The World - News from Sept. 18, 1989

In Moscow, the Supreme Soviet has drafted a decree that will give amnesty to Soviet soldiers who were taken prisoner during the war in Afghanistan, the government newspaper Izvestia reported. The amnesty also will offer a chance to return home to soldiers who fled service in Afghanistan and ended up in the United States and Canada, the newspaper said. Izvestia did not give any numbers, but the Soviets officially list 311 soldiers as missing in action in Afghanistan. The Soviet Union fought for nine years in Afghanistan, withdrawing the last of its estimated 115,000 soldiers last February.