Found these rare photos of the Soviet fighters in the Panshir valley in 1982. Read To The Mountains: My Life in Jihad from Algeria to Afghanistan by @Abdullahanas58, me and @HurstPublishers 
1. Just like all young men pose with their weapons in Afghanistan or Syria and then the bravado disappears - these boys wearing the spetznas vests
2. Note that many of the fighters who came to Afghanistan were from central Asian republics-Muslims
3. There is a scene in the book that describes the frantic madness of spec-ops landing in Panshir valley hurstpublishers.com/book/to-the-mo…
4. Little has changed - the entrance to the valley was perilous
5. Thank you to Muslem Hayat for allowing me to share these.
