A smile and a wave from a Soviet soldier, as his armoured convoy makes its way back to the Soviet Union along a north Afghanistan highway, Feb. 7, 1989. Despite Afghanistan's reputation as "the graveyard of empires," the Soviet Union sent in troops in 1979, quickly assassinating the country's leader and moving to install a compliant successor. More than 14,000 Soviet Army troops died in the conflict that seriously eroded the image of Soviet military superiority. (AP Photo/Boris Yurchenko, File)
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