Remembering Afghanistan

By Walter Kish

Just a short stone’s throw from the walls of Kyiv’s famous Pecherska Lavra stands a modest, though moving, bronze monument dedicated to those Ukrainian soldiers who fought and died during the Soviet Union’s ill-fated foray into Afghanistan.

In 1979, the powers-that-be in Moscow sought to extend their empire into the historically inhospitable territory framed by the Hindu Kush Mountains and home to a volatile mix of Pashtun, Tajik, Hazara and Uzbek tribesmen.  Ten years later, General Boris Gromov led the last of the Soviet army, bloodied and humiliated, back across the Oxus River, leaving behind close to 15,000 dead.

Of course, the price paid by the Afghanis was far higher.  It is estimated that some 1.3 million Afghanis, mostly civilians, died during that fateful decade.  The country’s infrastructure was almost totally destroyed, and the country has been in shambles both economically and politically ever since.

Unfortunately, Ukrainians paid a heavy price as well. It is estimated that approximately 130,000 Ukrainians served in Afghanistan as part of the Soviet forces. Some 3,290 of them died and a further 8,000 were wounded, with 4,687 of them returning permanently disabled.

The war was particularly brutal, with atrocities committed by both sides on a regular basis. The mujahadin, known as dukhi or ghosts, were particularly adept at guerilla warfare, and though the Soviets may have held a significant edge in high-tech weaponry, the dukhi were masters of the rugged mountainous terrain that is characteristic of most of their homeland.  The end result was a long, protracted and brutal war of attrition.

Some Ukrainian soldiers never returned at all, but stayed behind by choice.  One example is Gennady Tsevma, originally from Donetsk, who as a raw 18-year-old conscript, became fed up with what he was being asked to do, and deserted.  He currently lives in Kunduz, and, having converted to Islam, is now know as Nekmuhammad.  He was not alone in his conversion.  Alexander Levenetz, from the small village of Melovadka, deserted in 1984 and also converted to Islam. He changed his name to Ahmad, married a local woman, had two daughters, and is also now living in Kunduz. Similarly, Nikolai (who declines to give his last name), from Kharkiv, was a member of an elite parachute regiment when he was captured by the mujahadin after heavy fighting. In captivity, he eventually also converted to Islam and now lives in Afghanistan under the name of Nasratullah.

Although both the Russian and Ukrainian governments have since declared an amnesty for all POWs and deserters, few of those who stayed behind have shown any desire to return, despite the fact that life in this war-torn country continues to be chaotic and difficult.

Much as was the case with Vietnam war vets, the soldiers returning from Afghanistan came back not as heroes but as somewhat of an embarrassment to the countries and governments that had sent them there.  Since then, they have faced a constant upward struggle to obtain the pensions, medical care, housing and other benefits due to them.  They have organized themselves into a Union of Afghan War Veterans and have staged numerous protests this year in Kyiv, Donetsk and Lviv.

The monument to Ukrainian Afghanistan War Veterans next to the Pecherska Lavra was unveiled in 1999 on the tenth anniversary of the end of that cruel and unnecessary war. One would like to think that the Ukrainian government owes more to those veterans than just a monument, as important as it may be both historically and psychologically.