E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
Alexander Lawrentjew / dpa via AP
Soviet war veteran Bakhretdin Khakimov went missing in action 33 years ago, but has now been found living under the name Sheikh Abdullah and working as a healer.
MOSCOW — A Soviet war veteran reported missing in action during fighting in Afghanistan 33 years ago has been found living as a local healer in the province of Herat, news agency Ria reported.
The soldier, who was rescued by Afghans after being wounded in the first months after the Soviet Union's invasion in 1979, was tracked down by a Moscow-based group of war veterans.
A native of the former Soviet Central Asian state of Uzbekistan, he now goes by the name of Sheikh Abdullah and has adopted the local dress and profession of the healer who nursed him back to health.
The deputy head of the Afghan war veterans' committee said Abdullah, whose given name is Bakhretdin Khakimov, mostly had forgotten the Russian language and never tried to contact his relatives after suffering severe head trauma in the fighting.
Alexander Lavrentyev, who met with Abdullah in Herat last month, said the veteran, who was 20 when he went missing, still bore the scars of his injury. His face is creased by a nervous tic and his hand and shoulder shake.
"He was just happy he survived,'' Lavrentyev was quoted by Ria as saying at a presser in Moscow on Monday.
The committee says it has found 29 of 264 soldiers still listed as missing from the bloody decade-long conflict. It said seven of those it contacted chose to stay in Afghanistan.
Some 15,000 Soviet troops were killed in the fighting that followed the Soviet Union's incursion to support a communist vassal government in Kabul against Islamist mujahideen fighters armed by the United States.
Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
Leave a Comment:
so cool.
Why is it "so cool"? I know lots of Chinese in the US who use English names. Just a common thing to do when living long-term in another country.
I certainly hope illegal mexicans don't agree with using English names. They are already using our social security numbers, drivers license numbers........
It's amazing how much uglier he became after turning Muslim.
Pigotry you are so sick. You have to be from Berkley, Ca.
Awesome story... from soldier to a healer... I love it!
"JK-4363698
It's amazing how much uglier he became after turning Muslim."
Why, I imagine this War-ravaged man looks pretty much like your ugly white Christian relatives! ; )
@Max^108: Awesome story... from soldier to a healer... I love it!
He wasn't a professional soldier... the Soviet Union had universal conscription, and he was unlucky enough to end up in Afghanistan at age 20. Still glad he's alive though!
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20130305/179834151/Soviet-Soldier-Missing-for-33-Years-Found-in-Afghanistan.html
hey, Max^108 (#1.5)
.
so cool....
.
he has turned Swords into Plowshares
What is also remarkable that despite being a foreigner and an 'invader' he actually SURVIVED for 33 years among supposedly the most savage group of people on the face of the earth...
This is what happens when you change your heart...
If instead of spending almost a trillion dollars a year on the so called 'defense' we were spending that kind of money on actually helping people in need, we would have been universally recognized as truly the greatest Nation on Earth and loved by everyone.
The problem is, Max^108, is that even IF we were to do that, then there would always be some fly in the ointment from the left, right, middle, or fringe that would be causing problems for the populace at large and thus your fairy tale, "Kumbaya," utopian fantasy land could never exist, and especially so since we are evil, selfish, hypocritical, judgmental, arrogant, narcissistic, elitist, war-mongering brats who have been entered into the concept of sin ever since Eve and Adam took the bite of the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. We will ALWAYS have a price in which we will pay in order to become bloody and violent savages. Even Mahatma Gandhi justified times in which people were to go to war, and that man was widely regarded as a pacifist (but then again some sources said that he was also a spousal abuser, which is not a good thing on his image). Ted DiBiase said once, "Everybody has got a price." My question to you, people of the world, is what is your price to be willing to betray everything that you have and to become the blood-thirsty and violent savage that you pretend that you are not in your lives?
When you come to invade my house and take my land I will become truly savage. Just like these people have become when we invaded their country.
I served in Europe during the height of cold war, watching the US military repeatedly provoke Russia by all sorts of sneaky moves. I would love to see all warmongering politicians, regardless of their country, ground up into pig food.
the providence he came from in the former soviet union is almost totally Muslim; since he was probably already a Muslim he was able t fit in with their culture.
