When the Soviets left Afghanistan

Afghanistan civilians bid farewell to departing Soviet troops in Shindand, Afghanistan, October 1986. The Soviet Union fully withdrew its forces from Afghanistan in 1989, following a decade of war. REUTERS/Stringer

A convoy of Soviet tanks wave to crowds after their arrival in Kabul from the eastern city of Jalalabad as part of the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, May 1988. REUTERS/Richard Ellis

Bundled up against the cold, two Soviet soldiers in Kabul smile after being told that the Soviet newpaper Pravda announced in Moscow that all Soviet troops in Kabul will withdraw, February 1989. REUTERS/Richard Ellis

An Uzbek woman cries as she looks for her son among Soviet troops near the town of Termez, March 1989. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin

A Soviet tank, part of one of the last Soviet units to leave Afghanistan, crosses the border back into the USSR at Termez, February 1989. In the background is the Friendship Bridge linking the USSR and Afghanistan over the Amu River. REUTERS/Files

An Afghan woman walks past a newly erected sign which says "Thank you to our Soviet friends and goodbye," in downtown Kabul, May 1988. REUTERS/Richard Ellis

The last Soviet soldier in the Kabul contingent waves goodbye before closing the door of a Soviet transport plane in Kabul, February 13, 1989. REUTERS/Richard Ellis

Soviet soldiers, withdrawing from Afghanistan, walk with their luggage to board a train near the town of Termez, March 1989. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin

A Soviet soldier gives an Afghan boy a farewell hug before departing to return to the Soviet Union, in Shindand, Afghanistan, October 1986. REUTERS/Stringer

Afghanistan civilians bid farewell to departing Soviet troops in Shindand, Afghanistan, October 1986. REUTERS/Stringer

An Afghan worker unloads supplies of flour from a Soviet transport plane as a Russian guard stands watching in Kabul, February 1989. The Soviet Union was airlifting supplies to help the government survive a rebel blockade of the city following their...more

Damaged APCs and helmets left by Soviet troops who were fighting in Afghanistan, near the town of Temez, near the Soviet-Afghan border, March 1989. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin

An Afghan shopkeeper holds a jar of Soviet caviar abundantly available on the black market for only $7 dollars, February 1989. Although Kabul suffered from shortages of basic foods, luxury goods left behind by nine years of Soviet occupation were...more

Two Afghan boys play with the empty canisters of a Soviet made anti-tank missile in Kabul, May 1989. REUTERS/Richard Ellis

Afghan soldiers await sighting instructions for their Soviet made 122mm cannon as hundreds of empty shells lay on the ground at the Pagaman military post outside Kabul, May 1989. REUTERS/Richard Ellis

Two Soviet soldiers patrol in the city bazaar in the eastern Afghanistan city of Jalalabad, January 1987. REUTERS/Robert Evans