Veterans of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan predict failure in Iraq

A Soviet soldier on guard in Afghanistan in 1988.Photo by Mikhail Evstafiev

Revisiting History

Matthew Schofield, McClatchy Newspapers

Eighteen years after the Soviet army pulled out of Afghanistan in a humiliating defeat that hastened the collapse of an empire, many soldiers who fought there believe they're seeing history repeat itself. The United States - then the force behind the Afghan resistance - now appears trapped in a similar downward spiral in Iraq, besieged by a collection of forces not unlike those it trained and equipped to cripple the Soviets two decades ago. For many, the similarities go beyond the symbolic. Retired Capt. Vladimir Vshivtsev was blinded by an improvised roadside bomb 20 years ago in Afghanistan. He shudders every time he hears about a U.S. soldier killed or wounded by a similar device in Iraq or Afghanistan, he said. "They're fighting the same war again," he said. "Sure, the political stuff is different, but the military result is going to be the same: failure."...

continua / continued