Talk about going native!!! On another note, it's ironic that now we are the ones propping up a vassal government...
It is ironic. I suppose when we loose as many troops as the ruskies (15,000) we'll leave too.
I would't be surprised if India or China tries to occupy Afghanistan next. The only western land route from northern to southern Asia runs through the Khyber pass. And there will be an oil pipeline, someday.
Reminds me of movie, The Last Samurai. I bet he went through vodka withdrawals and everything just like the movie.
if i ever end up lost in Afghanistan i want to be called Shiek Yerbouti, that would be cool.
JK, its amazing how ugly and ignorant you are.... after well, just being yourself.
I bet the back pay owed to this soldier is probably 4 times the Gross National Product of Russia today...or to look at it in another way...1/100,000,000th of Putins Swiss Bank account....
I don't think they have the volume of money that you think and possibly a little more than I think, Kureschev is atill working as a Muesum director.
Russia spends on defense less than 5% of what we do, and still nobody f...ks with them. So which is an idiot country here?
They are also highly on the take and they have replaced repressive, freedom stealing leaders with robber barons and the Mafiya and other criminal empires and terrorist organizations, Max. I would hardly call THAT a fair trade off.
Because they have ballerinas throwing acid instead of soldiers. Cuts down on overhead for guns, bullets, etc.
@truthteller - and we have our special interest mafias, like AIPAC and military industrial complex - not sure what is worse... we also borrow money from China to pay for our ridiculous defense spending. Does that strike you as smart?
Agree with Max here. I remember a story back when Palistinians or pre-hamas group captured a US colonel or embassy guy, filmed him reading a statement they forced him to read, then killed him They did this to Europeans, NGO folks etc. THey hijacked airplanes- killed a GI when they saw his mil ID, They took a cruise ship, and killed an American in a wheelchair. Americans and Europeans were handringing, trying to pay ransoms, trying to reason with the bad guys. Trying to see their side of things. Tried to "work with them". When they kidnapped a Russian, The Russians pulled a KGB Commander from Moscow HQ and sent him to Palistine. In a few months, a lot of terrorists went missing, and a few were found dead in places their comrades thought were safe. Kidnapping of Russians stopped - but kidnapping of Americans and Europeans continued. Sometimes you have to talk to folks in their language. We used to understand this. All our people in gubmint now only know one thing. Pass out suitcases of cash to every village leader, truckloads to regional bigwigs, airlplane loads to national leaders, send the bill to the US taxpayers. We still wonder why they don't like us, and have no respect for us.
Yes IR... that kind of policy simply takes balls and brains, not a whole lot of money. Instead, we keep pi$$ing away trillions of dollars only to make things worse for ourselves.
Hey Max, I'll have what your having and let me get the name of company that sells those rose colored glasses.
This isn't as uncommon as you may think. If the truth were known, there are many American MIA's from all the wars, who started new lives in other parts of the world. After the Korean War, the American POW's were told by their captors, they will be returned to the USA or any other country of their choosing, if the countries will accept them. A few of them chose China; China accepted them, they found jobs, married, raised families. When the American government found out, the guys were treated like traitors, which they were not. It was a slap in the face to the politicians that some Americans chose not to return. One finally did and was thrown in prison for 10 years. Another returned as an old man & the govt. decided not to harass him as much; he opened a Chinese Restaurant in Memphis, TN with his Chinese wife & children & later died. Probably a few Vietnam MIA's did the same. One Marine jeep driver that was captured, surfaced after 14 years and returned to the USA & was treated like a traitor. When all those wars ended, those guys enlistments had long ended & they chose to walk away and start new lives on their own terms. They learned they did not have the freedom to be free.
