The Day of memory of soldiers-internationalists, celebrated annually on February 15, is dedicated to soldiers who performed an international duty outside the borders of the homeland.
On December 25, 1979, Soviet troops crossed the border of Afghanistan, and after long nine years, one month and nineteen days, on February 15, 1989, the commander of the 40th Army, General Gromov withdrew the troops.
Between those dates: 22,269 Kazakhs took part in that war, 924 of them were killed, 1,015 were disabled, and 21 soldiers were missing. This is the result of “fraternal international aid” to Afghanistan.
It is known under different names in different countries, but its essence remains the same.
The date of the holiday is not chosen randomly: on February 15, 1989 the withdrawal of the Soviet armies finished, the last column left the territory of Afghanistan. When the last Soviet soldier crossed the bridge of the Amu Darya River near Termez, the war in Afghanistan, which lasted almost a decade and took the lives of over fifteen thousand citizens of the Soviet Union, ended.
Every year on this day, more than 14,000 Soviet soldiers and officers who did not return from the Afghan war are honored.
