Soviets' lost boys in Afghanistan

Their comrades went home in 1989

Army veterans in the countries that made up the Soviet Union marked the 15th anniversary on Sunday of the withdrawal of the last of their troops from Afghanistan.

But, as Russian television has reported from Kunduz, actually some Soviet soldiers remained there.

The fighting in Afghanistan had been going on for some four years when 18-year-old Gennady Tsevma from the Ukraine went into the Soviet army.

His brother, Sergey, then 11, remembered that the whole street turned out to see Gennady off.

But then came two letters from Afghanistan.

The first accused Gennady of being a traitor. The second said he was absent without leave.

"I always hoped that my brother was alive," Sergey said. "I wanted to go and find him when I became a soldier."

But the end of involvement in the "Soviet Vietnam" put an end to this dream, until now.

Home thoughts

In the northern Afghan town of Kunduz, "Nikmamat" earns his living as a driver - $180 a month to feed and clothe his wife and three children

"I have grown old," Nikmamat, as Gennady is now called said. "Look, I'm 38 years old now. I'm like an old man. I miss my homeland."

He did not desert from the army, he told Russian television. He fell asleep at his post and was captured by mujahideen.

"They said to me: If you want to be a Muslim, accept this faith. If you don't, we'll kill you."

Akhmat: No dreams of returning to Ukraine

The mujahideen forced Gennady to fight for them. "But I didn't shoot at all", he said.

Still he feared returning home to face a possible court-martial.

More than 20 years after he left home, Gennady telephoned his brother.

"Hi, Sergey. I'll definitely come," he promised. "Don't worry. Just wait, OK?"

Also living in Kunduz is Akhmat. Born Aleksandr Levenets in Ukraine, he deserted from his sapper battalion to escape abuse from his officers.

Like Gennady, he joined the mujahideen.

But unlike him, no one waits in the Ukraine for Aleksandr. The last of his family died long ago.

In Afghanistan he has a wife and two daughters.

"To be honest, I don't want to go back", he confided. "Now I feel like an Afghan."

BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.