Yes they did, But they didn't finish their enlistment term becoming AWOL and being classified as a Traitor when you go to the other side. You didn't mention about some of the MIAs we hold so close. A few did the same thing for their reasons. I believe that there sre some we call MIAs still alive somewhere today. To address your point why is one tried and the other left alone is probably inbetween somewhere there is a point at which they change the Laws on that situation. To point out, we had draft dodgers that went to Canada during Vietnam and after the draft ended a few years they made it a law that they wouldn't prosecute this group when and if they came back home. Keep in mind the Law only applies to this particular group. If they restarted the Draft and you run away and come back and get caught this Law would not cover you.
As far as I am concerned, anyone who survives something so terrible as war has earned the right to live anywhere he or she pleases. I am amazed that this government is so ungrateful for the sacrifices of these soldiers... War is profoundly damaging to the body and spirit. It is not at all suprising to me that many of these combat vets decided to stay put. Wherever they are, I sincerely hope they are living in peace surrounded by people who love them. I am sorry for the mothers and fathers, wives and children left behind here in the States who still don't know what happened to their loved ones but, I am sure there is a heaven where they will all once again be reunited. People react to extreme trauma in different ways....As much as they would like to tell you otherwise, military people are just people like the rest of us...Some served for duty, others because there were no other opportunities. For my Vet friends, it was a "calling". They came back whole. Others are not so lucky. We need to stop judging others and concentrate on improving our own lives and communities.... Just my opinion...
TRAITORS were the people who got our country involved in these foreign wars. We lost each and every one of them and still absolutely nothing bad happened to our country. The only bad thing was the war itself.
The wise thing that needs to happen, Zhang He, is that people need to make a new law that states specifically that unless the person HAS been proven to be an actual traitor to the United States Government and that they have not given over state secrets to foreign governments or have betrayed the source of the country and its laws that they are to be left alone with their spouses and to also have permission to enter into this country unhampered if they so choose to perform this act. A man like this one in the article and the people that fall in love and get married to people of the opposite gender in foreign countries should be exempt from being labeled as traitors and as enemy combatants if the war is over and any warhawk that argues otherwise will all need to have their families taken from them and for them all to be placed in Leavenworth or Guantanamo Bay or some really hideous place like San Quintin until they realize the real concepts of war, which are to defend yourselves, the families that you love, and the people that can not defend themselves from people who are mistreating them in an ever increasingly worse fashion. I might be harsh but sometimes people need a reminder of what humanity is truly about in their minds, hearts, and lives.
true Max. American Legion Magazine just did an article on the Gulf of Tonkin incident. Even among loyalists as strong as Legionaries the truth is being accepted. Pres Johnson either got played - like Bush Jr did - or he had a burning desire to be a war monger against communists and was blinded by his prejudice. When he realised later what he did, or allowed to have done to him, he decided not to run for election again. That stinkin war was a failure strategically, morally and politically. The troops and small unit commanders did their parts very, very well. But they were pawns. We will wait another 20 years or more before the remnants of the morally corrupt Bush Jr. Administration loose their grip on the facts. But the truth will out. And when it does, people will read how Bush was played or subordinated his morality to his prejudices. When national leaders do these things, thousands and millions die, get maimed, lose their homes. But none can do it without a cadre of hangers on - a gang banger with his posse so to speak, who make it happen for him in an attempt to build their own careers or for cash. This is DC.
It sounds as if people are confusing "traitor" with the real reason some of these guys were thrown in jail...they were deserters from whatever branch of the military they were representing. If they had disappeared within the US and eventually located, the same thing would have happened. Desertion of your military post is a crime, like it or not!
Believe it or not a handfull of young new troops do go AWOL. The Military knows exactly where they are and they leave them alone for a while before they come to pick them up. They seam to give them a chance to come back on their own. Yes they are given punishment but it is not anything very hard, usualy mowing grass or polishing Canons for a month or so.
The guys I mentioned were infantry and were captured in combat and held as POW's until the war ended; then they chose to not return to the USA. None that I'm aware of stayed in North Korea. The Marine chose to stay in Hanoi when released from POW status after the war ended. Just my opinion, when their country called, they went & didn't run to Canada or hide within the USA; they didn't follow proper protocol, but so what, give them a break. Three of my uncles were POW's, 2 Air Force & 1 Army, and they were changed drastically when they returned. All 3 are dead now from suicide, many years afterward. I wasn't in a situation to be captured, but I still side with those that were & decided to build a new life somewhere else. I doubt the Russians will drag their guy back to Russia and throw him in prison.
