I saw some weird stuff in Kabul. I was doing my mandatory service in the Turkish Army, and my biggest fun was playing with the night vision goggles that I used to borrow from the sergeant major. They didn’t usually lend such equipment to temporary soldiers, but I managed to get my hands on them.
One night, I decided to take a walk with the night vision goggles on. As I was walking, I saw a guy with an outdated helmet and an AK-47. It looked strange, so when I had access to a computer, I googled it. Turns out, it was the exact same uniform and helmet that Soviet soldiers wore during their occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s.
That experience spooked me so much that I never touched the night vision goggles again. When I mentioned this to the old Afghan cleaner, he didn’t seem surprised at all. He told me that such sightings were not unheard of. He even said that in some places, you can hear the whispers or screams of those long-gone soldiers from time to time.