians would not advertise at home. In Afghanistan, the Legions melting pot of a crew is engaged in peacekeeping and other operations mainly in and around Kabul. reuters
Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan
OVERLOOKING KABUL: Twenty years since the last Soviet soldier left Afghanistan, the Russians are back again. This time in NATO uniforms.
Crammed in the back of a French patrol vehicle rumbling down a dusty road, Alexei grins as he explains why he left his native Russia and came to fight in Afghanistan. My father was here in the 1980s, he says cheerfully as he recalls his childhood years at the height of the Soviet war in Afghanistan. My father fought in Kandahar.
But why is he here? The answer is the French Foreign Legion, a unit of the French army largely consisting of foreign volunteers like Alexei who, clad in uniforms adorned with NATO insignia, fight around the world alongside the French. About 800 legionnaires are stationed in Afghanistan as part of NATO efforts to contain the Taliban insurgency. Because of the Soviet experience here, for many of the Russians who serve under the French flag alongside Brazilians, Chinese and Poles, history seems to be repeating itself in a twisted and confusing way.
Glancing over Kabuls hazy skyline from a hilltop observation outpost, the French tricolour stitched to his sleeve, Igor tosses out a cigarette butt as he launches into his Afghan war stories. Its strange being here, said Igor who like others, could not give his surname under the Legions strict anonymity rules.
For example, we once went to this village which was bombed by the Russians back then. All the elderly people there kind of said: We are waging jihad against the Russians. He adds grimly: So I was asked not to tell anyone Im Russian. While memories are still fresh among Afghans of Moscows brutal occupation of their nation, working for NATO is also something that many Russians would not advertise at home. In Afghanistan, the Legions melting pot of a crew is engaged in peacekeeping and other operations mainly in and around Kabul. reuters
Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan
