Ghosts of Soviet Occupation Haunt Kandahar Airport
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: The war in Afghanistan holds a touch of irony for one U.S. soldier. He is stationed at Kandahar inside a Soviet relic that represent another time and another war. Here's CNN's Martin Savidge on those shadows from the past.</s>MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There are ghosts at the Kandahar Airport. They dwell in the outer buildings and linger in the shadow of a still-growing U.S. military presence. At this former hub of another army, of another time, the shadowed remnants of the failed Soviet occupation bleach beneath the Afghan sun. Russian planes that once roared for the runway, now rest beside it in a mass grave. Not far away, their spare engines still stacked in the crates they came in. A former barracks reeks of dust, decay and defeat. The Soviets do not appear so much to have left but fled. (on camera): Signs of a hasty Russian departure can be found everywhere. In this room, it is piled two, three feet deep with old uniforms, a Russian gray coat, an old suitcase here, part of a harness, a uniform, bandages, lots of bandages, even an old boot. (voice-over): Next to where the American forces now burn their garbage lies a junk yard, stacked 50 feet high with Soviet vehicles as abandoned as the empire that built them. For the modern day occupiers, the past is just an oddity -- except for one.</s>SAVIDGE: Meet Andriy Kononenko. As a boy growing up in Soviet Ukraine, he dreamed of joining the Army, but never in his wildest imagination did he envision it would be the U.S. Army.</s>KONONENKO: Here we go. I'm ready to strike.</s>SAVIDGE: Six years ago, he moved to New York. Three years later, he was wearing the uniform of the Army's 101st Airborne. Now he stands on the parameter of America's war on terrorism. Recalling a recent conversation he had with his father, a Soviet Army veteran, when Andriy said he was heading for Afghanistan.</s>KONONENKO: He actually got -- I can't say scared, but he got very nervous about it.</s>SAVIDGE: History is not lost on the 26-year old. From his post, Andriy can see the demise of Russian domination. He can also see the irony.</s>KONONENKO: Who would think that in all the countries that I've ever been and will ever be would be Afghanistan. It's amazing.</s>SAVIDGE: Andriy is prepared to lay down his life for America, saying he chose to be here. That freedom to choose, he says, makes all the difference between the soldiers here today and the ghosts of the past. Martin Savidge, CNN, Kandahar.