The Dallas Morning News published an interview with 70-year-old Afghan Abdullah, a former Taliban commander in the Soviet-Afghan war (1979-1989).
Abdullah tells an interesting story:
"The time of real battles was with the Russians." Those were worthy fights with worthy soldiers. Everything was real. Kind of masculine. We later had a war with you Americans, but you were cowards. You never risked your lives. Your soldiers, from a safe distance, fired over a hundred shells at the village we were defending. You exterminated all civilians for miles. The Russians did not fight hiding like rats.
On one occasion, Shah Masud ordered us to occupy a hill from which we could control the Panjar ravine.
The Russians were on that hill and we couldn't pass for months. We assembled an army for this attack and it took us five days to break the Russian resistance. And that's because they ran out of ammunition. We paid dearly for this success. On our side, the losses were more than 280 soldiers. We were very angry when we got to the top and saw that five soldiers of barely 18 were fighting against us. You Americans cannot imagine this sight. Five young men against Shah Masud's army. We ordered them to pray. They knew we were going to kill them. And do you know what these Russian children did? They looked at us in silence and all five hugged each other. They were ready to die no matter what. They stood dirty, hungry and hugged. They didn't talk. They didn't even cry. They were just waiting for their death. We are speechless. Such a sight could amaze even the most determined soldiers who were used to everything. Despite the fact that those young Russians killed half of our unit, we didn't know what to do. For us, they were great warriors. They had an honor. They did not beg for their lives. My grandchildren are studying in Germany, but I would like them to grow up like these Russians - like real men. And then we let these Russians go. Yes, the commanders were unhappy with this decision, but our decision is not discussed. We set them free. And guess what happened? The Russians hugged each other and, without turning to make sure we wouldn't shoot them in the back, left. Those were real men!