Successive wars for control over Afghanistan, beginning with the Great Game of the 19th century and continuing with the Soviet invasion and the U.S.-led war against the Taliban, have left behind a landscape that is both stark and striking. Rostyslav Khotin of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service recently traveled to Afghanistan to see what clues the Kremlin's 1979-89 occupation might hold for Ukraine's own conflict with Russia.
Afghanistan: Life In A Historical Battlefield
![The Afghan capital Kabul viewed from a neighboring hilltop. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/4b0c31c6-638d-4b31-8e01-2d892c70a0ce_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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The Afghan capital Kabul viewed from a neighboring hilltop.
![The tomb of Afghan King Nadir Shah, who was assassinated in 1933. The renovated shrine stands on Maranjan Hill overlooking eastern Kabul. A NATO surveillance airship can be seen just overhead. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/f03b3fa0-88fb-422b-8824-96219242039e_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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The tomb of Afghan King Nadir Shah, who was assassinated in 1933. The renovated shrine stands on Maranjan Hill overlooking eastern Kabul. A NATO surveillance airship can be seen just overhead.
![An Afghan boy herding a flock of sheep. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/2ed2bfaf-4aa3-43eb-88c0-a5b3004147ff_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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An Afghan boy herding a flock of sheep.
![Public portraits of former mujahedin fighters remain a common fixture in Kabul. Here, Mohammad Fahid, Burhanuddin Rabbani, and Ahmad Shah Masud. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/f1833074-45d4-4c0e-8f78-61019fd217c9_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Public portraits of former mujahedin fighters remain a common fixture in Kabul. Here, Mohammad Fahid, Burhanuddin Rabbani, and Ahmad Shah Masud.