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01/04/2005:

"A Dark Anniversary in Afghanistan"

Amid the bells and baubles of the holiday season, few in the West will pause to mark one of the year's darker anniversaries. Twenty-five years ago this month, the Red Army invaded Afghanistan, opening a Pandora's box whose effluvia include Osama bin Laden and leader of the Taliban Mullah Omar.

Afghanistan has largely slipped from the collective consciousness since the U.S. bombing of 2001, which toppled the Taliban and brought a precarious, internationally enforced peace. But, as centuries of history have shown, it is dangerous to underestimate this turbulent land, whose mountains have swallowed the ambitions of more than one great power.

Full Article : moscowtimes.ru