Twenty-five years on, the BBC asked people on both sides to look back on a conflict which marked their lives.

V Grigoryev Soviet interpreter: "Forgive us but soldiers everywhere know what the military oath means" Karl Paks Soviet sapper: "We spent half the time laying mines and the other half clearing them" N Akhadova Soviet mother: "Allah gave me a son and Allah took him away. I still grieve for him" S Tursunova Soviet nurse: "Even the soldiers with the most terrible injuries were happy to be alive"

Jason Elliot British mujahid: "There would be blissful days of peace, then suddenly people got killed" Gelalei Habib Afghan teacher: "If all the Afghan women removed their veils maybe I could find my sister?" Somaya Afghan refugee: "If we returned, we would have to go through everything all over again" Omar Nessar Afghan editor: "I think many first reacted to the invasion positively or neutrally"

Ex-Soviet soldiers talk of what it is like to be veterans of a war fought for a state which has ceased to exist. An Englishman who lived with the mujahideen describes the terrifying experience of a gun battle and a Soviet nurse bears witness to the anguish of the wounded.

Bereaved civilians remember their dead and two younger Afghans who ended up abroad look back on the different paths which took them away from their homeland.