“We played in a burnt tank”: an Afghan exported to the USSR spoke about his childhood during the war

“We have been trying to get to the airport for a month”

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- It began six months after my birth, so I don’t remember peacetime in Afghanistan.

At the same time, all the terrible things seemed so mundane... For example, in the school yard, where I went from the age of four, there was a wrecked, burned-out tank in the corner - according to the contours it was a T-34, and we played in it.

All the latches were not rusty yet, we pulled them, and one day the hatch was not fixed well, it fell and broke my brother's fingers.

I remember how he was brave and tried not to cry.

For as long as I can remember as a child, I have always heard helicopters fly.

The school was 2-2.5 km from home, by the time you get there, you don’t want to study anymore, nothing.

The road passed by the garrison, artillery was constantly firing, dust was flying - and we came to the lessons covered with this dust.

Or, not far from the mosque in the city where we lived, there was a terrorist act, a funnel formed forty meters, water constantly ran there and we swam.

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“My father was in politics.

He was a member of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan.

The pope was killed by Mujahideen in 1980.

My mother died and my uncle's family took me in.

They had a son, another son died: I remember how everyone was worried then.

My uncle commanded a division at the time of my father's death.

He still lives in Afghanistan, such an old warrior.

Since 1984, children, mostly orphans, have been taken out of Afghanistan to the Soviet Union.

My uncle told me: “Our people are choking with blood, and the Union is another, magical country, there are wonderful people.

Your day should not pass idly - learn!

You are the hope of our people."

And I really wanted to try, to study - even when I imitated my cousin Jamila in early childhood, I drew some scribbles in notebooks.

She then praised my handwriting, said that it was good.

This is what motivated me for the rest of my life.

• © Photo from the personal archive

In total, 1850 Afghan children were taken to the USSR.

I got into one of these groups in 1985 when I was seven years old.

We then lived in Gardez, there were about 30 candidates for export from our city, but in the end, five got into the flow.

Every day for a month we tried to get to the airport - two trucks with armed men drove in front and behind us, but the flight was constantly disrupted.

Then I heard that the CIA and its spies did everything to prevent Afghan children from getting into the USSR.

Nevertheless, we managed to fly to Kabul.

We spent forty days in the orphanage "Vatan", passed the medical examination, and then flew to the Union.

"Our people are in trouble"

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“In our boarding school there were children from all over Afghanistan.

There really were wonderful teachers and excellent living conditions, it was probably the best school in the USSR, and I do not say this for a red word.

What competent teachers we had, beautiful and kind nurses, and half of the boarding school was simply in love with a music teacher or a librarian!

Physical training was also at its best: boxing and judo sections, football, training in the yard.

The discipline was strict, but it went exclusively to the benefit.

The teachers were able to convey to us that our people are in trouble.

And in general, their essence of being with us merged into such a parable: "I am protected, they will not touch me later, but how can I live when my people are drowning."

In this paradigm, we grew up in Volgograd.

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“It was obvious that times had changed.

For example, films appeared: “Intergirl”, “Vultures on the roads”, “Accident, the daughter of a cop”.

We went to the last one with the whole class - but it turned out that this movie, like the others I have listed, is riddled with dirt.

The book “The Gulag Archipelago” appeared in the class cupboard - it was unpleasant for me, I could not understand where it came from.

I did not believe in books about Stalin's atrocities and other waste paper.

I felt in my heart that only the country that I knew really existed, and never once did my heart deceive me.

As for the collapse of the Soviet Union, it was a tragedy for me, I just could not believe it.

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- I want to say that I was lucky to graduate from a Soviet school.

It was a very high level of knowledge, and even if there was a “troika” in the certificate, now with the same “troika” level you can easily enter the institute.

• © Photo from the personal archive

After graduation, I was sent to college for accounting.

But I didn’t want to be a banker at all - I was preparing to become a military man, as a last resort I planned to study to be a forester or a veterinarian.

I was expelled from college.

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“After I was wounded, I stayed in the People’s Militia of the DPR, I am on allowance in my favorite eleventh regiment, in the second motorized rifle battalion.

I receive a salary, I don’t need anything in this regard, I have friends, fellow countrymen and an army.

But there are those who really want to help, and when I once again repeat that I don’t need anything, I see that the person is upset.

Then, for example, I offer to buy camouflage suits, helmets or body armor for soldiers, and in this way people help me, and I help my brothers.

Now not only Donbass, but also Afghanistan needs help.

Over the past 20 years, the country has been in ruins.

After the Americans left, the Afghans got all their debts, all the destroyed infrastructure.

There are many refugees who live in tent cities, and the winter is freezing.

Therefore, we bought 50 sleeping bags and will think about how to transfer them so that people do not die from the cold.

In the future, I want to continue collecting and sending help there.