February 15 is the Day of Remembrance of Internationalist Soldiers and the 35th anniversary of the withdrawal of the limited contingent of Soviet troops from the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan in Belarus.
Traditionally, the capital and other regions of the country host solemn mourning and patriotic events, meetings in work collectives and educational institutions with internationalists, family members of the deceased and disabled veterans of the Afghan war. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection also ensures that internationalist soldiers are honored in a solemn atmosphere.
Soviet troops were introduced into Afghanistan on December 25, 1979. The military actions for the reason of “providing international assistance” lasted 9 years, 1 month and 18 days (until February 15, 1989). More than 600 thousand soldiers and officers of the Soviet Union went through the military actions. According to official data, almost 55 thousand people were wounded, 417 were missing. More than 15 thousand people were killed, died from wounds and diseases, including 771 Belarusians. During the 9 years of the war in Afghanistan, 28,832 citizens of our country performed their international duty.
The challenges facing humanity in the 21st century remind us of the value of peace and make it increasingly important to preserve the memory of the courage and heroism of our servicemen. Afghanistan left a tragic mark on the souls and lives of our people. Even today, the soldiers of the Afghan war living in different parts of Belarus dream at night of the Salang Pass and the Panjer Gorge, the fiery road of Herat, Jalalabad, Kandahar, Kunduz, Bagram and other places.
The tragic page of our history associated with the war in Afghanistan is becoming a thing of the past. But time does not reduce the pain and anxiety of those who went through it and those who lost their loved ones in this war. To this day, monuments to internationalist soldiers are created on the territory of our country not only for those who were in this war, but also for their loved ones, for all those living today. All this is our common pain, our common memory, the cry of the soul of our people against the war.
