アフガンに残った旧ソ連兵、死去

【ヘラートＡＦＰ＝時事】アフガニスタンのイスラム主義組織タリバンは２８日、旧ソ連軍が撤退した後もアフガンにとどまることを選んだ、元ソ連兵バフレディン・ハキモフさんが死去したと明らかにした。（写真はアフガニスタン西部ヘラートで執り行われた元ソ連兵バフレディン・ハキモフさんの葬儀）
　西部の都市ヘラートの法医学部門責任者はＡＦＰに対し、ハキモフさんの死因は暖房器具による一酸化炭素中毒だったと語った。
　ハキモフさんはイスラム教に改宗後、シェイク・アブドゥラと名乗っていた。
　タリバンのザビフラ・ムジャヒド報道官は、遺族に哀悼の意を表するとともに、「イスラム教徒になり、この地で結婚し、ヘラートに住んでいた」とツイッターに投稿した。
　ハキモフさんは、ソ連軍の諜報（ちょうほう）部門に所属していた。
　２０１５年のＡＦＰの取材では、１９８５年ごろに戦闘で負った頭部の傷を敵でありながら治療してくれたアフガニスタン人は命の恩人だと語っていた。ハキモフさんは「この国に損害を与え、多くの人の命が失われる原因となったことを非常に恥ずかしく思っている」と語っていた。
　「アフガン人がとても優しくて、親切だったのでとどまった」
　ハキモフさんは近年、ひげを蓄え、アフガニスタンの伝統衣装を身に着けていた。ヘラートの博物館で勤務する傍ら、治療師もしていた。
　ソ連軍は１９７９年１２月２４日にアフガンに侵攻、８９年に撤退した。ソ連側はこの間、１万５０００人近くが戦死した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/12/29-22:23）

A former Soviet soldier who chose to stay in Afghanistan when the Red Army withdrew following a disastrous decade-long occupation that ended in 1989 has died, officials said Wednesday.
Bakhretdin Khakimov, who was thought to be in his 60s and was known as Sheikh Abdullah after converting to Islam, died of carbon monoxide poisoning from a leaking heater in the western city of Herat, they said.
He died from inhaling gas that comes out of heaters, Ahmad Shah Mushfiq, head of Herat's forensic department, told AFP, adding that there were no suspicious circumstances.
Government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid offered his condolences to Abdullah's family.
He came to Afghanistan with former Soviet forces and was taken prisoner, Mujahid said in a tweet.
He later became a Muslim, got married here, and lived in Herat.
Abdullah was an officer in the military intelligence wing of the Soviet army, which occupied Afghanistan for 10 years after invading in 1979.
He was injured in battle around 1985, suffering a serious head wound, he told AFP in an interview in 2015. He said he owed his life to his Afghan enemies, who found him and treated him.
I feel very ashamed because I damaged this country, caused losses to people, he said at the time.
I stayed in Afghanistan because Afghans are very kind and hospitable people.
In recent years Abdullah, bearded and usually dressed in traditional Afghan attire, worked at a museum in Herat and also as a healer.
He was a good man, a good Muslim, friend Saeed Ghulam Hassan told AFP.
After invading on Christmas Eve in 1979, the Red Army pulled out a decade later having lost nearly 15,000 troops fighting Western-backed mujahideen forces.
That precipitated a civil war which gave rise to the Taliban and their first stint in power from 1996 to 2001.
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