Soviet Soldier ‘Missing’ Since 1980 Found In Afghanistan
” A former Red Army soldier who went missing in action (MIA) in 1980 during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan has been found alive almost 33 years after he was rescued by Afghan tribesmen.
Now living under the name of Sheikh Abdullah and working as a traditional healer in the Shinand District of Afghanistan, the former Soviet soldier Bakhredtin Khakimov, an ethnic Uzbek, was tracked down by a team from Warriors-Internationalists Affairs Committee, a nonprofit, Moscow-based organization that leads the search for the former Soviet Union’s MIAs in Afghanistan.
“He received a heavy wound to the head in the course of a battle in Shanind district in September 1980 when he was picked up by local residents,” the organization said in a statement posted on its website. “He now leads a semi-nomadic life with the people who sheltered him.” “
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Oh, brother! The Russians aren’t exactly wishy-washy liberal bleeding hearts. A military deserter is as good as dead. Over here in America, there would be complaints entertained: “The guards said bad words to me”, “The guards yell at me all the time”. In Russia, you break your Oath… The Siberian Goulag is the lesser of two evils.
I get the impression that he didn’t want to be found after his “head wound” healed . He’s not a Russian , he’s from Uzbekistan which according to my map borders Afghanistan . Seems that if he had wanted to get home he could have accomplished the journey in something less than 33 years . The biggest surprise to me is that any Afghan would have “nursed” a Russian soldier into anything other than an early grave .
True. Possible that he was feeding Intel info or training up Afgahanis on Russian tactics. We used the same tactics when Russia grabbed U-boat captains and officers, then US hired these same people we had in custody and paid the under DoD. US anti-sub frigates and subs actually trained by those who “knew” the enemy very well. A movie from years ago with Richard Widmark, the Bedford Incident (?), had some of this as its basis. I was friends with one U-boat captain who I talked into teaching me how they actually did their attack periscope sequence. Thankfully my old man was long gone when this happened or he would have went N-U-T-S!
I know the Bedford Incident , great movie . Just who or what DON”T you know ? Jeez , you make me feel like a no-nothing kid and I’m well beyond the half-century mark .
Ha, ha. I’m, just a “high mileage” street kid.