DUSHANBE, Tajikistan — The bridge has an eerily Orwellian name — the Friendship Bridge — and a storied history in Afghanistan’s wars.
And again this week, the bridge, which spans the Amu Darya River between Afghanistan and Uzbekistan, provided a backdrop for a watershed moment in the fighting. In a chaotic retreat from the city of Mazar-i-Sharif, pro-government soldiers streamed onto the crossing, seeking safety on the opposite bank.
The scene on Thursday mirrored an iconic moment 32 years ago at the end of the failed Soviet war in Afghanistan, when the bridge provided the final exit route out of the country for the defeated Soviet Army.
Then, red flags fixed to the armored vehicles flapped in a winter wind as the departing Soviet troops drove and marched across the bridge on Feb. 15, 1989. That was meant to signal an organized, dignified exit for the superpower’s army after a…
