Video: 'CNN, Cold War, Soldiers of God, Afghanistan' (May 15, 1988, at 43:36)

(Sunday, May 15, 1988; during the Soviet–Afghan War, part of the War in Afghanistan and the Cold War) — A long convoy of tanks, trucks and happy Soviet soldiers rumbled through a narrow mountain pass and into Kabul today as the first official step of the withdrawal of 115,000 Soviet troops from Afghanistan.

The withdrawal would be completed on Feb. 15, 1989, some eight and a half years after the Soviet Union first sent a “limited contingent” of troops into the country in an attempt to crush Islamic guerrillas waging a “holy war” against the communist regime.