Former Soviet Soldier Found Alive In Afghanistan 33 Years Later

LLlyxep via FlickrA former Soviet soldier was found alive in Afghanistan 33 years after fighting the war, according to RIA Novosti, a Russian news website.

Bakhretdin Khakimov is alive and well, but a mere shadow of himself — his face changed from that of a 20-year-old Russian boy to the unmistakeably chiseled and worn face of an Afghan elder.

The non-profit Warriors-Internationalists Affairs Committee, which falls beneath the Commonwealth of Independent States, found Khakimov after following a decades-old trail. He had fallen and cracked his head, he told them, and then a local village healer had found him and nursed him back to health.

Once he regained his health, he forgot Russian, picked up the local language, and took a wife, never seeking to reunite with his family. He has no children and is now a widower, and wishes to see his family, the report says.

The nonprofit which found him is dedicated solely to finding missing Russian soldiers. When they started, they had 271 to locate. Since then, they've found 29 alive in Afghanistan.

Khakimov, who they found in the province of Herat, was the eighth who decided to stay, only expressing interest in seeing his relatives.