The Russians didn't "drag their guys back to Russia and throw him in prison" they just shot they in the back if they tried to retreat when engaged in battle with the enemy. Seems like a lose lose situation. I saw film footage of Russian officers doing just what I stated on one of the History Channels.
I hope you actually didn't get from a reading of the article that the soldier "deserted" after having suffered severe head trauma. You sound a little more sophisticated than that.
The History Channel? LOL. US propaganda for those who switch back and forth to Foxnews. HC is an intellectual joke as reference material.
This is so sweet. He visited a far off land, fell in love with the people and the culture and chose to stay forever. This is like PureMichigan x 1,000,000
LMAO
You sound proud to be so ignorant. Please don't breed.
I don't think it was a romantic decision ... more likely the injuries were so severe that for a long period of time, he probably didn't know any better. It does say something for the choices he had between returning home or staying in the desert --- much like the miserable choices a homeless person has in NYC between living in a shelter or staying on the street.
If this had been an American Vet found living in Vietnam after the war the press would be calling him a deserter and a traitor.......
Um... maybe the American Press of 1977. Today such a man would be labelled a hero.
Proof? How did the media treat John Walker Lindh?
It makes you wonder how bad it was under the soviets that this guy chose to stay in Afghanistan.
Having visited Soviet Russia and various other Soviet countries both during the era and afterward, I can tell you, it was bad. Very bad.
After visiting Russia several times over the past decade I can say....it's not so bad! Not as good as most of here, but not as bad as some of the worst parts of the USA. St. Petersburg is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. I also visited Kiev right after the break-up. Not great, and the people were suffering due to unemployment and the American right wing would have been happy there with all the guns visible, but in the city, not so bad. Better than parts of Syracuse NY I've seen lately, with all the empty factories.
Ain't that the truth. Drove up the Hudson Valley last year... at times it was hard to believe I was in the US still. Everything was empty.
Does Russia have a Chuck Norrismikov who will go in and rescue him? Let us hope.
It does!!! It's Dolph Lundgren, from Red Scorpion!!! lol
GM, Jay.
It makes you wonder how bad the new Russian government is since they don't brand him a traitor or deserter but we would brand him if he was a Vietnam vet or from another war.
The current Russian government isn't the Soviet government. (All Soviet debts, desertions, political imprisonments, etc were nullified in 1993.)
Doubtful, given the head wound and that so long as there is no proof of cooperation with the opposing regime it isn't such. Consider John McCain and his fellow inmates and the Hanoi Hilton.
That "communist vassal" government in Afghanistan gave full rights to women, banned the burqa, and opened university and professions to women. It was the US, and CIA assets like Bin Laden, that pushed women back to the Dark Ages.
Yeah and now lets see how the women make out after the U.S. leaves............
Sad, but true.
Bin Laden was actually not a CIA asset.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_%E2%80%93_al-Qaeda_controversy
All for the sake of preventing the spread of Communism!
Mark from Bridgeport,
The CIA believes that the strikes conducted since May 2010 have killed over 600 militants and have not caused any civilian fatalities, a claim that some experts disputed.[11]
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism found that between 391 – 780 civilians were killed out of a total of between 1,658 and 2,597 and that 160 children are reported among the deaths. The Bureau also revealed that since President Obama took office at least 50 civilians were killed in follow-up strikes when they had gone to help victims and more than 20 civilians have also been attacked in deliberate strikes on funerals and mourners, tactics that have been condemned by legal experts.[17][18][19]
Both of these are from .wikipedia.org/wiki/Drone_attacks_in_Pakistan
Wikipedia is not a RELIABLE source for a REASON...
@AC: You say Wikipedia is not a reliable source, yet the prose discussing the drone stikes aligns perfectly with the sourced article. Did you read the NY Times piece cited [11]? How about the BIJ [17,18, 19]?
Your example proves the opposite of your intention: that Wikipeida is reliable!
