The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan echoes in today’s war

The conscripts came mostly from the far reaches of Russia. Some were told they were being sent to help with the harvest, only to be thrown into a war zone. They lived in fear of the local population, and of the enemy, whom they called “ghosts”. “We killed wherever we could,” one said. “We killed wherever we wanted.” Their rations and equipment were outdated, often by decades. As she began to suture an elderly woman’s wounds, an army nurse saw the thread between her fingers turn to powder. It had been sitting in a Soviet warehouse since 1945.