First Soviet Troops Welcomed Home From Afghanistan
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TERMEZ, Soviet Union — The first convoy of Soviet troops withdrawing from Afghanistan crossed back into the Soviet Union today with cheering crowds greeting the flower-bedecked column.
The troops passed over the Friendship Bridge spanning the Amu Darya River marking the border and into the Uzbekistan village of Termez, about 200 miles north of Kabul.
The 230 tanks and armored personnel carriers in the convoy were carrying at least 1,200 troops across the frontier, making the soldiers the first of an estimated 115,000 Soviet troops to come home.
The first soldier to return was Nikolai Novikov, 21, who rode across the bridge on an armored personnel carrier adorned with flowers.
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