Do you see a difference? I would love to see it....but I mostly see a simularity- young people die because of someone's interests...ideas....shortly: personal issues paid with taxpaiers money. Who cares how the country is named? The issue is the same.And the death is always a death- it's the end point.

	1989: Soviet troops pull out of Afghanistan Soviet troops are withdrawing from Afghanistan, nine years after they swept into the country. A convoy of Soviet armoured vehicles travelled the 260-mile (418km) journey to the USSR border while other soldiers left aboard an Ilyushin 76 transport aircraft. Earlier, the Soviet government had announced the departure of the last troops although snow had delayed a five-day airlift from the Afghan capital Kabul. The journey is especially dangerous on the Salang Pass through the Hindu Kush Mountains, where more than 10,000 mujahideen operate. The mujahideen - Afghan Islamic fighters - have been involved in heavy battles to try to force a Soviet retreat. Huge snow drifts are blocking the southern approaches to the pass, while the descent on the northern side is a wall of ice. I've been waiting for this day for 18 months. Not everyone managed to make it Lieutenant Aleksandr Korotkin