It Is Now Official: The U.S. Has Been In Afghanistan Longer Than The Soviets

U.S. and Afghan forces wait to board a CH-47 Chinook helicopter before an operation to rid insurgents from the Panjwa'i district in Afghanistan's Kandahar province, Oct. 15, 2010. The U.S. forces are assigned to the Special Operations Task Force South. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Daniel P. Shook

U.S. Now In Afghanistan As Long As Soviets Were -- L.A. Times

The last Red Army troops left in 1989, driven out after nine years and 50 days by U.S.-backed fighters known as mujahedin. Despite contrasts, the U.S. and Soviet wars have common narrative elements.

Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan, and Moscow — As wartime days go, Friday was a fairly quiet one in Afghanistan. Helicopters skittered across the sky; convoys rumbled along desert roads; soldiers in mountain outposts scanned the jagged peaks around them.

But one thing set the day apart: With its passing, the U.S. military's campaign in Afghanistan matched the Soviet Union's long and demoralizing sojourn in the nation.

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Update: Nato in Afghanistan longer than Soviet Union: analysis -- The Telegraph

My Comment: This is a milestone that should give everyone pause.