Soviet vets, 20 years on, warn Obama on Afghanistan
Soviet veterans marking 20 years since their defeat in Afghanistan warned the United States it would never truly control the country, citing bitter memories of a fiercely proud people and unforgiving landscape.
The withdrawal of the last Soviet troops on February 15, 1989 ended a decade of fighting that killed an estimated 15,000 Soviet troops and convinced a generation of soldiers they had been sent to fight a war they could not win.
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE51D1AD20090214?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=10112
Russians warn of Afghan parallels
The 10-year occupation left a million Afghans dead and the country in ruins.
As Russia marks the 20th anniversary of its withdrawal from Afghanistan, officials in Moscow are warning that US and Nato-led forces are making exactly the same mistakes as the Soviet Union made when it invaded the country in 1979.
The BBC's Richard Galpin has been speaking to experts and veterans, who remember the withdrawal after 10 years of occupation as a traumatic and humiliating experience.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7888566.stm
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