And the United States evacuated its headquarters at Bagram Air Base — a site originally built by the Soviets — without a formal handover to the Afghan Army. And given what followed, Gen. Gromov’s march became emblematic of the ignoble end to the Soviet war. The Soviet Union educated about 200,000 Afghan engineers, military officers and administrators, providing the Najibullah government a base of support. “You can criticize the Soviet Union as much as you want, but the goal was to build a contemporary, modern state” and to stabilize the empire’s southern borders, he said. The Soviet Union built hydroelectric dams, tunnels, roads and bridges, including the Friendship Bridge.

Source: International New York Times August 16, 2021 11:03 UTC