al-Jazeera, 15 February 2019
A short quote from AAN’s Thomas Ruttig about the Soviet withdrawal 30 years ago:
“Militarily the Soviet army was not defeated. They continued to control much of Afghanistan, at least the cities and also part of the countryside – not unlike the current situation,” said Thomas Ruttig, co-director, Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN), drawing a comparison with the potential withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. [Thomas also said that the withdrawal was a political defeat for the Soviet Union but this did not make it into the article]
“But unlike the US now, they really were in an economic crisis,” he added.
Revisions:
This article was last updated on 9 Mar 2020
