Russia Marks 20Th Anniversary Of Soviet Pullout From Afghanistan

Marks 20Th Anniversary Of Soviet Russia Pullout From Afghanistan

(NSI News Source Info) MOSCOW - February 16, 2009: Russia is celebrating on Sunday the 20th anniversary of the Soviet troops' withdrawal from Afghanistan. On February 15, 1989, the last Soviet troops left Afghanistan, nine years after they swept into the country. Ceremonies will be held all across Russia to lay flowers at the tombs of Soviet soldiers and officers who died in the Afghan war. The war in Afghanistan was a nine-year conflict involving Soviet forces supporting the Marxist PDPA (People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan) government against the largely Islamic fundamentalist Mujahideen insurgents. It began on December 25, 1979 and over 14,000 Soviet troops died in the conflict, over a million Afghan civilians are reported to have been killed in the war. The war had a profound impact on the Soviet Union, and has been cited as one of the key factors in the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

India Army Says Pakistan Deployed Troops On Border /Military Option With Pakistan Still Open: Indian Army Chief / Indian Army Ready For War

India Army Says Pakistan Deployed Troops On Border /Military Option With Pakistan Still Open: Indian Army Chief / Indian Army Ready For War If Diplomatic Options Fail (NSI News Source Info) NEW DELHI - January 15, 2009: India's army chief said on Wednesday Pakistan had deployed extra troops along their common border since the Mumbai attacks but India had not responded in kind. General Deepak Kapoor said some Pakistani troops had come east. ‘They have come to the eastern border of Pakistan with India,’ he told reporters. Pakistan's military has denied any build-up of forces on the Indian border and said it moved a ‘limited number’ of soldiers off its western border with Afghanistan ‘for defensive measures’ as tension rose with India after the attacks in Mumbai. A near-daily exchange of tough words since the attacks on Mumbai has added to the tension as India, frustrated with what it sees as Pakistan's failure to take action, has tried to pile international pressure on Pakistan. Once again upping the ante on the already charged atmosphere between India and Pakistan, post 26/11, Army chief Gen Deepak Kapoor today said the military option against the neighbouring country was open even now. Speaking to the press at his annual press conference on 'Sena Diwas' Gen Kapoor said if diplomatic and economic options fail to get the desired result from Pakistan, on the Mumbai attacks, India has kept the military option open. Stressing that it was an open secret that the 26/11 Mumbai attackers had come from Pakistan soil, which led to massive tension building between the two countries, Gen Kapoor said, ''We have kept all options open. If diplomatic and economic options fail then war is the last resort.'' The General, however, added that the decision would be taken by the country's political leadership. Accepting that Pakistan indeed shifted some of its troops from the Afghanistan border to the Indian border, the Army chief said all this had been taken into consideration while deciding the military option as the last one. To a pointer whether the country had lost an opportunity to slam terror outfits in Pakistan, in the wake of the atmosphere generated after the Mumbai attacks, Gen Kapoor said in any dispute use of force remains an option, but whether that has to be used or not will have to be decided by the political leadership of the country. ''But if all options fail and means exhaust, then war is certainly the last resort,'' the Army chief stressed. On the recent movement of 'special troops' in the Pokharan and Mahajan ranges in Rajasthan, Gen Kapoor denied such steps were bolstering war hysteria between India and Pakistan and said not much should be construed in these 'routine movements'. ''The movement was part of the normal readiness procedure on the part of the armed forces which any force maintains,'' he said