I don't know if I should laugh, cry or get angry. 20 years and 2 nations later it's still a s**t hole. What's the attraction here? Opium or the mineral deposits or both?
The article said he received a traumatic head injury. Chances are he may not have remembered he was from Russia. It said he didn't remember much Russian after getting hurt.
Do you think the guy who saved him and nursed him to health was able and willing to teach him Russian? Do you think that after he was well again he was just gonna say thanks for the hospitality and just walk back to Russia?
I think the idea that he's still in Afganistan is Russia's fault. It took them 33 years to find him. He had to do something to earn a living all that time. And I suppose he really didn't want the people knowing he was Russian, anyway.
Are Americans getting dumber by the generation?
Baschnagel, you are so right and I cannot understand HOW the average American reader cannot read the article and comprehend what they just read. Empty-headed readers with absolutely NO common sense or basic analytical reasoning skills at all. This is sad, and frightening.
Actually, I think Baschnagel has a point. Consider the case of Andras Tamas, a Hungarian WW2 vet that spent 53 years in a Russian hospital!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/867460.stm
Most of the people from the Russian province of Uzbekistan are predominately Muslim to begin with. I competed in powerlifting internationally against a few of them over the years, and learned that. They really don't think of themselves as Russians since they are culturally and religiously different from most Russians.
Uzbekistan was only incorporated into the USSR in 1924. Since the break up of the USSR Uzbekistan is a independent country. Uzbekistan borders Afganastan. Culturally this guy is closer to the Afgans than the Russians.
Don't we regret that now?
Yes, @Letusreason, that one sort of backfired on us! People forget that the Reagan Administration/CIA basically created the Taliban.
Yeah its all Reagan's fault. Every time we stick our noses into other country's problems we create another evil entity that causes us trouble later. When will we ever learn? Never.
I see why he choose to stay but at the same time, I would get the hell out of that @!$%#hole the second I could.
Against Islamist mujahideen fighters armed by the United States?? Mr Reporter. you left out one critical fact "these mujahideen fighters armed by the United States" were led by Non Other The Murderer of over 3000 Americans Citizens on 9/11. OSama Bin Laden!
Live Long and Prosper.. We all cope differently and Respond differently through the circumstance of war. When its over, we move on, as these men did. Traitors? Doubtful, Survival Yes. Most choose Life.
And the CI"A is always right !
"Some 15,000 Soviet troops were killed in the fighting that followed the Soviet Union's incursion to support a communist vassal government in Kabul against Islamist mujahideen fighters armed by the United States."
Ironic.
So, it is important to note that Russia has not YET charged him with desertion or treason, but when Vladimir Putin has time, he will file those charges. Russia is not the kind of place many Russian soldiers ever wanted to go back to.
Never learned the difference between Russia and the (now defunct) USSR, eh?
The ignorance, hate, and vitriol, displayed in the comments about this story is astonishing. What happened to my country?
The people have traded their freedom for a few kickbacks, and the required worship of a political party.
I like this story although I'm not sure how anyone could stay in that country but life for this guy seems good. leave him alone and let him be.
Zheng He,
My condolences. War is a terrible reality. So many lives have been destroyed on the field of battle...I am not so naieve to think it will stop or that it is not at times a necessary evil, but I do pray daily that mankind will one day discover a better way...
Meg, if you want peace, then you had better realize that a. humans will never find that better way, b. that you have a target on your back and that you are fair game for any number of random psychopaths that are out to harm and/or kill you, and c. if you want peace, then you had better learn how to pick up a gun and start shooting, that you had better learn how to use other weapons, and that you had better train yourself well in one or more forms of fighting. This way, sadly, is the ONLY way for humanity and we brought it on ourselves ever since that day in the Garden of Eden. While I am a usually reasonable and peaceful individual myself, I know all too well the reality of how humans are and it is quite literally a kill or be killed world and it is also not just a matter of self-preservation but it is also a matter of preserving those that you love as well as preserving those people that can not defend themselves, such as sex slaves from their pimps or madams, for example. Also, FYI, you might want to consider some further training in the proper usage of the concept that is known as Spell Check. Thank you.