VIDEO-Russia Sends 10,000 AK-47s to Afghanistan - NBC News

A convoy of armored personnel vehicles cross the Soviet-Afghan border during the withdrawal of the Red Army from Afghanistan in May 1988. AFP / AFP/Getty Images

As U.S. and NATO forces withdraw, Afghanistan has been struggling to crush a growing Taliban insurgency and pockets of ISIS-linked militants. While Russia no longer shares a border with Afghanistan, there are fears that militancy and insecurity will spread to central Asian Republics on its southeastern flank.

The Russian withdrawal in 1989 followed a decade-long occupation that displaced more than 5 million civilians and claimed several hundred thousand lives, including those of around 20,000 Soviet troops.