Photos Soviet-Afghan War 1979-1989

[RisingStar]

I wonder how and if they saw the movie. I had it on VHS when i was a kid, but that was in the 90s. Maybe they had a magazine smuggled in ?

From what I've heard, bootlegs of American movies were very popular in the USSR during the '80s. I think pirating western media was a whole industry of its own back then. Not only that, but the Russians absolutely loved Ahnold. Also, I remember hearing that Afghanistan provided an opportunity to acquire pirated western goods as well, which many soldiers there took the opportunity to do.

So I'm guessing in this photo, he watched a bootleg of Commando at his base, and likely being miserable and bored out of his mind from being stationed in that hellhole, he decided to entertain himself alongside his friends by emulating the Commando pose.

 

[RisingStar]

First person view of a Soviet convoy traversing through the mountains of Afghanistan.

 

[otomo68]

 

[BravoZulu]

Soviet female soldier of the VDV using an AK-74 with an extended magazine posing infront of Grad rocket launchers

 

[BravoZulu]

Soviet T-54

 

[BravoZulu]

UB-23 rocket pods in a ground mount

 

[RisingStar]

Soviet soldiers get fresh newspapers and mail while their convoy is stopped somewhere in Afghanistan.

 

[RisingStar]

A female Soviet-Tajik interpreter named Mukhru Khodzhayeva meeting with an unidentified Afghan child during a humanitarian mission in 1987. As she puts it, "Kind words were my weapon."

 

[RisingStar]

Soviet soldier playing a guitar and smoking a cigarette.

 

[Bennie]

A Soviet BTR-70 with additional armor plates with holes for firing ports, Afghanistan, 1980's

 

[Bennie]

A BTR-70 of the 12th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment, Herat, Afghanistan

 

[RisingStar]

Mujahideen fighters set out on horseback against the Soviet Army in Doab Valley, Afghanistan (1980)

 

[RisingStar]

Soviet bomber plane abandoned at a car park in Afghanistan, photo taken in 2011.

 

[Bennie]

 

[BravoZulu]

BTR-60PU command vehicle , VDV unit

 

[BravoZulu]

Afghan KHAD agents and Soviet Major Loboda pose with captured Mujahideen, 1987, Parwan Province

KHAD was like the KGB of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, involved in numerous operations such as setting up prostitution spy rings in Pakistan to gather intelligence from Pakistani officials. KHAD was also involved in killing Palestinian jihadist Abdullah Yusuf Azzam, alongside with his son in 1988. KHAD agents were also accused of dressing up in black masks and white suits and striking civilians in Karachi, Pakistan, with hammers. These group of men in suits and masks would be known as the Hathora Group. In some instances, KHAD agents accompanied KGB Kaskad operators on anti-mujahideen infiltration ops and even paid Mujahideen to join the socialist side

 

[RisingStar]

Mujahid warrior with a British colonial era Martini-Henry shotgun, likely a relic from the Second Anglo-Afghan War.

 

[RisingStar]

Soviet officer marrying his sweetheart from back home while serving in Afghanistan, at the USSR embassy in Kabul

 

[F.L.]

Soviet Mi-24 :

 

[Newtonk]

Mil Mi 24p, and again,

In related news, mine clearing...