In 1980, a young soldier from Samarkand arrived in Afghanistan as part of the Soviet military contingent. A few months later, he disappeared without a trace after an armed clash in Herat Province. He was only found 33 years later—as a grey-haired healer in a turban, who barely remembered the Russian language.
Wounded Among Enemies
Bakhretdin Khakimov served in a mechanized infantry unit when, in September 1980, his squad took part in fighting in the Shindand district. During the battle, the soldier was severely wounded in the head. In normal circumstances, such an injury would have meant death on the battlefield or evacuation to a field hospital. However, Khakimov’s fate took a completely different turn.
Instead of ending up in the hands of Soviet medics, the unconscious soldier was taken by local Afghans. Why did the enemies save a foreign invader? It is difficult to answer this question definitively today. Perhaps they acted out of compassion, maybe they saw a human in the wounded man, not a symbol of hated occupation. The fact remains that the village elders, who practiced herbal medicine, took care of the dying soldier.
Khakimov never re-established contact with his command. The Soviet army received no information about his fate, so he was listed as missing in action.
For the military bureaucracy, he became one of over 250 soldiers who vanished in the Afghan mountains and valleys. For his family in Uzbekistan, he simply ceased to exist.
A New Life
Bakhretdin Khakimov became Sheikh Abdullah. The former soldier adopted an Afghan name, converted to Islam, and began to live according to the rhythms of the community that saved him. The elder herbalist passed on his knowledge of medicinal plants, and the young Uzbek turned out to be an eager student. In time, he himself became a respected local healer.
Khakimov married an Afghan woman and led a semi-nomadic lifestyle with the community that had taken him in. He moved between seasonal pastures, treated the sick with herbs, and gradually forgot his old life. The Russian language faded from his memory, although Uzbek—his mother tongue—remained intact. However, the trauma of war left permanent marks. Shaking hands and a nervous shoulder tic stayed with him through all those years.
He had no identity documents. In the Afghan reality, where state administration often did not reach remote villages, a man without papers could function fairly normally.
Sheikh Abdullah was no longer a Soviet soldier nor a citizen of Uzbekistan. He became simply one of many wandering healers, respected for his skills, with no questions asked about his past.
Return to Reality
The Moscow Committee for Veterans-Internationalists has been systematically searching for missing Soviet soldiers for years. This non-profit organization has already found about thirty people, seven of whom decided to remain in Afghanistan. Khakimov’s case required a year of intensive search before his whereabouts in Shindand district were finally confirmed.
When the veterans reached Sheikh Abdullah, they found an emaciated elderly man in traditional Afghan clothing and a turban. The first meeting took place two weeks before the official announcement of the discovery. Khakimov had difficulty forming sentences in Russian, but when shown photos of former comrades, he recognized their faces. The past he had tried to bury suddenly resurfaced.
The former soldier is now a widower without children. He expressed a desire to find relatives in the former Soviet Union. According to a committee representative, Khakimov received the news of a possible return with the calmness of a man who had learned to accept life’s unpredictability. He simply said he was glad to have survived.
The veterans’ committee declared that they would continue searching until the fate of every missing soldier from the Afghan war was explained.
Autor
Margot Cleverly
Margot's journey into women's history began with a box of forgotten letters in a Cambridge archive – suffragettes whose voices had been silenced for over a century. Since then, she's been on a mission to uncover the stories history overlooked.
What she writes about: Queens who ruled from the shadows. Scientists whose male colleagues took credit. Revolutionaries who risked everything. But also ordinary women – those who survived wars, raised families through upheaval, and shaped their communities in ways no one bothered to record.
Margot turns historical figures into real people. She writes with warmth and detail, making centuries-old stories feel surprisingly relevant. Rigorous research meets accessible storytelling – no dusty academic jargon, just compelling narratives backed by solid facts.
When she's not writing, you'll find her in regional archives, collecting oral histories, or visiting sites connected to the women she writes about.