‘Soviet invasion behind Afghanistan chaos’

KABUL, former inmates recalled on Saturday the Russian invasion of Afghanistan put the country into quagmire and eternal anarchy.

Everything was being governed by Russians and their puppets in the Afghan government, recalled Sayed Ahmad who was imprisoned twice during the Soviet onslaught of Afghanistan.

Sayed Ahmad, who is paralyzed from both legs and has acquired mental problems, told Pajhwok Afghan News that both times he was tortured while in prison. “The inmates were tortured for being Muslim. They were electrocuted, burnt, or even had their nails pulled,” the wailing Ahmad recalled.

Ahmad 53, who was an officer in the Afghan air force, remembered that the prisoners were being taken behind the notorious Pul-i-Charkhi prison for execution.

Today (Saturday) was the 35^th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

The 120,000 strong red army equipped with sophisticated weaponry, invaded Afghanistan and installed Babrak Karmal as president of the country.

The invasion was followed by uprising in various parts of the country which continued for ten-long years and gifted the Soviet Union its biggest defeat and subsequent disintegration.

During the invasion, Afghanistan turned into rubble. More than one million people got killed, thousands maimed, and another five million migrated to neighboring Iran and Pakistan.

Ahmad said that no Afghan remained indifferent towards the invasion and everybody played their part in defeating the red army. The Russians, he added were undertaking all the government matters.

“The day the red army invaded the country even the defence minister was not aware. The soviet fighter jets were bombarding the villages on daily basis killing people and forcing them to leave their homes,” he recalled.

Engineer Bashir, a Kabul resident said, his brother who was teaching law and political science in police academy, vanished during the occupation. He added they did not know about his whereabouts until last month where he read his name in a book called “martyrs without graves”.

“Mohammad Daud was an honest and sincere man. He was a patriot and when he was martyred he did not own anything,” he said his brother’s only wish was a stable and developed Afghanistan.

Bashir said, his second pilot brother was also imprisoned and subsequently killed.

The soviets also suffered huge casualties in Afghanistan. Based on reports, some 14,450 red army soldiers died, another 49,980 wounded and 330 more went missing.

Gen. Boris Gromov was the last soviet soldier to leave Afghanistan, crossing on foot the Friendship Bridge spanning the Amu-River on February 15, 1989. It is said he did not even want to look back.

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