In a conversation with a Turmush correspondent, Tashmatov recounted how he was drafted into the army in November 1983. “My comrades and I arrived in Samarkand (Uzbekistan). After six months of training, we were sent by train to Termez, and then by military plane to Kunduz, Afghanistan. Later, we were assigned to a regiment located in Faizabad. Thus, 18-year-old young men, who had never known war before, found themselves in the center of combat operations, where they remained until 1986. Military operations occurred almost every day or 2-3 times a week. We engaged in battle on the orders of our commanders and based on intelligence data,” he recalls.
Tashmatov noted that even nearly 40 years later, one event remains etched in his memory forever. “In Faizabad, we received supplies, ammunition, and uniforms. When the cargo arrived by train, we would set out in a military convoy with special vehicles. Once, when we were transporting food, the BMP in front hit a mine. The explosion was powerful — the multi-ton vehicle jumped 5-6 meters, flipped over, spilled fuel, and caught fire. The soldiers inside burned alive. We could not provide assistance — the flames were too intense to approach. This scene is still vivid in my mind: we gathered the charred bodies of our comrades in tarpaulins for transport to the medical unit. There were many such attacks, and the most painful — I still cannot forget my fallen comrades,” the veteran shares his memories.
Now, Zhaanbay Tashmatov, who is 61 years old, fulfilled his childhood dream of becoming a doctor after returning from the front. After obtaining higher education, he dedicated himself to medicine in Kyrgyzstan. “I went to war at 18 and returned at 21. After that, I entered the medical institute in Novosibirsk and graduated. In the first years, I worked as a doctor in a regional dental clinic, and then until 2001, I was a dentist in a children's hospital in the Jalal-Abad region. From 2001 to 2011, I served as a doctor in military unit No. 704 in Manas. Now I am retired,” Tashmatov said.
