Moscow views Afghan war as success 30 years after pullout

MOSCOW — When the last Soviet tanks rumbled back home across a bridge on the border with Afghanistan 30 years ago, the withdrawal was hailed as a much-anticipated end to a bloody quagmire.

Since then, Moscow’s view of the war has changed radically.

As Russia prepares to mark Friday’s anniversary of the Soviet withdrawal, many see the 10-year Soviet war in Afghanistan as largely successful. Just like the ongoing Russian campaign in Syria, the Afghan war is widely perceived as a legitimate action against U.S.-backed militants.

Russia also has emerged as an influential power broker in Afghanistan, mediating between feuding factions as it jockeys with Washington for influence in a country where a U.S.led coalition has been fighting for more than 17 years.

Ata Mohammad Noor, a former warlord who fought Soviet troops and served as governor of the northern Balkh province from 20042018, attended a meeting last week in Moscow that brought together former Afghan officials, opposition figures and the Taliban.

“I don’t think that Russia would like to repeat what it did in the past. It’s totally different today,” Noor said. “On the other side, there have been 40 years of war in our country, and the Afghan people are all tired of war. People would support any country that would step forward to bring peace.”

After the long U.S. involvement, Afghans are critical of the coalition forces. Even those who fought in the 1980s give grudging credit to Moscow for leaving a legacy that outshines Washington’s. They point out that Russia left behind a disciplined army and a 400-bed military hospital that is still among the country’s best health facilities. Some note that while communist President Najibullah’s government was ruthless, it was not wracked by the corruption t hat has plagued Afghanistan’s U.S.backed government.

The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in December 1979, driven by fears that the U.S. could try to establish a foothold next to Soviet republics in Central Asia after losing Iran in the Islamic Revolution. Moscow’s initial plans for a quick operation were derailed by fierce rebel resistance, and in the years of fighting that followed, the Soviet Union lost more than 15,000 troops, according to official data. Estimates of civilian casualties in that period vary widely, from more than 500,000 up to 2 million.

The Soviet intervention drew strong international condemnation and imposed a heavy burden on the struggling Soviet economy.

Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev ordered the pullout amid his efforts to conduct liberal reforms and end confrontation with the West. Afghanistan’s communist government held for three more years, collapsing shortly after the December 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union.

In Russia, many veterans blame Gorbachev for a hasty pullout that squandered the hard-fought gains, and they hold Russia’s first president, Boris Yeltsin, responsible for the demise of Najibullah.

“We could have done many things differently. We could have done better to minimize losses,” said Frants Klintsevich, a veteran who serves as a lawmaker in Russia’s upper house.

“And in the end we just gave up everything and also ruined the Soviet Union,” he said.